Senior Reliability Technician

About the role

The Senior Reliability Technician – VFD / Electrical is responsible for improving the reliability, availability, and performance of variable frequency drive equipment across the client’s facilities and infrastructure. This role combines hands-on field diagnostics with data-driven analysis to reduce unplanned downtime, extend equipment life, and drive continuous improvement in maintenance and reliability practices. This position consolidates responsibilities of a Field Technician, VFD Technician, Analyst, and Reliability Specialist into a single role.

Responsibilities

• Troubleshoot, monitor, and analyze low- and medium-voltage VFDs to improve equipment reliability and minimize downtime.
• Perform root cause failure analysis (RCFA) and recommend corrective and preventive actions.
• Use SCADA, condition-monitoring tools, and equipment data to identify performance issues and reliability trends.
• Conduct field inspections and support VFD startups, commissioning, shutdowns, and turnarounds.
• Collaborate with maintenance, operations, engineering, vendors, and I&E teams to resolve equipment issues and implement improvements.
• Support preventive and predictive maintenance programs, work order quality, asset data, and reliability initiatives.
• Participate in Management of Change (MOC) activities related to equipment modifications, upgrades, and repairs.
• Support spare-parts strategy and equipment criticality assessments.
• Serve as a technical resource for VFD/I&E projects and field troubleshooting.
• Mentor junior technicians and contribute to reliability standards, procedures, and best practices.

Requirements

• 5 years of hands-on troubleshooting on low and medium-voltage drives.
• Oilfield or water-handling experience strongly preferred.
• Expert understanding of drive fundamentals: rectifier and DC bus behavior, IGBTs, and PWM.
• Ability to read a fault log and tell a supply-side problem from a load-side problem.
• Manufacturer-specific experience preferred – Yaskawa.
• Understanding of Modbus and Ethernet/IP, and how drives tie into SCADA for remote monitoring and alarms.
• Understanding of enclosure cooling, dust ingress, cooling fan/heat sink wear.
• Familiarity with reliability methodologies such as RCFA, RCM, FMEA, 5 Whys, Fishbone.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret equipment and process data to identify reliability trends.
• Ability to work in and travel to field environments.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to translate complex technical findings into actionable and understandable recommendations for cross-functional teams.

Skills

• Experience with CMMS/EAM platforms (e.g., SAP PM, Maximo) and reliability software tools.