Do Challenging Work with a Cohesive, Industry Leading Team While Enjoying a Small Company Atmosphere and Big Company Benefits, Including Stock Options

Help Drive Electronic Systems Innovation Across a Diverse Range of Industries

If you combine your failure analysis expertise with strong interpersonal skills and a hands-on approach, this position offers you some compelling opportunities. You will:

• Make an impact in a broad role not only as you conduct failure analyses, but also as you take point on bringing the function in-house.
• Join us during an exciting time and help shape an important role, created to meet the demands of rapid growth.
• Support Menlo Micro's proprietary and proven Ideal Switch technology -- electromechanical switches smaller than the width of a human hair and architected to be scalable to different power ratings.
• Work with top minds in the electronic systems and semiconductor industries, professionals who aren't interested in maintaining the status quo, but are passionate about pushing technology forward.
• Enjoy the best of both worlds: The innovative, energized, growth atmosphere of a newer business, as well as the stability and resources provided by investors like GE, Corning and Paladin Capital Group.

Headquartered in Irvine, California, Menlo Micro has reinvented one of the most fundamental building blocks of electronic systems – the electronic switch. Menlo Micro’s technology creates a new switch category that eliminates compromises and tradeoffs by combining the benefits of electromechanical and solid-state switches into the best of both worlds with its “Ideal Switch.” To learn more about us please follow the link: https://menlomicro.com/company/about 

Pictured: The Menlo Micro MM5120 is the world's first generally available high-power RF SP4T micro-mechanical switch. We have developed a new fabrication process and applied it to DC and wideband RF/microwave switch applications. This new innovative technology enables robust and highly reliable switches capable of greater than 25 W CW power handling at 6.0 GHz.

To be a good fit for the Reliability / Failure Analysis Engineer opportunity, you will have:

• A bachelor's degree in Mechanical or Electrical Engineering, Materials Science, or another job-relevant field. Quick question for you - click here
• 2-5 years of reliability engineering experience, including strong demonstrable skill with electrical test equipment including power supplies, multimeters, oscilloscopes, and other common equipment. Quick question for you - click here
• Experience with qualification testing based on industry standards (JEDEC, MIL standards)
• Proficiency in reading schematics and troubleshooting analog and digital circuits.
• Familiarity with basic failure analysis techniques including 2D and 3D X-Ray, cross-sectioning, SEM, EDS, probing, and FLIR thermography.
• Strong statistical skills, reliability modeling, (hypothesis testing, sampling distributions, LTPD, Weibull statistics)
• Some exposure to RF/microwave technology a plus.
• CAD experience is a plus.

Just as important will be the following competencies and characteristics:

• Self-motivation, an entrepreneurial spirit and a strong drive to achieve business objectives.
• Strong communication skills, including storytelling with PowerPoint and data analysis with JMP/Excel, with the ability to present findings to Engineering teams.
• A proven ability to influence cross-functional teams without formal authority.
• Willingness to travel locally.
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work well within a small team environment.
• Skill filling multiple roles as required in a small but growing start-up environment.
• Strong analytical skills.
• Good organization skills with the ability to handle multiple tasks and priorities to meet goals in a fast-paced environment.

To meet the basic qualification for this role, you will have U.S. citizenship or permanent residence for ITAR compliance/security clearance.

You may be able to do some work from home during the pandemic, but you also will need to come into the facility as necessary. You also should plan on visiting local test labs about 25% of the time to guide and observe testing.

Pictured: The MM3130 device is a high power 6-channel SPST micro-mechanical switch offered in a 36 mm2 BGA package. Given its small form factor, significant power handling capability, and ultra-low DC and RF losses, the MM3130 can bring significant size and weight reductions to high power radio designs.

