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 333 Reliability Engineer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 10475 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 $115,108.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $106,908.
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 $99,089.
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 Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 0% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 76.68% |
| Master's Degree | 23.68% |
| Doctoral Degree | 6.01% |
| Other | 3.19% |
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 Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 15.51% |
| 3 to 5 years | 51.31% |
| 6 to 8 years | 15.8% |
| 9+ years | 17.38% |
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 (71.1%)
- Operations (40.35%)
- Management (38.8%)
- Communication (35.28%)
- Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (30.1%)
- Problem Solving (30.06%)
- Leadership (23.66%)
- Planning (20.14%)
- Innovation (13.85%)
- Microsoft Excel (12.4%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Reliability Analysis (8.65%)
- Electrical Engineering (20.12%)
- Automation (21.22%)
- Python (Programming Language) (21.58%)
- Reliability Testing (11.67%)
- Reliability Centered Maintenance (9.07%)
- Root Cause Analysis (32.28%)
- Reliability Engineering (69%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Statistical Analysis (8.23%)
- Site Reliability Engineering (7.95%)
- Amazon Web Services (12.13%)
- Rotating Equipment (6.38%)
- Java (Programming Language) (7.28%)
- Agile Methodology (7.47%)
- Continuous Improvement Process (13.71%)
- Auditing (10.33%)
- Asset Management (5.93%)
- Systems Engineering (13.13%)
- Microsoft Azure (7.77%)
- Linux (9.91%)
- Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (11.11%)
- Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) (9.68%)
- Computer Science (14.61%)
- Vibrations (8.06%)
- Failure Analysis (15.03%)
- DevOps (9.79%)
- Data Analysis (18.39%)
- Maintainability (16.33%)
- Test Planning (8.71%)
- Mechanical Engineering (17.09%)
- Scalability (10.13%)
- Debugging (8.06%)
- Predictive Maintenance (15.67%)
- Failure Causes (16.19%)
- Computer Engineering (6.83%)
- Failure Mode And Effects Analysis (14.08%)
- Software Engineering (7.51%)
- Physics (8.13%)
- Project Management (14.96%)
- Preventive Maintenance (11.99%)
- Observability (9.16%)
- Manufacturing Processes (9.32%)
- Ansible (6.39%)
- New Product Development (11.75%)
- Process Improvement (7.05%)
- Windows PowerShell (6.52%)
- SAP Applications (8.83%)
- Predictive Analytics (8.23%)
- SQL (Programming Language) (7.85%)
- Risk Analysis (7.63%)
- CI/CD (7.29%)
- Commissioning (4.61%)
- Kubernetes (9.95%)
- Scripting (9.82%)
- Terraform (8.16%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Batch Files (3.46%)
- Thermography (5.66%)
- Condition-Based Maintenance (2.09%)
- Mean Time Between Failures (6.26%)
- Failure Reporting Analysis And Corrective Action Systems (6.37%)
- Fault Tree Analysis (6.77%)
- Failure Mode Effects And Criticality Analysis (FMECA) (7.07%)
- Oil Analysis (4.45%)
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 (11.97%)
- Thermography (7.83%)
- Electrical Engineering (27.84%)
- Automation (29.36%)
- Condition-Based Maintenance (2.89%)
- Fault Tree Analysis (9.37%)
- Failure Mode Effects And Criticality Analysis (FMECA) (9.78%)
- Python (Programming Language) (29.87%)
- Reliability Centered Maintenance (12.55%)
- Root Cause Analysis (44.68%)
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
- Systems Reliability Engineer
- Failure Analyst
- Reliability Engineering Manager
- Service Reliability Engineer
- Electrical Reliability Engineer
- Reliability and Maintainability Engineer
- Lead 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.
- Mechanical Reliability Engineer
- DevOps Engineer
- Director of Engineering
- Industrial Engineer (General)
- Research & Development Engineer
- Automation Engineer
- Production Engineer
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 (436)
- Raytheon Technologies (179)
- SpaceX (154)
- Amazon (135)
- Boeing (127)
- Northrop Grumman (105)
- Actalent (90)
- JLL (86)
- Lockheed Martin (86)
- Acxiom (85)
North Carolina
- MetLife (14)
- Baxter International (11)
- Novo Nordisk (9)
- The Hartford (9)
- TE Connectivity (8)
- JLL (8)
- Biogen (7)
- Amentum (7)
- Randstad (6)
- Vontier (5)
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!
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.