Senior Reliability Engineer

BH-298615
  • $190000 per annum
  • United States California Bakersfield
  • Permanent
  • Alternative & Renewable Energy
  • Energy from Waste / Biomass
Job Summary:

The Reliability Engineer is responsible for providing technical guidance on rotating equipment within the refinery that maintains and improves the safety, environmental, and reliability performance of the assets.  The Reliability Engineer will demonstrate accountability for increasing equipment reliability by improving time between failures while reducing equipment downtime and maintenance costs.  This role develops strategies to manage refinery assets at peak performance, optimize lifetime return on investment, mitigate reliability risk, and supports capital improvements in support of long term sustainable performance; and champion the troubleshooting, repair, overhaul, planning and budgeting for rotating equipment including large steam turbines, large centrifugal compressors, rotary screw compressors, reciprocating compressors, positive displacement pumps, gearboxes, and turbomachinery auxiliary systems.

Essential Functions:
  • Provide engineering technical support to operating units, environmental activities, and plant projects to improve reliability, process safety and environmental performance
  • Support process safety, safety, and environmental compliance by participating in process hazard analysis, incident investigations, procedure development, management of change, alarm management, pressure protection management, and providing technical assistance for work scope development, and assessment of operating impacts on equipment.
  • Design improvements for equipment/systems to improve overall reliability, availability, and predictability of production, improve process safety and environmental performance including complex designs
  • Provide process support to Plant Engineering activities, usually involving preparation of major appropriation requests or execution of detailed engineering of projects
  • Perform equipment reliability analysis and recommends improvements based on Root Cause Failure Analysis (RCFA) findings
  • Establish critical equipment spare strategy
  • Recommend equipment reliability improvements though analysis of equipment trends, historical, and field data
  • Develop, implement and lead reliability principles, precision maintenance, and condition monitoring initiatives
  • Analyzes refineries’ maintenance and reliability work practices to identify performance drivers. Works collaboratively with refineries’ maintenance leadership on design/reengineering of existing work processes to increase efficiency and effectiveness within established technical standards
  • Manage the mechanical integrity and quality assurance portion of Process Safety Management (PSM) program
  • Work with all relevant departments to ensure the reliability and maintainability of new and modified installations adhering to the life cycle asset management process throughout the entire life cycle of new assets
  • Develop engineering solutions to repetitive failures that adversely affect plant operations. These problems include capacity, quality, cost or regulatory compliance issues
  • Stay abreast of latest industry best practices, technology and equipment design through participation in professional organizations and associations
  • Support turnaround and unit shutdown planning and execution through participation in scope development, providing justification for work items, and providing technical support during shutdown/startup and outage timeframe
  • Coordinate and assist in implementation of plant system changes, including equipment additions, modifications and/or deletions and process design
  • Develop and deliver site training to educate, inform and guide refinery maintenance staff on application of technical standards
  • Ensure standards reflect both engineering and work processes and are supported by industry best practices.
  • Provide input into capital projects to ensure the scope meets the objectives of operational reliability
  • Specify appropriate Preventive Maintenance (PM's) / Predictive Maintenance (PdM's) based on Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA)
  • Develop refining technical standards for maintenance and mechanical engineering
  • Conduct gap assessments primarily through periodic audits to gauge effectiveness of maintenance and reliability work processes. Identifies internal barriers to implementation and works with refineries’ staffs on resolution
  • Perform related tasks as assigned
Required Skills/Abilities:
  • CHANGE AGILITY: Identifies, initiates, and adapts to organizational changes that foster enhanced effectiveness, efficiency, safety, and ultimately business results
  • COLLABORATION: Sees connection points across the organization and partners effectively with others to achieve common goals
  • DECISION MAKING: Selects a course of action to reduce risk and uncertainty and create optimal outcomes
  • DRIVE FOR RESULTS: Drives to achieve challenging performance objectives
  • TEAM BUILDING: Builds trust, fosters openness, and provides support. As the manager of a team, selects and motivates a strong team
Supervisory Responsibilities:
  • N/A
Education and Experience:
  • 4 year / Bachelor's Degree (Required)
  • Four (4) or more years’ Experience in a related field (Required)
  • No Licensure or Certification Required.


With over 90 years' combined experience, NES Fircroft (NES) is proud to be the world's leading engineering staffing provider spanning the Oil & Gas, Power & Renewables, Chemicals, Construction & Infrastructure, Life Sciences, Mining and Manufacturing sectors worldwide. With more than 80 offices in 45 countries, we are able to provide our clients with the engineering and technical expertise they need, wherever and whenever it is needed. We offer contractors far more than a traditional recruitment service, supporting with everything from securing visas and work permits, to providing market-leading benefits packages and accommodation, ensuring they are safely and compliantly able to support our clients.

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