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 165 Reliability Engineer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 6587 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 2016:
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 $114,755.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $100,041.
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 $98,284.
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 | 76.01% |
| Master's Degree | 21.74% |
| Doctoral Degree | 5.91% |
| Other | 3.99% |
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 | 14.83% |
| 3 to 5 years | 51.32% |
| 6 to 8 years | 15.57% |
| 9+ years | 18.29% |
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 (76.21%)
- Operations (50.31%)
- Communication (36.34%)
- Management (35.55%)
- Problem Solving (32.03%)
- Leadership (31.3%)
- Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (27.54%)
- Planning (21.92%)
- Microsoft Excel (14.92%)
- Investigation (13.88%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Reliability Engineering (62.6%)
- Root Cause Analysis (32.71%)
- Mechanical Engineering (27.8%)
- Continuous Improvement Process (28.98%)
- Predictive Maintenance (25.16%)
- Reliability Centered Maintenance (13.11%)
- Reliability Testing (8.07%)
- Reliability Analysis (6.74%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Electrical Engineering (18.95%)
- Project Management (20.18%)
- Data Analysis (19.62%)
- Failure Causes (19.44%)
- Maintainability (15.54%)
- Failure Mode And Effects Analysis (21.85%)
- Failure Analysis (18.79%)
- Preventive Maintenance (17.06%)
- Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (17.27%)
- Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) (12.75%)
- Vibrations (12.98%)
- Auditing (11.79%)
- Statistics (5.9%)
- SAP Applications (10.09%)
- Predictive Analytics (10.48%)
- New Product Development (7.91%)
- Systems Engineering (7.01%)
- Environment Health And Safety (8.16%)
- Lubrication (8.46%)
- Process Improvement (8.49%)
- Manufacturing Processes (6.67%)
- Risk Analysis (10.12%)
- Asset Management (10.85%)
- Physics (8.26%)
- Rotating Equipment (7.99%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Failure Mode Effects And Criticality Analysis (FMECA) (4.45%)
- Mean Time Between Failures (5.05%)
- Failure Reporting Analysis And Corrective Action Systems (4.18%)
- Oil Analysis (6.2%)
- Mechanical Reliability (4.1%)
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 (12.38%)
- Mechanical Reliability (7.53%)
- Thermography (16.96%)
- Failure Reporting Analysis And Corrective Action Systems (7.68%)
- Failure Mode Effects And Criticality Analysis (FMECA) (8.18%)
- Mechanical Engineering (51.07%)
- Oil Analysis (11.4%)
- Reliability Centered Maintenance (24.08%)
- Reliability Testing (14.82%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Reliability Engineer skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Reliability Manager
- Electrical Reliability Engineer
- Rotating Equipment Reliability Engineer
- Mechanical Reliability Engineer
- Systems Reliability Engineer
- Engineer
- Reliability Technician
- Software Reliability Engineer
- Reliability Engineering Manager
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.
- Industrial Plant Engineer
- General Engineering Technician / Technologist
- Production Engineer
- Product Quality Engineer
- Director of Engineering
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
- Amazon (154)
- Georgia-Pacific (144)
- Merck & Co. (124)
- Apple (118)
- SpaceX (83)
- Actalent (74)
- Chemours (73)
- WestRock (54)
- Raytheon Technologies (52)
- International Paper (52)
North Carolina
- Novo Nordisk (7)
- Duke Energy (7)
- TE Connectivity (6)
- Biogen (6)
- Actalent (5)
- Aerotek (5)
- JLL (4)
- Cascades (4)
- Merck & Co. (4)
- CBRE (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!
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.