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Quality/reliability engineer skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

5 min read

Quoted experts

Ana Wooley Ph.D.,

Tracy Farrell

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical quality/reliability engineer skills. We ranked the top skills for quality/reliability engineers based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 7.2% of quality/reliability engineer resumes contained product quality as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a quality/reliability engineer needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 quality/reliability engineer skills for your resume and career

1. Product Quality

Product quality is the basic element of a business. It means to add features in a product or service in such a way that it meets the needs and wants of the customers. Enhancing the product quality also means improve the goods from any existing defects to ensure customer satisfaction.

Here's how quality/reliability engineers use product quality:

Oversee entire Quality Management and Document Control Systems ensuring top product quality and reliability for high speed IC manufacturing.
Challenged with increasing product quality and process capacity in a chemical production facility with batch and continuous processes.

2. Statistical Analysis

Here's how quality/reliability engineers use statistical analysis:

Inspected piece parts to ensure tight tolerances through statistical analysis and implemented this process as a continuous improvement procedure.
Provided corporation cost/statistical analysis with estimates to meet contractual requirements for connectors, indicators, and components.

3. Corrective Action

Here's how quality/reliability engineers use corrective action:

Conducted Material Review Analysis (MRA) - reviewed discrepant hardware, reviewed engineering dispositions, analyzed and followed-up corrective actions.
Performed root cause analysis and proactively drove corrective action of reliability and customer field failures through a cross-functional Failure Review Board.

4. Failure Analysis

Failure Analysis is a step-by-step process of determining the reason for a particular machine or equipment failure by way of checking, identification, and examination. It means conducting a test within the system and perform a maintenance check that leads you to a conclusion. A failure analysis takes place to prevent further damages.

Here's how quality/reliability engineers use failure analysis:

Saved two key accounts with focused failure analysis investigations and detailed summary reports which customers were very pleased with.
Consolidated test capacity and failure analysis planning processes at Intel's environmental labs in Oregon and Washington.

5. Quality Standards

Quality standards are a specific level of standards of products that are set by the companies for the customers that have to be met and maintained throughout the process until the time of delivery. Quality standards are information that includes the customer's requirements, guidelines, and characteristics for the needed final product or service.

Here's how quality/reliability engineers use quality standards:

Applied best practices and coordinated operation of QC Laboratories compliance to ISO 9001/ TS 16949 quality standards.
Establish Quality processes and quality standards using ISO 9001and Six Sigma methods.

6. Data Analysis

Here's how quality/reliability engineers use data analysis:

Monitored warranty data, ran data analysis, prepared reliability reports & made recommendations to improve design.
Created Best Known Method document for data analysis methodology on Flash Memory products.

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7. Product Reliability

Here's how quality/reliability engineers use product reliability:

Lead Engineering Investigations, participate in quality audits while performing drawing and design reviews to improve product reliability / maintainability.
Performed post-market risk assessments and product reliability estimates using the data from prospective registries and complaints data.

8. Sigma

In Greek alphabets, sigma is the 18th letter that means "to sum up". In statistics, the lower case symbol of sigma is the unit of measurement for standard deviation which is used to assess the variability in a given set of data. While the upper case symbol is for summation notation means to add up all the given numbers in the data set.

Here's how quality/reliability engineers use sigma:

Improved quality 50%, safety 70% and downtime 42% by coaching teams in Six Sigma methodologies.
Used 6 SIGMA (DMAIC) methodologies for problem solving and conducted FMEA with cross-functional engineering team.

9. Product Development

Product development is the complete procedure of creating a product from concept until release of the final product. Product development has many stages after which a product is released into the market. Identifying the need, creating the opportunity, conceptualizing a product, and providing a solution, all are different stages of product development.

Here's how quality/reliability engineers use product development:

Integrated quality and reliability into new product development cycle.
Analyzed design requirements & developed reliability plan with suppliers for new product development programs Constructed design verification/validation test plans.

10. JMP

Here's how quality/reliability engineers use jmp:

Designed experiments and analyzed data using modeling and statistical tools (such as JMP and Minitab).

11. Process Control

Process control is a method pertaining to continuous production processes that uses the aid of ICS (Industrial Control Systems) for production. This method enables production to be done with a level of consistency and safety in an economically friendly manner that is impossible to achieve solely through manual control.

Here's how quality/reliability engineers use process control:

Consolidated and analyzed Daily to Weekly Statistical Process Control of Intel Flash memory chips.
Established a Cooling Unit Baseline and Implemented In-Production Statistical Process Control.

