Avionics Reliability Engineer

About the role

About Castelion

Castelion is redefining defense development through rapid iteration, aggressive testing, and modern commercial manufacturing at scale. We design, build, and test next-generation long-range strike weapon systems to give the United States and its Allies a decisive advantage and deter future conflicts.

Avionics Reliability Engineer

We are hiring an Avionics Reliability Engineer to own environmental qualification and reliability validation across our avionics hardware. This role is responsible for developing and executing reliability test strategies, including HALT/HASS campaigns, and driving hardware improvement through deep failure analysis and cross-functional collaboration. This position is ideal for engineers who want hands-on ownership of environmental testing infrastructure and reliability processes while working closely with avionics design and manufacturing teams to rapidly mature flight hardware.

Responsibilities

Develop reliability validation strategies for avionics hardware, including environmental and stress testing methodologies
Design and execute HALT/HASS campaigns to identify failure modes and accelerate hardware maturation
Specify, procure, and commission environmental test equipment and chambers
Oversee and conduct environmental testing, including vibration, thermal cycling, and stress screening
Perform live troubleshooting and root-cause analysis on hardware under test
Translate test findings into actionable design improvements and engineering change orders (ECOs)
Partner with avionics design engineers to improve robustness and manufacturability
Support manufacturing by developing and implementing screening procedures, authoring and verifying acceptance test procedures, and establishing reliability best practices to ensure product compliance and long-term performance.
Create and maintain clear documentation of test procedures, results, and reliability metrics
Drive continuous improvement of reliability processes and test infrastructure

Basic Qualifications

Bachelors degree in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, or related field
Hands-on experience with environmental or reliability testing of electronic hardware
Experience troubleshooting complex hardware systems in a lab environment
Familiarity with standard lab instrumentation and data acquisition
Strong understanding of failure analysis and root-cause methodologies
Ability to work across design, test, and manufacturing teams

Preferred Skills and Experience

Experience developing or running HALT/HASS or other accelerated life testing programs
Familiarity with environmental chambers (thermal, vibration, combined stress)
Experience with avionics, aerospace, automotive, or other high-reliability hardware
Background in reliability engineering, qualification testing, or validation engineering
Experience writing test automation or analysis scripts (Python or similar)
Knowledge of industry reliability standards and qualification practices

Leadership Qualities

Bias to Action and Creative Problem Solving . Desire and experience questioning assumptions in ways that lead to break through ideas that are ultimately implemented. Successfully bring in applicable processes/concepts/materials from other industries to achieve efficiency gains. Ability to personally resolve minor issues in development without requiring significant support.
High Commitment, High Initiative . A successful candidate will have a genuine passion for Castelion's mission and consistently look for ways to contribute to the company's technical goals and prevent hardware blockers. Ability to work in a fast paced, autonomously driven, and demanding atmosphere. Strong sense of accountability and integrity.
Clear Communicator . Proactively communicates blockers. Trusted in previous roles to be voice of company with regulators, suppliers, gate keepers and customers. Capable of tactfully managing relationships with stakeholders to achieve company-desired outcomes without compromising relationships. Emails, IMs and verbal interactions are logical, drive clarity, and detailed enough to eliminate ambiguity.

ITAR Requirements

To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Employment with Castelion is governed on the basis of competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.

All employees are granted long-term stock incentives as part of their employment at Castelion. All employees receive access to comprehensive medical, vision, and dental insurance, and the company offers four weeks of paid time off per year.