Principal Reliability & Rotating Equipment Engineer

Job Type

Full-time

The Principal Reliability & Rotating Equipment Engineer serves as the site's senior technical authority for rotating equipment and as the principal architect of the site reliability strategy determining how the refinery prioritizes its reliability investment, which equipment strategies are applied to which assets, and where the organization directs its improvement effort. The position is accountable for the reliability and mechanical availability of the refinery's rotating assets pumps, compressors, steam and gas turbines, blowers, fans, gearboxes, and their associated drivers, seals, couplings, and lubrication systems — and for the site-wide reliability program surrounding them.

The successful candidate will develop the reliability strategy and supporting tactics, own the asset condition management program, lead significant failure investigations, and build reliability competency across engineering, maintenance, and operations. This role is currently structured as a senior individual contributor position with substantial cross-organizational influence and no direct reports. As the reliability program matures and the department is formalized, this position is the intended home for that leadership responsibility.

• Own & lead the refinery in the Uptime Elements Reliability Framework and Asset Management System Domains:
  Reliability Engineering for Maintenance, Asset Condition Management, Work Execution Management, Leadership for Reliability, Asset Management.
• Develop, document, and maintain the site Reliability Strategy: a funded, measurable multi-year plan addressing identified gaps in equipment availability, organizational capability, and technical competence.
• Produce the annual Reliability Improvement Plan, including supporting tactics, resource requirements, cost, and expected return.
• Define, maintain, and report the site reliability performance indicator set — availability, mean time between failure, mean time to repair, preventive maintenance compliance, schedule compliance, bad actor reduction, and asset condition management coverage and detection rate — through the monthly performance review.
• Establish and maintain the criticality-ranked asset register and the equipment criticality methodology that supports it, ensuring the site can demonstrate which assets carry the greatest consequence of failure and why.
• Influence operating and capital expenditure allocation through the business planning cycle, including non-routine maintenance, infrastructure renewal, and reliability-driven capital projects.
• Develop equipment strategies for critical and semi-critical rotating assets, apply reliability-centered maintenance principles, and adjust strategies based on demonstrated performance.

• Serve as the site's senior technical resource for rotating machinery, including chronic failure resolution, repair-versus-replace evaluation, upgrade and re-rate specification, and technical review of vendor and OEM recommendations.
• Apply the governing industry standards — API 610, 611, 612, 613, 614, 617, 618, 670, and 682, together with applicable ASME, ANSI, and AGMA practices — and exercise sound engineering judgment where those standards do not fully address site conditions.
• Lead machinery-related Management of Change activity: develop scope, schedule, and budget, and deliver safe, reliable, fit-for-purpose rotating equipment designs. Mentor other performers through the MOC process and maintain technical quality standards for machinery sign-off.
• Establish and audit precision maintenance standards, including laser alignment, balancing, bolting, fits and clearances, seal…