Job Description

Maintenance Reliability Engineer

The Maintenance Reliability Engineer is responsible for driving equipment reliability, operational uptime, and asset performance across operations. This role serves as a technical bridge between maintenance, engineering, and production teams to reduce unplanned downtime, improve equipment life cycles, and optimize maintenance strategies.

The position focuses on reliability engineering principles including Root Cause Failure Analysis (RCFA), Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM), Preventive Maintenance (PM) optimization, Predictive Maintenance (PdM), and continuous improvement initiatives. The ideal candidate will have hands-on experience improving heavy industrial equipment reliability within a foundry or manufacturing environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and implement reliability strategies for critical foundry assets including melting furnaces, molding systems, core machines, shakeout systems, sand systems, conveyors, dust collection systems, and material handling equipment.
• Lead Root Cause Failure Analysis (RCFA) investigations and implement permanent corrective actions to eliminate repeat failures.
• Analyze reliability metrics including Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF), Mean Time To Repair (MTTR), equipment availability, downtime trends, and maintenance performance indicators.
• Identify chronic equipment issues and develop long-term engineering solutions to improve uptime and reduce maintenance costs.
• Design, optimize, and manage Preventive Maintenance (PM) and Predictive Maintenance (PdM) programs.
• Support condition-based monitoring activities including vibration analysis, infrared thermography, lubrication analysis, ultrasound testing, and equipment inspections.
• Improve maintenance strategies through data analysis, failure history review, and equipment performance trends.
• Partner with maintenance planners, supervisors, and technicians to improve preventive maintenance compliance, planning effectiveness, and maintenance execution.
• Support capital improvement projects, equipment upgrades, and new installations with a focus on maintainability, safety, and lifecycle cost reduction.
• Perform Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) and develop mitigation strategies for critical assets.
• Improve spare parts management, equipment BOM accuracy, maintenance procedures, and technical documentation.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives using Lean Manufacturing, Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), Six Sigma, and reliability best practices.
• Support Management of Change (MOC) processes related to equipment modifications and process improvements.
• Maintain accurate asset records, maintenance history, and reliability documentation within CMMS systems.
• Provide technical coaching and training to maintenance personnel.
• Support planned outages, shutdown activities, and major equipment repairs.
• Ensure all maintenance reliability activities comply with OSHA, environmental, and company safety requirements.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or related technical field. Will consider experience in lieu of a degree.
• 5–10+ years of experience in reliability engineering, maintenance engineering, or industrial equipment engineering.
• Experience supporting steel, aluminum, heavy manufacturing, or similar industrial operations.
• Strong knowledge of rotating equipment, hydraulics, pneumatics, electrical systems, drives, and industrial controls.
• Experience with CMMS systems, asset management, and maintenance data analysis.
• Proven experience leading RCFA investigations and implementing corrective actions.
• Knowledge of furnace systems, sand systems, material handling equipment, dust collection, and high-temperature manufacturing processes.
• Experience with reliability tools including RCM, FMEA, PM optimization, and predictive maintenance techniques.
• Six Sigma, TPM, or Reliability Engineering certification preferred.
• Working knowledge of OSHA, NFPA, and industrial safety requirements.

Core Competencies

• Strong analytical and troubleshooting skills
• Data-driven decision-making ability
• Hands-on technical problem-solving
• Cross-functional leadership and communication
• Continuous improvement mindset
• Ability to influence maintenance and operations teams

Physical & Work Environment

• Work performed in a manufacturing/foundry environment with exposure to heat, dust, noise, and industrial equipment.
• Ability to walk production areas, inspect equipment, climb stairs/ladders, and respond to equipment issues.
• May require occasional off-shift, weekend, or emergency support during outages or critical equipment failures.