Data Center Hardware Quality & Reliability Engineer

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About The Role Own the end-to-end data-center hardware quality and reliability loop for OpenAI’s 3P infrastructure and 1P current and next-gen platforms. Turn field failures into quantified risk, fast containment, verified root cause, improved MQE/NPI and manufacturing-test coverage, accurate spares forecasts, and upstream changes that prevent recurrence. The first hire must combine practical hardware/system understanding, reliability engineering, data fluency, and cross-functional technical leadership at data-center scale. Key Responsibilities • Build and govern the field-quality data model across telemetry, tickets, RMA/repair, FA, firmware, configuration, supplier, and manufacturing genealogy. • Define AFR, ASR, DPPM, MTBF/MTTR, repeat-repair, NTF, repair-cycle-time, and forecast-versus-actual metrics with explicit denominators and uncertainty. • Provide fleet-level macro views and unit/FRU/cohort-level micro views; detect shifts and bound affected populations. • Lead systemic field-failure triage, containment, failure analysis, 8D/CAPA, risk assessment, corrective-action verification, and recurrence monitoring. • Develop cohort, life-data, reliability-growth, and spare-demand projections by product, FRU, supplier, configuration, geography, and age. • Partner with MQE and NPI to convert field mechanisms into manufacturing-test coverage, screening/stress profiles, diagnostics, control plans, DFR/DFS requirements, FMEA/FTA, mission profiles, FRU strategy, and qualification gates. • Close the loop by verifying whether upstream changes reduce field recurrence. • Define supplier/CM FA standards, field-data contracts, scorecards, escalation paths, and closure evidence. • Provide serviceability, TCO, and spares inputs without owning inventory execution or procurement. • Create concise executive decision packages: population at risk, exposure, confidence, options, cost/risk, and recommendation. • Run the cross-functional reliability council and, as the team grows, mentor the 1P and 3P Field Quality Engineers. Qualifications • BS in electrical, mechanical, computer, materials, reliability engineering, physics, or equivalent experience; MS preferred. • 8+ years in hardware quality/reliability, server/rack systems, or mission-critical infrastructure; 3+ years owning field-failure, RMA, or CAPA outcomes. • Solid working understanding of hardware and system architecture across board, tray, rack, firmware, telemetry, manufacturing test, and fleet behavior; deep expertise in every subsystem is not required. • Reliability statistics: censored life data, Weibull/Poisson/binomial methods, confidence bounds, MTBF/MTTR, and reliability growth. • Hands-on FMEA/FTA, accelerated or reliability-demonstration testing, 8D/CAPA, FA, and corrective-action verification. • Working proficiency with SQL and Python/R or equivalent analytics tools. • Ability to influence design, validation, operations, suppliers/CMs, and senior leaders without direct authority. Preferred Skill...

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