Freelance Functional Safety Engineer Jobs in Decatur, GA

Anduril Industries is a defense technology company with a mission to transform U.S. and allied military capabilities with advanced technology. By bringing the expertise, technology, and business model of the 21st century's most innovative companies to the defense industry, Anduril is changing how military systems are designed, built and sold. Anduril's family of systems is powered by Lattice OS, an AI-powered operating system that turns thousands of data streams into a realtime, 3D command and control center. As the world enters an era of strategic competition, Anduril is committed to bringing cutting-edge autonomy, AI, computer vision, sensor fusion, and networking technology to the military in months, not years.
ABOUT THE TEAM
The Reliability Engineering team partners across Anduril's engineering, manufacturing, and operations organizations to ensure our autonomous systems survive real-world conditions and deliver consistent performance for our customers. Our mandate spans the complete product lifecycle - from early concept design through production scale-up and fielded operations. We use data, statistical methods, and engineering analysis to forecast how our systems will perform over time and influence design decisions, including part selection, redundancy strategies, and maintenance approaches. We establish tailored reliability frameworks by program and partner with Quality to drive design robustness, failure prevention, and rapid response to issues in the field.
ABOUT THE JOB
Anduril's Reliability & System Safety Engineering organization is hiring Reliability Engineers across our product portfolio. Domains may include Air Dominance & Strike, Counter-UAS, Maritime, Ground Systems, Space, and Mission Autonomy. These are highly collaborative, hands-on roles spanning the entire product lifecycle - from early concept trade studies and detailed design through manufacturing scale-up, production, and sustained field performance. You'll be the reliability champion throughout the design and development process, working closely with mechanical, electrical, and software engineering teams to ensure designs are robust. You'll also partner with manufacturing, quality, test operations, and field service teams to transition these products from engineering prototypes to production-ready systems. Your scope will span performing predictive reliability analysis and FMEAs, developing and executing qualification and production test plans, leading root-cause failure investigations from both the factory floor and the field, and closing the loop to drive continuous design and process improvements. We are looking for candidates who bring deep technical knowledge of hardware reliability and failure mechanisms, practical experience in both design and production environments, and the ability to drive cross-functional alignment without direct authority. These roles demand independent, data-driven engineers who can build reliability infrastructure from the ground up and take ownership of product performance from concept to deployment.
WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Support and review system block diagrams, interface control documents, and schematics for compliance, redundancy, and accuracy against requirements and concept of operations.
• Lead Failure Modes & Effects Analysis (FMEA) and Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) efforts, collaborating with cross-functional engineering teams to implement design improvements.
• Perform predictive reliability analysis to calculate probability of loss of control, loss of asset, and MTTF/MTBF utilizing Anduril requirements, specifications, and relevant industry standards (i.e. MIL-HDBK-217Plus).
• Develop and execute comprehensive Qualification and Validation Test plans (including environmental, life/limit, and accelerated testing) to ensure appropriate requirements coverage and de-risking for production readiness; partner with Test Engineering to fixture and instrument test campaigns.
• Work with Quality and Manufacturing Engineering to develop, refine, and validate assembly, integration, and testing processes (including inspection/acceptance test gates) to optimize build reliability and reduce time-to-deploy.
• Develop Maintainability prediction models using MIL-HDBK-472, and support the development of Preventative Maintenance & Sparing plans.
• Perform Weibull analysis utilizing data from qualification campaigns, production testing, and fielded assets to predict failures and identify trends.
• Lead failure investigations on anomalies originating from design validation, production testing, and field returns; drive root cause analysis and corrective/preventative actions (CAPA) to closure.
• Support Development Milestone Reviews through the identification of appropriate entry and exit criteria, guiding the transition of designs from engineering development to high-rate production.
• Develop and implement standardized reliability processes, tools, and infrastructure to streamline and accelerate our design, manufacturing, and deployment operations.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Minimum of 8 years experience as a Reliability Engineer, Design/Development Engineer, or Test Engineer
• B.S. Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Systems Engineering, or equivalent technical discipline
• Experience with safety-critical hardware & software systems in the defense or aerospace industry
• Experience or familiarity with MIL-STD-810, MIL-HDBK-217, MIL-STD-461, MIL-STD-516C, and MIL-STD-1629
• Experience setting up a Reliability Engineering framework for a product or program, including support of production testing, field testing, data acquisition, and data analysis
• Expertise in reliability analysis techniques, including FMEA/FMECA, predictive modeling, Weibull analysis, and Fault Tree Analysis
• Experience with generating qualification testing requirements and executing tests to proactively characterize product behavior and performance
• Failure investigation/analysis experience with proven track record of solving problems and preventing reoccurrence
• Design Review Experience (PDR, CDR, MRR) and confidence in presentation skills across all levels of leadership
• Eligibility to obtain/maintain a U.S. Secret clearance, as required