Reporting to the VP Quality and Reliability, as Reliability / Failure Analysis Engineer, you will be responsible for overseeing product, technology, package and assembly reliability qualification. You will leverage your strong background in Reliability Engineering and IC product qualifications to create and execute qualification plans, and to write customer Reliability reports. Quick question for you - click here Additionally, you will oversee the timely execution and completion of qualification projects, and define Reliability hardware and test requirements. You will be responsible for driving issue resolution from root cause analysis to countermeasure implementation on Menlo Microelectronics MEMS components. Some key responsibilities will include:

• Defining Reliability qualification requirements for IC products, package, and process qualifications.
• Creating and executing qualification, analyzing data and writing qual reports.
• Interfacing with Product/Package/ Design and hardware engineers to understand new product and details necessary to perform reliability testing on new products.
• Creating and updating Reliability Engineering procedures, as needed.
• Using analytical tools and techniques including electrical debug, X-Ray, microscopic inspection, cross-sectioning, thermography, and functional testing. 
• Designing and executing experiments and testing theories.
• Interfacing with multiple contacts and teams including engineers and suppliers, R&D, Operations and Applications; driving resolution to the problems you have identified.
• Supporting design reviews and DFMEAs with prior failure experience.

Currently, most failure analysis is handled by external labs, but you also will lead the effort to bring much of the function in-house. This will include determining what equipment is necessary, defining processes and procedures, and more.

As part of your duties, you will:

• Conduct failure analysis with in-house tools and outside labs on parts during development and any customer returns.
• Perform optical imaging, curve tracing, electrical bench verification and characterization of failures, X-Ray analysis, SAT/CSAM analysis as part of the initial failure analysis process.
• Develop new processes, procedures, and techniques to improve analytical capability, overcome challenges and drive continuous improvement.
• Recommend FA tools to purchase and set them up.

Note: this description is intended to give you a general overview of the position and is not an exhaustive listing of duties and responsibilities.

Ground-floor opportunity
You will join us near the ground-floor in this critical role, helping to drive success as we continue to expand. You'll find Menlo Micro is a fantastic place to work. The team is outstanding, passionate and engaged. We are serious about our work but we don't take ourselves too seriously and bring a strong sense of humor to the table. 

Build a legacy
You will help create an in-house failure analysis function to help protect intellectual property and speed processes. As the company and the FA function grow, you will be in a position to take on additional responsibilities and advance in our organization.

Ground-breaking technology
Born out of a decade-long effort at General Electric's Global Research Center, Menlo Micro is bringing to the market a series of technology innovations that have enabled us to reinvent one of the most essential and fundamental building blocks required for nearly every electronic system imaginable . . . the switch.

Top talent
We've already said it, but it's worth repeating. You will work with top industry talent -- highly experienced leaders with decades of combined experience and wins ranging from past startup success to success at major corporations. All or our leaders bring tremendous skill and a proven track record of success, ranging from important journal publications to a plethora of patents to business and leadership successes, both domestic and international, and more. You will add your own strong skills to that talent, and also have plenty of opportunities to learn and further develop your skills.

Rare and exciting opportunity
We're a newer business with a decade of research behind us and the backing of $32 million to get us started. We have clients ranging from home automation to wireless power-charging and are in production with a product that will support GE's MRI technology. In fact, we're already so far along that we've already built out our supply chain team and we have achieved our ISO9001:2015 certification in only 18 months of operations! In other words, you will enjoy the entrepreneurial atmosphere of a new high-potential business without worrying about many of the risks inherent to new endeavors.

Excellent compensation
Unlike other startups, we offer competitive compensation and a fully faceted benefits plan, including incentives, a range of company paid insurances, paid time off and more. You also will be eligible to participate in our stock option program, which could make this a very lucrative opportunity. 

Ours is a fast-paced, rapidly evolving environment. To thrive and excel here, you must be able to wear multiple hats and contribute beyond your job description. Naturally, your technical skills will be essential, but just as important will be your interpersonal and communication skills to work effectively with a variety of internal contacts and departments, as well as customers and external providers.

You're entering on the ground floor, so you won't find established SOPs. To excel here you will be a self-starter who is flexible, adaptable and comfortable with ambiguity. In addition, in order to be an outstanding Reliability / Failure Analysis Engineer, you will:

• Be proactive about getting up to speed quickly.
• Bring a hands-on approach to getting the job done, but also see the bigger picture.
• Take ownership of your role and be accountable for your responsibilities.
• Combine analytical skills and creativity in solving problems.
• Keep a constant eye out for ways to improved processes.
• Share our passion for our company's mission and vision.

Pictured: The MM3100 device is a high power, normally open (NO), six-channel single pole/single throw (SPST) micro-mechanical switch for RF and microwave switch applications. Innovations in the switch material system enable robust and highly reliable switches capable of >25 W that are an ideal replacement for pin diode switches in high power radio applications.