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Engineering | Reliability Engineer

Reliability Engineer

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

A Reliability Engineer evaluates and analyzes the reliability of manufacturing and production equipment and processes. Identifies pro-active maintenance requirements and process improvements. Works to maximize reliable performance and prevent equipment or process failures.

Job Outlook

There were 186 Reliability Engineer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 6034 in the United States.

In combination with other careers in the Validation Engineer industry, which includes the Reliability Engineer career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:

Salary

Many new Reliability Engineer jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.

National

The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $120,318.

State

The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $119,049.

Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Reliability Engineer postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $104,385.

Education and Experience

Posted Reliability Engineer jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.

Education LevelPercentage
Associate's Degree0%
Bachelor's Degree71.36%
Master's Degree19.92%
Doctoral Degree4.79%
Other3.03%

Posted Reliability Engineer jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.

Years of ExperiencePercentage
0 to 2 years14.3%
3 to 5 years54.17%
6 to 8 years16.22%
9+ years15.31%

Skills

Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Reliability Engineer positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.

Baseline Skills

A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.

  • Reliability (67.45%)
  • Operations (41.32%)
  • Management (37.64%)
  • Communication (34.7%)
  • Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (29.91%)
  • Problem Solving (28.26%)
  • Leadership (23.52%)
  • Planning (19.56%)
  • Investigation (11.97%)
  • Innovation (11.67%)

Defining Skills

A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.

  • Reliability Analysis (7.95%)
  • Electrical Engineering (18.63%)
  • Automation (17.89%)
  • Python (Programming Language) (19.82%)
  • Reliability Testing (10.47%)
  • Reliability Centered Maintenance (8.98%)
  • Root Cause Analysis (29.73%)
  • Reliability Engineering (58.1%)

Necessary Skills

A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.

  • Statistical Analysis (6.93%)
  • Site Reliability Engineering (10.48%)
  • Amazon Web Services (12.43%)
  • Rotating Equipment (6.63%)
  • Java (Programming Language) (7.39%)
  • Agile Methodology (6.44%)
  • Continuous Improvement Process (20.66%)
  • Auditing (10.84%)
  • Asset Management (5.61%)
  • Systems Engineering (10.03%)
  • Microsoft Azure (8.01%)
  • Linux (8.22%)
  • Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (12.01%)
  • Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) (10.31%)
  • Computer Science (11.85%)
  • Vibrations (8.17%)
  • Failure Analysis (12.87%)
  • DevOps (9.01%)
  • Data Analysis (16.88%)
  • Maintainability (15.03%)
  • Test Planning (6.32%)
  • Mechanical Engineering (16.64%)
  • Scalability (10.23%)
  • Debugging (7.36%)
  • Predictive Maintenance (18.21%)
  • Failure Causes (13.95%)
  • Computer Engineering (5.33%)
  • Failure Mode And Effects Analysis (14.02%)
  • Software Engineering (6.05%)
  • Physics (5.16%)
  • Project Management (16.35%)
  • Preventive Maintenance (12.8%)
  • Observability (11.63%)
  • Manufacturing Processes (8.03%)
  • Ansible (7.74%)
  • New Product Development (9.06%)
  • Process Improvement (6.32%)
  • Windows PowerShell (6.92%)
  • SAP Applications (8.79%)
  • Predictive Analytics (8.78%)
  • SQL (Programming Language) (4.84%)
  • Risk Analysis (6.36%)
  • CI/CD (8.23%)
  • Commissioning (4.51%)
  • Kubernetes (10.21%)
  • Scripting (10.38%)
  • Terraform (9.72%)

Distinguishing Skills

A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.

  • Batch Files (3.04%)
  • Thermography (5.09%)
  • Condition-Based Maintenance (1.76%)
  • Mean Time Between Failures (6.26%)
  • Failure Reporting Analysis And Corrective Action Systems (5.6%)
  • Fault Tree Analysis (5.33%)
  • Failure Mode Effects And Criticality Analysis (FMECA) (6.09%)
  • Oil Analysis (3.72%)

Salary Boosting Skills

A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.

  • Reliability Analysis (54.09%)
  • Fault Tree Analysis (36.25%)
  • Failure Mode Effects And Criticality Analysis (FMECA) (41.43%)

Alternative Job Titles

Sometimes employers post jobs with Reliability Engineer skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:

  • Site Reliability Engineer
  • Failure Analyst
  • Security Site Reliability Engineer
  • Electrical Reliability Engineer
  • Reliability Engineering Manager
  • Systems Reliability Engineer
  • Reliability and Maintainability Engineer
  • Software Reliability Engineer
  • Rotating Equipment Reliability Engineer

Similar Occupations

If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.

Common Employers

Here are the employers that have posted the most Reliability Engineer jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.

United States

  • Zt Systems (180)
  • Raytheon Technologies (139)
  • Amazon (85)
  • Actalent (74)
  • Apple (66)
  • SpaceX (55)
  • Evolent Health (51)
  • TE Connectivity (49)
  • Boeing (45)
  • HNI (38)

North Carolina

  • TE Connectivity (7)
  • Biogen (7)
  • Novo Nordisk (6)
  • First Citizens Bank (5)
  • Duke Energy (5)
  • Enviva Lp (4)
  • JLL (4)
  • Ingredion (4)
  • National Gypsum Services Corporation (4)
  • Georgia-Pacific (4)

NC State Programs Relevant to this Career

If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!