Reliability Engineer - Electric Generation

NiSource • Valparaiso, IN

1d • $69,900 - $170,300

About The Position

The Reliability Engineer improves equipment availability and reduces forced outages and increases plant efficiency by applying reliability-centered maintenance, risk-based prioritization, and data-driven asset management. This role partners closely with Operations and Maintenance to analyze performance and condition monitoring data, identify bad actors and systemic issues, support root cause analyses, and implement corrective and preventive actions. The Reliability Engineer develops and optimizes predictive and preventive maintenance programs, critical equipment rankings, supports outage work scope planning, tracks issues and communicates reliability through clear reporting. This position is posted as a five-level engineering job family (Associate through Senior), and the selected candidate will be placed at the level that aligns with their education, experience, and qualifications.

Requirements

• Bachelor of Science in Engineering or Engineering Technology (ABET-accredited) college or university program and degree earned by May 2026
• 0–12+ months relevant experience
• Assist in gathering and organizing maintenance history, performance data, and condition monitoring results.
• Support reliability engineers by performing basic data analysis to identify early signs of equipment performance issues.
• Participate in root cause analysis by preparing data, notes, and documentation.
• Basic knowledge of predictive and preventive maintenance.
• Assist in routine equipment analysis and reporting.
• Assist in preparing reliability reports and tracking risks and issues.
• Support Operations and Maintenance with basic outage planning tasks.
• Continuously learns and builds job-related technical and professional skills through training, mentorship, office and field work.
• Valid driver’s license
• 1+ years relevant experience
• Improved performance of all duties and responsibilities of the Associate Engineer level plus
• Conduct preliminary analysis of equipment failures and provide input to corrective actions.
• Prepare cost estimates for simple tasks or component‑level repairs under guidance.
• Perform routine condition monitoring reviews and highlight potential bad actors.
• Begin developing preventive/predictive maintenance tasks for non‑critical systems.
• Assist in developing preventive/predictive maintenance tasks for critical systems.
• Assist in data-driven risk-based prioritization of work.
• Generate and update reliability of KPI reports with minimal assistance.
• Participate in outage scope planning and document required preventive actions.
• Ability to prepare cost estimates under supervision
• 4+ years of equivalent experience
• Improved performance of all duties and responsibilities of the Engineer 1 level plus
• Lead / Support root cause analyses for equipment failures and manage closure of resulting actions.
• Conduct routine analysis of equipment to identify systemic and performance issues.
• Develop and optimize preventive/predictive maintenance strategies for critical assets with minimal supervision.
• Recommend spare parts strategy adjustments based on failure modes and critical needs.
• Contribute to long-term asset management strategies through data‑driven insights.
• Manage portions of outage scopes and coordinate with both Ops and Maintenance.
• Produce and present reliability reports for leadership.
• 9+ years of equivalent experience
• Improved performance of all duties and responsibilities of the Engineer 2 level plus
• Lead root cause analyses and closure thru resolution of correct actions and tracking results.
• Manage reliability improvement projects end‑to‑end, including scoping, estimating, scheduling, and evaluation.
• Develop asset risk management models, evaluate and communicate risks.
• Creation and continuous improvement of predictive maintenance programs for plant-wide systems.
• Provide guidance to Operations and Maintenance on optimizing operating conditions for reliability.
• Establish and refine critical equipment rankings across multiple assets or plants.
• 12+ years of equivalent experience
• Improved performance of all duties and responsibilities of the Engineer 3 level plus
• Drive fleet-wide reliability strategy, policy development, and technology adoption.
• Serve as the technical owner for reliability standards, tools, and methodologies.
• Lead major failure investigations with plant-wide or multi-plant implications.
• Develop long-term asset health strategies and reliability plans that align with business goals.
• Influence capital planning by identifying reliability-driven improvement opportunities.
• Champion reliability and continuous improvement initiatives that reduce forced outages and enhance performance across all generation assets.

Nice To Haves

• Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering or Mechanical Engineering Technology (ABET-accredited) college or university program and degree earned by May 2026
• Experience in the electric utility industry
• PMP certification or advanced project management skills.
• EIT/PE certification
• Advanced degree in Business or Engineering

Responsibilities

• Improve equipment uptime, efficiency, and reduce forced outages using reliability-centered maintenance and risk-based prioritization.
• Support root cause analyses for equipment failures, develop corrective and preventive actions, track them to closure and document.
• Analyze maintenance history, condition monitoring data, and performance trends to identify bad actors and systemic issues.
• Develop and optimize preventive/predictive maintenance strategies, recommendations on spare parts, and critical equipment rankings.
• Partner with Operations and Maintenance to plan and support outage work scopes, reliability improvements, long-term asset strategies and risk management
• Build and maintain reports on reliability KPIs, efficiency improvements and asset risk that support decision-making
• Perform and/or interpret vibration analysis for rotating equipment
• Crosstrain with Performance, Mechanical and Electrical Engineers on Renewable and Conventional Generation Assets
• Support Renewable Generation Assets on an as needed basis

Benefits

• As a public utility, NiSource is required to provide continuous service to customers at all times. To ensure we fulfill that obligation, employees may be required to work outside their normal work hours and perform tasks outside of their normal responsibilities in support of emergency operations.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level