Sr Reliability Specialist

JOB SUMMARY 

The Rotating Equipment Specialist provides technical guidance and field-facing reliability support for refinery rotating equipment, including pumps, compressors, turbines, motors, gearboxes, bearing systems, seals, lubrication systems, and related auxiliary equipment. The role is accountable for improving equipment reliability, increasing mean time between failures, reducing downtime, and lowering maintenance-related operating cost while supporting safe and environmentally responsible operations. This position partners with Reliability Engineering, Maintenance, Operations, Turnaround, Inspection, Procurement, and vendor resources to troubleshoot rotating equipment issues, strengthen maintenance strategies, improve precision maintenance practices, and support long-term reliability performance. 

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES 

• Provide day-to-day technical guidance to Operations and Maintenance on rotating equipment performance, asset integrity, corrective actions, and safe return-to-service decisions. 

• Lead or support troubleshooting of rotating equipment failure modes, including shaft misalignment, imbalance, bearing distress, seal degradation, lubrication-related failures, abnormal vibration, process-induced equipment issues, soft foot, piping strain, and repeat failures. 

• Lead optimization and performance improvement of pumps, compressors, turbines, motors, and auxiliary systems through condition monitoring, equipment health reviews, reliability improvement actions, and collaboration with discipline experts. 

• Support the vibration and lubrication programs, including monthly route collection, review of vibration data, interpretation of oil analysis results, creation of corrective work orders, and follow-up on alarm or warning conditions. 

• Participate in root cause analysis, root cause failure analysis, defect elimination, bad actor reviews, FMEA sessions, Reliability Centered Maintenance reviews, and maintenance strategy development. 

• Assist with development and improvement of preventive and predictive maintenance tasks, equipment standards, maintenance procedures, commissioning plans, inspection plans, and troubleshooting documentation for rotating machinery. 

• Collaborate with planners, Maintenance, Operations, Reliability Engineering, and Turnaround teams on shutdown, startup, outage, and turnaround scope development, justification, execution support, and post-event improvement actions. 

• Support commissioning, repair quality, inspection, and acceptance of rotating equipment repairs, rebuilds, installations, and upgrades, including review of vendor/OEM recommendations and field execution quality. 

• Participate in the maintenance critical spare parts program by identifying critical rotating equipment spares, reviewing equipment history, supporting BOM accuracy, and recommending inventory improvements where needed. 

• Use SAP/CMMS, vibration systems, rounds tools, and reliability dashboards to maintain data integrity, document equipment health, create notifications/work orders, trend failures, and support reliability KPIs. 

• Coach and support Maintenance and Operations personnel on rotating equipment basics, precision maintenance expectations, lubrication practices, vibration awareness, equipment care, and start-up/shutdown considerations. 

• Support capital improvement and management of change activities by providing rotating equipment input into design reviews, installation plans, equipment specifications, commissioning, PSSR, and reliability readiness. 

REQUIRED EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE 

• Associate degree or two-year technical degree preferred. HS/GED required. Combination of education, technical training, military experience, and relevant industry experience may be considered. 

• Six (6) or more years of Oil & Gas, refining, petrochemical, chemical manufacturing, power generation, heavy industrial, or related rotating equipment experience required. 

• Demonstrated experience with rotating equipment such as pumps, compressors, turbines, motors, gearboxes, bearings, seals, lubrication systems, and associated auxiliary systems required. 

• Experience troubleshooting rotating equipment failure modes and identifying root causes related to shaft alignment, imbalance, bearing health, seal systems, lubrication, vibration, process conditions, and mechanical installation quality required. 

• Category I vibration certification preferred. Additional vibration, lubrication, infrared, ultrasound, precision alignment, or reliability certification is a plus. 

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES 

• Working knowledge of reliability management, rotating equipment reliability, predictive maintenance, condition monitoring, root cause analysis, risk assessment, and defect elimination. 

• Ability to interpret vibration trends, equipment health indicators, lubrication results, work order history, downtime information, and recurring failure data to recommend corrective actions. 

• Knowledge of precision maintenance practices, including shaft alignment, balancing, soft-foot correction, equipment base/foundation considerations, lubrication control, seal system basics, and installation quality checks. 

• Ability to work cross-functionally with Operations, Maintenance, Reliability Engineering, Turnaround, Inspection, Procurement, contractors, and vendors to resolve equipment performance issues. 

• Ability to write clear technical recommendations, corrective work requests, failure summaries, maintenance procedures, and equipment documentation. 

• Ability to prioritize work based on safety, environmental impact, production risk, equipment criticality, reliability risk, and business impact. 

• Familiarity with CMMS/SAP, vibration monitoring tools, electronic rounds, reliability dashboards, and Microsoft Office tools preferred. 

PHYSICAL DEMANDS AND WORK ENVIRONMENT 

• Must be able to work in an industrial refinery environment and access operating units, maintenance areas, shops, and field equipment as needed. 

• Must be able to wear required personal protective equipment in designated areas, including hard hat, safety glasses, gloves, flame-resistant clothing, safety footwear, hearing protection, and respiratory protection when required. 

• May be required to walk job sites, climb stairs or ladders, work around hot surfaces, noisy equipment, rotating machinery, hydrocarbons, chemicals, and other refinery conditions. 

• May support callouts, outages, turnarounds, shutdown/startup activities, and field troubleshooting based on business need. 

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