Reliability Engineer

Alava Consulting's client is looking for a Sr. Reliability Engineer. This is direct hire, located in South East Houston.

The Reliability Engineer – Monitoring & Diagnostics (M&D) serves as the fleet-wide technical authority for rotating equipment health across advanced-class gas and steam turbines. This role leverages engineering expertise, time-series data, and AI-enabled analytics to detect early degradation, assess equipment risk, and provide advisory recommendations to customers. The position supports technical root cause analysis, validates diagnostic models, and translates complex machine intelligence into clear, actionable reliability guidance.

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or related engineering discipline, with progressive experience in turbo machinery, rotating equipment, or power generation reliability engineering; advanced degree or OEM experience preferred. In lieu of a degree, extensive experience (15+ year’s experience) in Combined Cycle Gas Turbines will be considered.

• 7+ years of experience in gas turbine, steam turbine, or rotating equipment engineering within power generation or other critical infrastructure environments.
• Strong technical understanding of rotating equipment failure modes, including vibration behavior, rotor dynamics, combustion instability, thermal stress, bearings, seals, and auxiliary system interactions.
• Demonstrated experience analyzing time-series operational data and interpreting condition monitoring inputs (vibration, combustion dynamics, temperature spreads, electrical signals, etc.).
• Familiarity with AI-enabled analytics platforms and the ability to validate, refine, and improve model-driven diagnostics using engineering judgment.
• Proven ability to communicate complex technical findings clearly to customers and lead or support structured root cause analysis efforts.

• Monitor and assess fleet-wide gas and steam turbine health using time-series data, diagnostic platforms, and AI-enabled analytics to identify early indicators of degradation or abnormal behavior.
• Interpret and validate model-driven anomaly detections, applying engineering judgment to distinguish true risk from operational variation.
• Provide clear, risk-based advisory recommendations to customers regarding equipment condition, reliability exposure, and potential mitigation strategies.
• Lead or support technical root cause analysis (RCA) for significant events, trips, and emerging reliability concerns across the fleet.
• Contribute to continuous improvement of M&D capabilities by refining diagnostic playbooks, improving alarm strategies, and feeding confirmed findings back into analytics platforms.
• Analyze vibration signatures, combustion dynamics data, thermal trends, and operational parameters to detect abnormal patterns in gas and steam turbines.
• Evaluate degradation indicators such as bearing condition, rotor dynamics behavior, temperature spreads, seal performance, and auxiliary system impacts.
• Validate and classify AI-generated alerts, distinguishing true emerging failure modes from transient operational noise.
• Support rapid diagnostic assessments during trips, forced outages, or abnormal operating events, providing timely advisory guidance.
• Lead or support structured root cause investigations and document findings, contributing lessons learned to fleet knowledge systems.
• Provide written and verbal technical reports summarizing equipment condition, risk level, and recommended monitoring or mitigation actions.