Senior Manager Product Safety and Reliability

Senior Manager Product Safety and Reliability Description - This role is responsible for providing direct leadership for a global team of individual contributors and contractors across product safety and product reliability engineering disciplines .

The role oversees the full lifecycle of issue management related to potential product safety issues, recall programs, and field reliability performance. This leader defines and drives a holistic safety and reliability strategy , integrating reactive issue management with proactive Design for Reliability (DFR), life modeling insights, and validation strategies to reduce failures before they reach customers.

The role leads cross-functional initiatives spanning R&D, engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, and field support, and may include interaction with customers and regulatory agencies. Additionally, this function works with external suppliers and ODM partners to ensure reliability standards, validation methods, and corrective actions are executed effectively.

Responsibilities include auditing processes, influencing product validation strategies across lifecycle phases (pre-manufacturing through post-launch), and leading anti-counterfeiting and brand protection efforts. We are seeking a multi-skilled leader capable of managing both escalation-driven safety response and proactive reliability engineering systems .

This includes ensuring timely failure analysis, driving data-driven corrective actions, managing customer escalations, and delivering clear executive communications. Key Responsibilities 1. People Leadership & Organization Development Lead, develop, and mentor a global team of safety specialists, reliability engineers, and contractors Build organizational capability in failure analysis, DFR, reliability modeling, and field performance management Establish clear roles, standards, and career pathways across safety and reliability functions Manage resources supporting both product escalations and long-term reliability engineering initiatives 2.

Safety & Reliability Strategy Define and execute an integrated product safety and reliability strategy across the product lifecycle Partner with R&D and engineering to embed Design for Reliability (DFR) principles early in development Establish reliability goals, validation approaches, and alignment with business and customer expectations Drive continuous improvement of safety, reliability standards, processes, and governance 3.

Root Cause, Failure Analysis & Reliability Insights Oversee team execution of failure analysis and root cause investigations across safety incidents and reliability failures Ensure application of statistical analysis, life modeling insights, and field data to identify systemic issues Drive closure of corrective actions and verification of effectiveness Ensure turnaround times meet established goals while maintaining technical rigor 4.

Field Performance & Reliability Analytics Lead analysis of field data, warranty trends, and failure rates to identify emerging risks and improvement opportunities Translate complex reliability data into clear business risks, cost impacts, and prioritization inputs Partner with engineering teams to proactively eliminate high-risk failure modes 5.

Recall & Escalation Management Lead team responsible for management of active recall programs and safety escalations Drive investigation and preparation of potential recall actions in coordination with regulatory requirements Ensure structured escalation management processes and executive communication 6.

Product Improvement & Preventive Action Provide data-driven insights to influence product design, validation testing, and supplier performance Lead cross-functional initiatives to improve product robustness, reduce warranty cost, and enhance customer experience Ensure lessons learned from field issues are systematically fed back into design and qualification processes 7.

Supplier & ODM Reliability Governance Partner with procurement, supply chain, and ODMs to ensure adherence to reliability standards Oversee supplier capability assessments, audits, and corrective action execution Influence reliability requirements in supplier contracts and validation expectations 8.

Validation & Test Strategy Oversight Provide leadership oversight to accelerated testing, environmental stress testing (e.g., HALT/HASS), and validation methodologies Ensure alignment between reliability modeling assumptions and test execution Drive consistency in reliability validation approaches across product lines 9.

Brand Protection & Risk Management Lead efforts related to counterfeit product identification and mitigation Ensure protection of brand reputation through proactive safety and reliability risk management Education and Experience Education: Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Engineering (Reliability, Mechanical, Electrical, Materials) or related STEM field; or equivalent experience Experience: Typically 10–15+ years of combined experience in product safety, reliability engineering, quality, or hardware engineering Leadership Experience: Proven experience leading global teams and cross-functional programs Demonstrated experience in one or more: Reliability engineering / DFR / life modeling Product safety or regulatory programs Field quality, warranty, or failure analysis Hardware product development lifecycle Knowledge and Skills 1.

Technical & Analytical Leadership Strong understanding of reliability engineering principles , including life modeling, statistical analysis, and failure mechanisms Ability to connect field performance data with design and validation decisions Familiarity with reliability tools, methodologies, and testing approaches 2.

Strategic & Systems Thinking Ability to integrate proactive (DFR) and reactive (escalation/recall) processes into a unified system Strong problem-solving skills across complex, multi-variable systems 3. People Development Proven ability to build and scale high-performing technical teams Mentor engineers and managers across both safety and reliability disciplines 4.

Project & Program Leadership Drive cross-functional programs across engineering, manufacturing, and supply chain Ensure execution within timelines and alignment with business priorities 5. Financial & Business Acumen Understand warranty cost drivers, risk modeling, and cost-benefit tradeoffs Manage labor, testing, and supplier-related investments efficiently 6.

Executive Communication Ability to translate complex technical reliability and safety risks into clear business narratives Deliver concise, actionable communication to senior leadership and external stakeholders Impact & Complexity Impact: Directly influences product safety, reliability performance, customer experience, warranty cost, and brand reputation Complexity: Operates across the full product lifecycle, managing both reactive safety escalations and proactive reliability engineering , while influencing diverse global teams and multiple product lines simultaneously The pay range for this role is $130,700 to $205,200 USD annually with additional opportunities for pay in the form of bonus and/or equity (applies to United States of America candidates only).

Pay varies by work location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience