SR Manager - Reliability Manufacturing Engineer

Blue Diamond Growers • Salida, CA

1d

About The Position

The Senior Reliability Engineer is responsible for ensuring maximum reliability, uptime, and performance of manufacturing equipment and production processes across all Blue Diamond Growers’ facilities. This role leads the development and execution of reliability strategies, preventive and predictive maintenance programs, root cause analysis, and continuous improvement initiatives to enhance equipment availability and optimize lifecycle performance. A key objective of this role is achieving a 50% reduction in unplanned downtime over a five year period. The Senior Reliability Engineer partners closely with Engineering, Maintenance, Operations, Co-Manufacturing and Safety teams to drive long term asset health and deliver operational excellence across the organization.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Industrial Engineering, or related technical field.
• 10+ years of experience in reliability, maintenance, or engineering within a manufacturing environment.
• Strong maintenance management experience, including planning, scheduling, PM/PdM program oversight, and team partnership.
• Deep understanding of mechanical, electrical, rotating equipment, pneumatics, hydraulics, and automation systems.
• Hands-on expertise with CMMS/EAM systems such as SAP, Maximo, or Infor.
• Experience applying RCM, RCA, FMEA, and TPM methodologies.
• Proficiency with predictive maintenance tools (vibration, thermography, oil analysis, ultrasound).
• Proven practitioner of Continuous Improvement using Lean, Six Sigma, TPM, 5S, DMAIC, and A3.
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional improvement initiatives aimed at increasing OEE and reducing downtime.

Nice To Haves

• Professional certifications such as CMRP, CRE, LSS Green/Black Belt, or TPM Practitioner.
• Experience supervising or mentoring maintenance or reliability personnel.
• Experience deploying maintenance and reliability excellence programs.
• Knowledge of Industry 4.0 technologies and data-driven reliability tools.
• Experience in high-volume or continuous-process manufacturing environments.

Responsibilities

• Equipment & Asset Reliability
• Develop and execute asset reliability strategies for production equipment, utilities, and facility systems.
• Perform asset criticality assessments and define risk-based maintenance strategies.
• Enhance PM/PdM programs to ensure consistent performance and equipment uptime.
• Root Cause Analysis & Failure Prevention
• Lead structured RCAs for breakdowns, chronic downtime, and quality-related failures.
• Implement and verify effectiveness of long-term corrective actions.
• Identify reliability trends using KPIs such as MTBF, MTTR, and OEE and work with manufacturing sites to create action items from the data as appropriate.
• Predictive Maintenance & Condition Monitoring
• Manage PdM programs including vibration analysis, thermography, oil analysis, and ultrasound.
• Interpret condition-monitoring data and recommend proactive actions.
• Deploy Industry 4.0–based predictive technologies where applicable.
• Maintenance Optimization & Planning
• Owns the Work Oder Lifecyle Process, Master Data governance and CMMS utilization.
• Apply RCM, FMEA, and Weibull analysis to optimize maintenance strategies and intervals.
• Improve maintenance planning, scheduling accuracy, and PM quality.
• Drive critical spares strategies and optimize inventory management.
• Project Management
• Lead reliability, maintenance, and continuous improvement projects from initiation through execution and closeout.
• Define project scope, budgets, timelines, risk assessments, and resource requirements.
• Manage cross-functional project teams and ensure alignment with plant priorities and operational goals.
• Oversee vendor management, equipment procurement, installation, commissioning, and startup activities.
• Ensure new equipment installations incorporate reliability, maintainability, and safety principles.
• Apply structured project management methodologies to deliver projects on time, within scope, and within budget.
• Continuous Improvement (CI)
• Lead and facilitate CI initiatives using Lean, Six Sigma, TPM, A3 and other structured problem-solving methods to drive sustainable improvements.
• Conduct Kaizen events aimed at reducing downtime, enhancing reliability, improving OEE, and eliminating waste.
• Support process optimization, debottlenecking efforts, and equipment upgrades.
• Build standardized processes, visual management, and maintenance/ops standard work.
• Partner with Operations, Maintenance, Quality, and Engineering teams to embed a CI mindset into daily operations.
• Cross-Functional Leadership
• Serve as a technical leader for reliability, maintenance excellence, and continuous improvement.
• Mentor technicians, engineers, and operators on reliability and CI methodologies.
• Communicate equipment health, risks, and improvement plans effectively across all levels of the organization.

Benefits

• In addition to working at the world’s largest, state-of-the-art almond manufacturer, we offer a safe and collaborative team environment, with numerous opportunities for free training and career advancement.
• Check out the BDG Benefits, Health & Wellness Guide HERE .
• In addition to a robust benefits package, we offer an employee wellness and fitness program, in which a majority of our workforce currently participates.

What This Job Offers

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