Reliability Engineer (Senior or Principal)

Xcel Energy•Denver, CO

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Reliability Engineer is responsible for improving system and asset reliability by establishing maintenance strategies, leveraging predictive and condition-based maintenance, leading failure analytics, and prioritizing capital requests to drive continuous improvement across the plant site. Applies extensive technical expertise and has full knowledge of other related disciplines. Performs as a staff advisor and consultant in a technical specialty, a type of facility or equipment, or a program function. Carries out complex or innovative assignments requiring the development of new or improved techniques and procedures. Work is expected to result in the development of new/improved techniques and procedures or new/refined equipment, materials, processes, products, and/or scientific methods. Represents the organization as the prime technical contact on contracts and projects and interacts with senior external personnel on significant technical matters often requiring coordination between organizations. Work is performed without appreciable direction and considerable latitude is exercised in determining technical objectives of assignment. Guidance relates largely to overall objectives, critical issues, new concepts and policy matters. Completed work is reviewed from a relatively long-term perspective, for desired results. May assign tasks to and direct engineers, technicians, craft personnel and administrative staff, including coordination and review of work assignments. Responsible for (and may lead) multiple projects of moderate to large size or portions of major projects. Essential Responsibilities Applies extensive technical expertise and has an understanding of the basic principles of other related disciplines. Fully demonstrates the unique technical skills and core competencies for this engineering level by applying technical standards, principles, theories, concepts, and techniques to lead projects of moderate to large size, scope and complexity. Largely self-directed work is expected to result in the development of new or improved techniques, procedures and standards. Supports the development of technical documentation (including but not limited to designs, testing, calculations, reports, standards, etc.) Without appreciable direction exercises considerable latitude in determining ongoing technical support for project activities within areas such as Operations, Maintenance, Testing/diagnostics and Regulatory. Provides field engineering oversight and direction for activities such as support, testing, installation, inspections, commissioning etc. Coordinates/leads multiple projects or portions of projects (including phases such as research, design, equipment selection, procurement, installation and commissioning). May lead more critical projects with oversight of a higher-level engineer or supervisor. Represents the organization as the prime technical contact in the bid/evaluation processes including preparation of bid documents, completion of technical evaluations for proposals and providing recommendations for selection. Interacts with senior external personnel on significant technical matters often requiring coordination with internal and external organizations. Effectively and with precision resolves difficult technical/business matters both inter-organizationally and with outside customer/vendors with all formats of communication. May assign tasks to and/or direct engineers, technicians, craft personnel and other support staff including coordination and review of work assignments. Provides guidance and mentoring to less experienced engineers. Responsible for continuous self-development of technical skills and competencies. Leads activities such as budgeting, estimating, forecasting, accounting, work order management, in support of engineering projects. Additional Responsibilities: Reduce operational risk through proactive reliability and maintenance governance. Translate master maintenance strategies into site-specific maintenance strategies and execution plans. Optimize system and asset health by identifying performance gaps and driving corrective actions. Own and maintain the site asset criticality analysis to guide work prioritization and resource allocation. Develop and deploy site predictive technologies to detect degradation before failure. Identify and manage single points of failure and high-impact failures to improve overall system resiliency. Ensure budgeting development creates a plant specific project portfolio to maximize reliability and reduce operational risk. Identify capital spare parts and recommend inventory additions based on risk and lead time. Lead root cause analysis (RCA) and sharing to capture best practices and prevent recurrence.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in engineering from ABET accredited curriculum
For Senior Engineer Level: 5+ years relevant engineering experience with EIT/FE (Engineer in Training/Fundamentals of Engineering) required; 7+ years relevant engineering experience without EIT/FE.
For Principal Engineer Level: 9+ years relevant engineering experience with PE (Professional Engineer) registration required; 15+ years relevant engineering experience without PE.
Ability to demonstrate the unique technical skills and core competencies for this engineering level established & documented by the organization.

Nice To Haves

Reliability or maintenance leadership certification (e.g., Certified Reliability Leader)
PE (Professional Engineer) registration may be required depending on business need (for Senior Engineer Level)

Responsibilities

Improving system and asset reliability by establishing maintenance strategies
Leveraging predictive and condition-based maintenance
Leading failure analytics
Prioritizing capital requests to drive continuous improvement across the plant site
Applying extensive technical expertise and understanding of basic principles of other related disciplines
Supporting the development of technical documentation (designs, testing, calculations, reports, standards, etc.)
Providing field engineering oversight and direction for activities such as support, testing, installation, inspections, commissioning
Coordinating/leading multiple projects or portions of projects
Representing the organization as the prime technical contact in bid/evaluation processes
Resolving difficult technical/business matters both inter-organizationally and with outside customer/vendors
Assigning tasks to and/or directing engineers, technicians, craft personnel and other support staff
Providing guidance and mentoring to less experienced engineers
Responsible for continuous self-development of technical skills and competencies
Leading activities such as budgeting, estimating, forecasting, accounting, work order management, in support of engineering projects
Reducing operational risk through proactive reliability and maintenance governance
Translating master maintenance strategies into site-specific maintenance strategies and execution plans
Optimizing system and asset health by identifying performance gaps and driving corrective actions
Owning and maintaining the site asset criticality analysis to guide work prioritization and resource allocation
Developing and deploying site predictive technologies to detect degradation before failure
Identifying and managing single points of failure and high-impact failures to improve overall system resiliency
Ensuring budgeting development creates a plant specific project portfolio to maximize reliability and reduce operational risk
Identifying capital spare parts and recommending inventory additions based on risk and lead time
Leading root cause analysis (RCA) and sharing to capture best practices and prevent recurrence