Reliability Lead

Unilever • Chicago, IL

3d

About The Position

The Reliability Lead plays a key role in driving long‑term asset health by coordinating maintenance planning, reliability activities, and daily execution. This role supports the Maintenance Manager and Maintenance Lead by providing direct leadership to the Maintenance Planner and Reliability Specialist, while also guiding maintenance technicians within the assigned area. The Reliability Lead is responsible for ensuring effective planning, execution, and continuous improvement of all maintenance and reliability activities. This includes ensuring maintenance tasks are completed to standard, resources are properly allocated, and issues are escalated promptly to maintain safe, efficient, and reliable operations. You’ll be part of a team that believes in doing work that matters — for people and the planet. Because here, we don’t just hire for jobs. We invite you to be part of something bigger.

Requirements

• 4 year degree in a technical field and at least two (2) years of experience as a maintenance supervisor/coordinator in fast paced manufacturing environment.
• Strong troubleshooting skills
• Excellent communication skills
• Ability to coordinate and communicate with teams working different shifts across a 24/7 schedule.
• Experience leading a team of maintenance technicians toward a common goal
• Must be capable of working independently and in a team environment
• Experience making reliability/maintenance decisions to meet needs
• Proven track record of implementing improvement ideas

Nice To Haves

• Experience using a CMMS system
• Controls/Automation experience with a strong preference to Allen Bradley controls

Responsibilities

• Continuously strive to increase the efficiency and reliability of equipment in their area of focus
• Communicate with all shifts of the maintenance team to ensure a consistent message and consistent application of all company policies, programs, rules and regulations.
• Support maintenance team in troubleshooting, finding/procuring parts, or escalating issues as required
• Carries out periodic audits to ensure depth of work order material is adequate and works with lead and planner to ensure gaps are addressed
• Ensure maintenance, quality and safety audits are carried out by the team to ensure compliance with internal requirements
• Work with the maintenance lead and planner to track breakdowns, identify chronic issues, conduct root-cause analysis, and implement sustainable countermeasures.
• Review short and medium-term plans for equipment maintenance with the maintenance lead and planner and operations team.
• Develop long term plans with input from the managers, supervisors and operations team and ensure execution of the plans.
• Working as a team with Supervisors, Maintenance team members, and Operations to plan, procure and document activities for the enhancement of machines in the assigned area
• Engage vendors and OEMs for technical support, project execution, reliability improvements, and complex troubleshooting
• Participate in safety and quality reviews; ensure corrective actions are implemented promptly and effectively.
• Support the development and execution of reliability‑centered maintenance strategies, including predictive and preventive maintenance improvements.
• Bias for Action. By providing consistent and near real time information, decisions can be taken quickly which leverage our resources.
• Building Talent & Teams. Our vision is to move to semi-autonomous teams and we require Maintenance Reliability Engineer’s with a passion for achieving results through great teamwork, an ability to teach new tools and methodologies and ensuring that you and your colleagues are fully aligned, and drawing on one another’s strengths.
• Accountability & Responsibility. Taking responsibility for building your team’s performance and sharing your best interventions to help support other lines’ in their improvements.
• Process and Organizational Design. Leverage technical knowledge and a systems approach to ensure factory lines and processes are optimally resourced (e.g. manpower ratios are efficient and sustainable).
• Analytical capability. Collect and analyze complex data to penetrate problems’ phenomena and understand root causes.

Benefits

• Unilever employees are eligible to participate in our benefits plan. Should the employee choose to participate, they can choose from a range of benefits to include, but is not limited to, health insurance (including prescription drug, dental, and vision coverage), retirement savings benefits, life insurance and disability benefits, parental leave, sick leave, paid vacation and holidays, as well as access to numerous voluntary benefits. Any coverages for health insurance and retirement benefits will be in accordance with the terms and conditions of the applicable plans and associated governing plan documents.

What This Job Offers

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