Maintenance Reliability Engineer

Maintenance Reliability Engineer

Bekaert Group

Willington Quay, United Kingdom

Purpose of the Job

The Reliability Engineer strengthens equipment performance and lifecycle value by analyzing failures, creating and optimizing maintenance programs, managing critical spare parts, and supporting the plant with structured reliability engineering methods. The role combines analytical capabilities with shopfloor engagement and cross-functional collaboration. A key responsibility is to manage the plant’s asset portfolio through a structured Long-Term Asset Planning (LTAP) process, ensuring the right investments are made at the right time to secure long-term operational performance.

Roles and Responsibilities

Reliability Improvement & Failure Analysis

• Analyze maintenance data to identify trends, recurring failures, and improvement opportunities;
• Lead Root Cause Failure Analysis (RCFA) sessions and ensure timely implementation of corrective and preventive actions;
• Coach the maintenance team to integrate root cause thinking into their daily routines;
• Provide troubleshooting support to operations for urgent, chronic, or high-risk equipment reliability issues, including participation in emergency work reviews.

Maintenance Strategy Optimization

• Define the preferred maintenance strategies for installed assets based on criticality ranking;
• Facilitate optimization of wrench time for preventive maintenance activities and eliminate non-value-added tasks;
• Define and continuously improve optimized maintenance plans for each equipment type, including:
  • Lubrication tasks;
  • Preventive tasks;
  • Predictive/condition monitoring tasks;
  • Failure-finding tasks for protective devices.
• Coordinate and drive FMECA sessions for critical equipment and ensure follow-up of the agreed actions.

Spare Parts & Component Reliability

• Support the spare parts team in defining and optimizing stock levels, including identification of strategic and critical spare parts;
• Follow up on technical trials of spare or process parts from alternative suppliers, qualities, or redesigned components;
• Ensure structured technical feedback is provided to engineering design owners and external companies.

Asset Portfolio Management & Long-Term Planning

• Lead and maintain the Long-Term Asset Planning (LTAP) process for the plant;
• Evaluate asset condition, risks, lifecycle stages, and investment needs to build a robust multi-year asset replacement and upgrade plan;
• Prioritize actions and investments based on risk, reliability impact, cost, and alignment with company standards;
• Provide clear reliability-based input for annual budget cycles and long-term Capex forecasting.

Engineering & Project Support

• Provide reliability engineering support to Capex projects from early concept through commissioning;
• Ensure new equipment meets reliability, maintainability, and lifecycle-cost expectations;
• Translate field experience and reliability insights into equipment specifications and design improvements.

Skills & Competencies

• Bachelor's or master's degree in mechanical, Electrical, Electromechanical, or Industrial Engineering (or equivalent through experience);
• 3–5 years of experience in maintenance, reliability engineering, or asset management in an industrial environment;
• Strong knowledge of RCFA, FMECA, predictive maintenance techniques, and reliability tools;
• Experience with spare parts management and maintenance data analysis;
• Knowledge of SAP PM or similar EAM/CMMS systems;
• Strong analytical and facilitation skills with the ability to engage cross-functional teams.