Mechanical Reliability Engineer

About the role

This is an 18-24 month duration from award based in the New Orleans (Waggaman) area. Note: You must be a US Citizen or Permanent US Resident to qualify for this position.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop, implement, and continuously improve equipment reliability programs for plant assets
• Analyze equipment performance data and identify opportunities to improve reliability, availability, and maintainability
• Lead root cause failure analyses (RCFA) for significant equipment failures and chronic reliability issues
• Identify failure trends and implement corrective and preventive actions
• Establish and monitor key reliability metrics including Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF), Mean Time To Repair (MTTR), and equipment availability
• Support reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) and risk-based maintenance (RBM) initiatives

Rotating Equipment Reliability

• Provide technical expertise for pumps, compressors, turbines, blowers, fans, gearboxes, and other rotating equipment
• Evaluate vibration, lubrication, thermography, and other predictive maintenance data
• Investigate recurring mechanical failures and recommend corrective actions
• Develop equipment standards and best practices for installation, operation, and maintenance
• Support commissioning, startup, and performance testing of new rotating equipment

Fixed Equipment Reliability

• Support reliability improvements for pressure vessels, heat exchangers, piping systems, storage tanks, reactors, and related fixed assets
• Collaborate with inspection personnel to evaluate equipment condition and integrity
• Review inspection findings and recommend repair, replacement, or mitigation strategies
• Participate in corrosion control and mechanical integrity programs

Maintenance Strategy Development

• Develop preventive and predictive maintenance plans based on equipment criticality and failure modes
• Optimize maintenance tasks to improve equipment performance and reduce lifecycle costs
• Review and update maintenance procedures, job plans, and equipment strategies
• Support spare parts optimization and critical spare identification programs

Project & Turnaround Support

• Provide reliability input during design, procurement, installation, and commissioning phases of projects
• Participate in plant turnarounds, shutdowns, and major maintenance activities
• Review engineering designs to ensure reliability and maintainability requirements are met
• Support equipment upgrades, modifications, and replacement projects

Safety, Environmental & Compliance

• Ensure all activities comply with applicable safety, environmental, and regulatory requirements
• Support Process Safety Management (PSM) and Mechanical Integrity programs
• Participate in hazard reviews, management of change (MOC), and risk assessments
• Promote a culture of operational excellence and continuous improvement

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from an accredited institution
• Professional Engineering (PE) registration preferred
• Typically 5–10+ years of reliability, maintenance, or mechanical engineering experience in the petrochemical, refining, chemical manufacturing, oil and gas, or related process industries
• Demonstrated experience in troubleshooting and failure analysis