Title:  Senior Failure Analysis Engineer

QuantumScape is on a mission to transform energy storage with solid-state lithium-metal battery technology. The company’s next-generation batteries are designed to enable greater energy density, faster charging and enhanced safety to support the transition away from legacy energy sources toward a lower carbon future.

What we need: Help crack the toughest reliability puzzles behind next‑gen products. You’ll lead deep‑dive investigations, turn noisy data into crisp insights, and partner across engineering to ship solutions that boost yield and reliability at scale. Your analyses directly prevent repeat failures, accelerate learning cycles, and lift production quality—impact you can see on every build and customer release. You’ll be the connective tissue across FA, reliability, manufacturing, and leadership—translating findings into corrective actions that stick.

What You’ll do:

• Lead hands‑on failure analysis on components and systems to pinpoint true root causes behind defects and reliability issues.
• Use statistical and analytical methods to find patterns, model reliability performance (e.g., Weibull, Kaplan‑Meier), and quantify risk.
• Build and maintain intuitive dashboards so teams can see the signal—fast—and make better decisions.
• Partner with cross‑functional teams to design, verify, and land corrective actions that improve manufacturing processes.
• Write crisp, technical reports and present conclusions to engineering and leadership.
• Support customer investigations and provide timely feedback on field reliability concerns.

Skills You’ll need:

• PhD in Engineering, Materials Science, Physics, or a related field; OR Master’s degree with 3+ years of relevant experience; OR Bachelor’s degree with 5+ years of relevant experience.
• Strong command of statistical analysis & visualization tools (e.g., Python, R, JMP, Tableau).
• Experience with reliability modeling (Weibull, Kaplan‑Meier).
• Clear communicator who collaborates well in a fast‑paced environment.

Nice‑to‑have:

• Experience building FA/reliability dashboards used by cross‑functional teams.
• Background in high‑volume manufacturing or high‑reliability applications.

The opportunity:

• Scope & visibility: Your findings guide design and process decisions company‑wide.
• Growth: Own complex investigations end‑to‑end, mentor others, and shape FA tooling and methods.
• Collaboration: Work shoulder‑to‑shoulder with stellar peers in reliability, manufacturing, and product engineering.

ONSITE: This position is required to work onsite 5 days per week to meet the minimum essential duties and requirements of this position.  As an on-site R&D and manufacturing operations organization, in-person face to face interaction is essential to building authentic relationships, trust, teamwork, and collaboration. 

Compensation & Benefits: Expected salary range for this role is from $134,800 to $182,000, and a final salary will be determined by the candidate's experience and educational background. QuantumScape also offers an annual bonus and a generous RSU/Equity package as part of its compensation plan. In addition, we do offer a tremendous benefits plan including employee paid health care, Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP), and other benefits. 

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request an accommodation.