Sr Design for Reliability Engineer
About The Position
Johnson & Johnson, Robotics and Digital Solutions (RAD) group is recruiting for a Senior Design for ReliabilityEngineer - Robotics, located in Santa Clara, CA. At Johnson & Johnson Robotics and Digital Solutions, we’re changing the trajectory of health for humanity, using robotics to enhance healthcare providers’ abilities and improve patients’ diagnoses, treatments, and recovery times. Johnson & Johnson Robotics was established in 2020 with the integration of Auris Health, Verb Surgical, C-SATS, and Ethicon. It comprises three key med-tech platforms: Flexible Robotics (MONARCH®), Surgical Robotics (OTTAVA™), and Digital Solutions. Join our collaborative, rapidly growing teams in the San Francisco Bay Area (Redwood City and Santa Clara), Cincinnati, and Seattle. You’ll collaborate on breakthrough medical technologies that unite multiple subject areas to build a connected digital ecosystem that advances medical professionals’ skills and improves patient outcomes. Johnson & Johnson MedTech is developing a robotic surgical platform that will set a new standard for the modern OR and transform the surgical experience. OTTAVA is designed as a multi-specialty soft-tissue surgery robot, activating the benefits of AI/ML, connecting health data inside the operating room and out. Overview: We are seeking a proactive Design for Reliability (DfR) Engineer to embed reliability thinking into product design and specifications for our surgical robotic system. This role will drive reliability analysis, fatigue and durability assessment, and test specification development to ensure products meet lifetime requirements. The DfR Engineer will partner closely with Field Reliability Engineering, Failure Analysis, Reliability Testing, Design and Clinical engineering teams to close the loop between lab testing, field performance, and product requirements.
Requirements
- Minimum Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Materials, Biomedical, equivalent work experience, or similar engineering discipline.
- Minimum 4+ years of hands-on experience in reliability engineering, DfR, structural fatigue, durability, or a closely related role.
- Demonstrated experience developing and reviewing dFMEAs and translating failure modes into design/test requirements.
- Strong mechanical fatigue/durability fundamentals and experience with damage accumulation concepts.
- Practical experience with test-spec development and correlating test results with analytical models and field data.
- Proficiency in engineering analysis tools (e.g., FEA tools for stress analysis, or equivalent), and data-analysis tools (Excel, MATLAB, Python, or similar).
- Familiarity with reliability/statistical methods (basic Weibull, life data analysis, confidence intervals, regression).
- Good understanding of materials behavior, component selection trade-offs, and environmental stressors.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills; able to convey technical findings to designers, test labs, and stakeholders.
- Experience working in cross-functional teams and influencing product decisions.
Nice To Haves
- Master’s degree or higher in Mechanical Engineering, Reliability Engineering, Materials Science, Biomedical Engineering, or similar.
- Prior experience in a DfR role or within organizations with separate DfR, FA, and FRE functions.
- Hands-on experience with fatigue/durability software (nCode, fe-safe, MSC Fatigue) and FEA packages (ANSYS, Abaqus, etc.).
- Experience developing and validating damage accumulation models and advanced reliability models.
- Experience with accelerated life-test program design and interpretation.
- Background in regulated industries (medical devices, aerospace, automotive, telecom) and familiarity with relevant standards and verification expectations.
- Experience correlating telemetry/field-measured loads to lab tests and integrating field-derived load spectra into test programs.
- Knowledge of test instrumentation and data acquisition systems for durability tests.
- Certifications or formal training in reliability methods or problem solving (e.g. Weibull analysis).
- Experience with product specification development and change control processes.
Responsibilities
- Translate product requirements into reliability targets, risk assessments, and verification plans for robotic hardware subsystems including actuators, motors, encoders, sensors and cabling/connectors.
- Lead DFMEA reviews and recommend failure detections and mitigations for electro-mechanical assemblies
- Drive reliability-focused design reviews (component selection, materials, architectures).
- Participate in issue/change reviews to evaluate impacts on reliability and testing.
- Develop and maintain reliability-driven specifications and lifecycle requirements for robotic subsystems.
- Identify operational loads/stresses and convert them into test inputs and load spectra
- Perform fatigue/durability analysis, build damage models, and correlate with test and field data.
- Partner with test engineering to define and validate ALT and custom fatigue/durability tests.
- Capture lessons learned; update FMEAs, design standards, and test methods.
- Collaborate with Field Reliability and Clinical Engineering to integrate field/clinical feedback.
- Define reliability metrics and dashboards (life curves, damage accumulation, margin).
Benefits
- Employees and/or eligible dependents may be eligible to participate in the following Company sponsored employee benefit programs: medical, dental, vision, life insurance, short- and long-term disability, business accident insurance, and group legal insurance.
- Employees may be eligible to participate in the Company’s consolidated retirement plan (pension) and savings plan (401(k)).
- This position is eligible to participate in the Company’s long-term incentive program.
- Employees are eligible for the following time off benefits: Vacation – up to 120 hours per calendar year Sick time - up to 40 hours per calendar year Holiday pay, including Floating Holidays – up to 13 days per calendar year Work, Personal and Family Time - up to 40 hours per calendar year
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Mid Level