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• M.S. Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Systems Engineering, or equivalent technical discipline
• Experience with MIL-HDBK-217Plus, MIL-HDBK-472, MIL-STD-1916
• Experience with Manufacturing Readiness Level (MRL) Assessments, Manufacturing Review Board (MRB), Quality Inspection, Tooling, or Calibration
• Experience with risk management, change control/change management reviews, and software/firmware HITL/SITL
• Experience with HALT (Highly Accelerated Life Testing), HASS (Highly Accelerated Stress Screening), Environmental Testing, and/or Mechanical Testing
• Technical writing experience developing requirements, standards, specifications, user guides, and policies

US Salary Range
$143,000-$191,000 USD
The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors, inclusive of base salary only. Actual salary offer may vary based on (but not limited to) work experience, education and/or training, critical skills, and/or business considerations. Highly competitive equity grants are included in the majority of full time offers; and are considered part of Anduril's total compensation package. Additionally, Anduril offers top-tier benefits for full-time employees, including:
Benefits
At Anduril, we invest in our people. Our comprehensive, competitive benefits package (available at little to no cost to employees) ensures you're supported in health, recovery, and whatever comes next. For more information, Explore Our Benefits.
Protecting Yourself from Recruitment Scams
Anduril is committed to maintaining the integrity of our Talent acquisition process and the security of our candidates. We've observed a rise in sophisticated phishing and fraudulent schemes where individuals impersonate Anduril representatives, luring job seekers with false interviews or job offers. These scammers often attempt to extract payment or sensitive personal information.
To ensure your safety and help you navigate your job search with confidence, please keep the following critical points in mind:

• No Financial Requests: Anduril will never solicit payment or demand personal financial details (such as banking information, credit card numbers, or social security numbers) at any stage of our hiring process. Our legitimate recruitment is entirely free for candidates.
• Please always verify communications:
  • Direct from Anduril: If you receive an email from one of our recruiters, it will only come from an @anduril.com address.
  • Via Agency Partner: If contacted by a recruiting agency for an Anduril role, their email will clearly identify their agency. If you suspect any suspicious activity, please verify the agency's authenticity by reaching out to [email protected].
• Exercise Caution with Unsolicited Outreach: If you receive any communication that appears suspicious, contains grammatical errors, or makes unusual requests, do not engage. Always confirm the sender's email domain is @anduril.com before providing any personal information or clicking on links.
• What to Do If You Suspect Fraud: Should you encounter any questionable or fraudulent outreach claiming to be from Anduril, please report it immediately to [email protected]. Your proactive caution is invaluable in protecting your personal information and upholding the security and trustworthiness of our recruitment efforts.

Data Privacy
To view Anduril's candidate data privacy policy, please visit https://anduril.com/applicant-privacy-notice/.
By submitting your application, you consent to Anduril Industries using a third-party service provider to conduct pre-employment risk, integrity, and due diligence screening and assessing potential risks as part of your application process. This third-party service provider provides risk-intelligence services that may include analysis of sanctions and watchlists, adverse media, public-record information, and other lawful open-source or commercial data sources. This third-party service provider does not act as a consumer reporting agency. Use of this provider helps to ensure compliance with applicable laws and protect technology, intellectual property, and organizational security.