What are the responsibilities and job description for the Senior Reliability Engineer position at Oak Ridge Associated Universities?
| ID | 2026-2741 | Category | Science & Engineering | Type | Full Time |
ORAU is conducting the search on behalf of Type One Energy for a permanent, fulltime Senior Reliability Engineer in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Location: Knoxville, TN
Salary: Highly Competitive Plus Benefits
Role: Permanent, full time
Reporting to: VP Stellarator Maintenance and Inspection
About Type One Energy
Type One Energy Group is mission-driven to provide sustainable, affordable fusion power to the world. Established in 2019 and venture-backed in 2023, the company is led by a team of globally recognized fusion scientists with a strong track record of building state-of-the-art stellarator fusion machines, together with veteran business leaders experienced in scaling companies and commercializing energy technologies.
If you are searching for the best new ideas and share our vision, join us as a "Senior Reliability Engineer".
Type One Energy offers:
In addition to a basic salary and yearly bonus, you will also get...
- Relocation allowance
- Insurance plans
- 401k retirement options
- And many more great voluntary benefits
Type One Energy applies proven advanced manufacturing methods, modern computational physics and high-field superconducting magnets to develop its optimized stellarator fusion energy system. Its FusionDirect development program pursues the lowest-risk, shortest-schedule path to a fusion power plant over the coming decade, using a partner-intensive and capital-efficient strategy.
Type One Energy is committed to community engagement in the development and deployment of its clean energy technology. For more information, visit www.typeoneenergy.com or follow us on LinkedIn.
Your role in the mission:
Type One Energy are seeking a Senior Reliability Engineer who will be responsible for developing and executing reliability assessment to build a detailed maintenance strategy. The goal of this effort is to provide operational certainty across the lifecycle of our fusion systems-from concept and design through fabrication, testing, commissioning, and operation.
This role will partner closely with mechanical, electrical, cryogenic, plasma, controls, manufacturing, and operations teams to identify risks and implement countermeasures to improve system robustness partially by leveraging real-time data to enable reliability improvements.
This position is ideal for an engineer who thrives in complex, first-of-a-kind environments and enjoys influencing design decisions to ensure long-term operability and maintainability of advanced technical systems. You will:
- Develop and implement reliability engineering methodologies for fusion systems, subsystems, and components.
- Perform reliability analyses including:
- Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA / FMECA)
- Fault Tree Analysis (FTA)
- Reliability Block Diagrams (RBD)
- Support probabilistic risk assessments and system-level reliability modeling.
- Collaborate with engineering teams to influence design decisions early in the development lifecycle to improve reliability, maintainability, and serviceability.
- Review designs, specifications, and test plans to identify reliability risks related to materials, tolerances, interfaces, thermal loads, radiation, vacuum, cryogenic conditions, and high-power operation.
- Support development and execution of qualification, acceptance, and stress testing programs.
- Analyze test and operational data to identify failure trends, root causes, and improvement opportunities.
- Lead or support root cause failure analysis (RCFA) and corrective action planning.
- Support commissioning and early operations by monitoring system performance and failure data.
- Develop maintenance and inspection strategies informed by reliability analysis.
- Contribute to spare parts strategies, maintenance intervals, and long-term lifecycle planning.
What you'll need:
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, Reliability Engineering, or a related discipline.
- 10 years of experience in reliability engineering or closely related roles.
- Hands-on experience applying reliability analysis techniques (FMEA, FTA, RBD, life-data analysis).
- Strong understanding of engineering fundamentals and system-level interactions.
- Experience working with complex, high-reliability systems in industries such as energy, nuclear, aerospace, defense, semiconductors, or advanced manufacturing.
- Ability to analyze data, identify trends, and translate findings into actionable engineering recommendations.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills.
Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. It is the policy of ORAU to recruit, hire, train, and promote persons in all job classifications without regard to race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, mental or physical disability, protected veteran's status, or genetic information.