12. ISO

Here's how quality/reliability engineers use iso:

Maintained budget control with an outside certification body and organized external certification audits for North America in all ISO certifications.
Completed reorganization of Quality Management System including TS16949 compliance elements, and full ISO 9001:2008 re-certification.

13. Continuous Improvement

Continuous improvement is an ongoing process of improvement of products, services, and processes with the help of innovative ideas. It is an organized approach that helps an organization to find its weaknesses and improve them.

Here's how quality/reliability engineers use continuous improvement:

Chaired and directed continuous improvement team meetings for internal interfacing as well as for manufacturing assembly processes and suppliers' improvement.
Utilized Value Stream Mapping to identify process bottlenecks and bring about continuous improvement.

14. FMEA

Here's how quality/reliability engineers use fmea:

Assist Body Engineers with the application of FMEA Methodology and participate in the development of the new FMEA Handbook.
Led Failure Mode and Effects Analyses (FMEA / PFMEA) and Reliability analyses efforts on new products.

15. Risk Assessments

The process of analyzing and identifying the acts or events that have the potential to negatively affect an individual, asset, or business is called risk assessment. Risk assessments are important because they form an integral part of an organization as well as occupational safety plans

Here's how quality/reliability engineers use risk assessments:

Performed risk assessments based on historical trends of potential failures and advise management on course of action.
Developed risk assessments to determine testing required.

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What skills help Quality/Reliability Engineers find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What quality/reliability engineer skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Ana Wooley Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, University of Alabama at Huntsville

For a graduate beginning their career in Industrial Systems Engineering, my advice is to be genuinely proactive and to take initiative. This field, like any other, comes with a steep learning curve as you familiarize yourself with the company's operations, culture, and processes. Actively seek out and engage with experienced colleagues who can mentor and guide you. Don’t hesitate to volunteer for challenging tasks, as these opportunities will significantly improve your learning and skill development. Another piece of advice I would give is not to be discouraged if you find yourself not enjoying your first job. It's important to remember that you never truly know until you experience it firsthand. This initial job can be a great learning opportunity, helping you identify what aspects of the field you don't enjoy and guiding you towards roles that are a better fit for your interests and skills. Every experience, even those that are not ideal, contributes to your overall career growth and helps you identify your career path.

What technical skills for a quality/reliability engineer stand out to employers?

Tracy Farrell

Adjunct Instructor, Clarkson University

Technical skills that employers are seeking include "real" computer skills like Microsoft Office Suite tools, proper communication skills via email and website development and postings, developing proper document format that is appropriate to send to stakeholders (i.e., letter formatting, report writing, email formatting); strong communication skills that include speaking professionally and respectfully to stakeholders as well as writing professionally (i.e., making eye contact when speaking, proper handshake, respectful dialogue including questioning); project management - knowing how to organize work and develop a timeline that includes who will be responsible for what and follow through; data analysis - being able to not only present data in an organized and understandable manner; but, be able to interpret data correctly offering the justification behind what they are interpreting and why.

Respectfully, today's graduates do not understand that being able to text and use social media does not prepare them for "real" computer skills. Many students that I have in high school and in college do not have proper writing skills, document formatting skills, or document management skills to know how to save documents properly and where to save to.

What hard/technical skills are most important for quality/reliability engineers?

Dr. David Grewell Ph.D.

Department Chair and Professor, North Dakota State University

An IE must be able to break down complex problems into manageable issues and provide solutions for these problems that face the world in today's complex interconnected systems. A background in statistics, design and analysis, process management, and a strong foundation in the engineering disciplines make this possible.

Do you want to know more?

List of quality/reliability engineer skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a quality/reliability engineer resume and required skills for a quality/reliability engineer to have include:

Product Quality
Statistical Analysis
Corrective Action
Failure Analysis
Quality Standards
Data Analysis
Product Reliability
Sigma
Product Development
JMP
Process Control
ISO
Continuous Improvement
FMEA
Risk Assessments
Quality Issues
Failure Modes

Minitab
Test Data
SPC
R
PFMEA
Reliability Issues
Quality System
DOE
Statistical Methods
FMECA
Test Equipment
Supplier Quality
Product Design
PPAP
Reliability Analysis
Lean Manufacturing
Management System

APQP
Design Verification
RMA
DFMEA
FDA
QMS
MTBF
Design Engineering
Regression
HASS
Customer Issues
Commodities
Test Results
Customer Returns
Quality Metrics

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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