Reliability Engineer

Reliability Engineer

At Emmi Roth, we're passionate about creating exceptional cheeses. As a leader in the specialty cheese industry, we blend traditional craftsmanship with innovation. Our commitment to local sourcing and quality makes us a trusted brand in the food industry.

Joining Emmi Roth means becoming part of a team that values creativity, collaboration, and a shared dedication to excellence. You'll have the opportunity to work with some of the finest cheeses in the world while contributing to a company that prides itself on both heritage and progress. If you're passionate about food, craftsmanship, and making an impact, we'd love for you to be a part of our journey!

Job Summary The Reliability Engineer is accountable for establishing a proactive, data-driven reliability culture across a 5-site network (3 cheese make plants, 1 converting facility, 1 distribution center). This role reduces unplanned downtime and cost by leading RCM/FMEA, PM optimization, reliability analytics, and sustainability-driven equipment improvements—translating asset performance data into measurable gains in uptime, energy efficiency, and total cost of ownership.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities
• Develop and maintain equipment criticality rankings across all sites and establish reliability governance, KPIs, and performance routines aligned to supply chain objectives.
• Lead RCM and FMEA efforts on critical equipment and chronic loss areas to optimize preventive and predictive maintenance strategies using failure mode data.
• Standardize PM libraries, maintenance practices, and reliability tools across all sites to improve consistency, scale, and execution quality.
• Serve as the network subject matter expert on machine reliability and maintenance strategy, improving lubrication, inspection, condition monitoring, failure mode identification, and equipment design improvements.
• Partner with maintenance teams to improve wrench time, job quality, and repeatability, and bridge maintenance and engineering to ensure design-for-reliability in new CAPEX projects.
• Lead structured root cause analysis using A3, 8D, and other reliability methods for significant downtime events, and implement defect elimination systems to prevent recurrence.
• Identify and lead initiatives that reduce energy consumption and utilities losses, including compressed air, steam, refrigeration, water, and CIP inefficiencies, in partnership with utilities and operations teams.
• Integrate reliability with sustainability goals by reducing waste, improving equipment efficiency and lifecycle performance, and supporting KPI development tied to energy and sustainability performance.
• Own the reliability KPI framework, including MTBF, MTTR, OEE, PM compliance, schedule adherence, and emergency work order percentage, and translate data into prioritized improvement plans and business cases.
• Partner with the CMMS Planner/Scheduler to improve asset hierarchy, failure codes, job plans, work quality, and feedback loops while driving data integrity and standardization.
• Work cross-functionally with Maintenance, Operations, Engineering, Supply Chain, Quality, and Safety & Sustainability to align reliability efforts to production throughput, food safety, and supply chain performance.

Qualifications / Minimum Requirements Education & Experience
• Bachelor's degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Electrical, Industrial, or related field).
• 5+ years of experience in reliability, maintenance, manufacturing engineering, or asset performance improvement in a manufacturing environment.
• Experience supporting multi-site operations and leading cross-functional improvement initiatives is preferred. Technical Skills
• Strong expertise in RCM, FMEA, root cause analysis, preventive maintenance, predictive maintenance, and equipment criticality assessment.
• Deep understanding of rotating equipment, process systems, packaging equipment, utilities, and maintenance best practices such as lubrication, alignment, inspection, rebuild strategies, and condition-based monitoring.
• Knowledge of industrial energy systems including steam, ammonia refrigeration, compressed air,…