Reliability Engineer

Cement Plant · Full-time · Permanent or Contract

WALES

Cement plants run on a handful of enormous, unforgiving machines — kilns, mills, ID fans — and when one of them fails, the whole line stops. We're looking for a Reliability Engineer who's motivated by a different question than most maintenance teams ask. Not “how fast can we fix it?” but “how do we make sure it never happens again?”

This is a genuinely protected engineering role: a minimum of 70% of your time is ring-fenced for proactive reliability work — FMEA, RCFA, PM optimisation, bad actor elimination — enforced by site leadership, not just written in a policy somewhere. You'll have the organisational backing to make your recommendations count, working through planning and scheduling to see them through to real, measurable results.

Why This Role

• Protected time, for real — 70% of your week is reliability work, not reactive cover or CMMS admin, and it's enforced without exception.
• Influence, not just input — you own the reliability strategy and KPIs, and report progress directly to the Maintenance Manager and plant leadership.
• Scope to lead — FMEA and RCFA on the plant's most critical assets, with the authority to prioritise and eliminate failure modes at the root.
• A team to build — mentor and develop the Reliability Technician and Lubrication Technician, growing site capability over time.
• A national network — collaborate with OEMs, contractors, and the group's national Maintenance & Reliability team to share and shape best practice across sites.
• Work that compounds — as repeat failures fall and the bad actor list shrinks, your impact on plant performance grows year over year.

What You'll Own

The site reliability strategy and PM optimisation plan — built on failure data and asset criticality, cutting tasks that don't actually prevent failure.

FMEA on critical assets (kilns, mills, fans, ID fans) to identify, prioritise, and design out failure modes.

RCFA on every significant or repetitive failure, driving corrective actions through to completion.

The condition-based inspection programme — NDT, MPI, thickness and wear measurement — setting scope, frequency, and acceptance criteria, and turning findings into corrective or capital plans.

MTBF improvement on bad actor assets, with 6–12 month targets and monthly reporting to the Maintenance Manager.

The reliability KPI set — RF and MTBF trend, bad actor list reduction, PM effectiveness, and cost avoidance — reviewed monthly with plant leadership.

The critical spares strategy, backed by gap analysis and investment cases justified by failure consequence and lead time.

A forward reliability improvement roadmap, prioritised by asset criticality and failure trend.

What You'll Do Day to Day

Provide technical oversight of condition monitoring and lubrication analysis, supporting the Reliability and Lubrication Technicians in interpreting and acting on results.

Oversee shaft alignment and fan balancing work, ensuring it's delivered to standard and prioritised against site needs.

Work with the Maintenance Control Centre to fold Machine Sentry alarms and condition-based actions into shutdown planning.

Sign off post-maintenance vibration analysis readings, confirming assets are genuinely fit to return to service.

Attend planning meetings to make sure condition monitoring and inspection findings translate into scheduled action.

Lead PM reviews alongside mechanical and electrical engineering, planning, and site maintenance teams.

Lead improvement projects on the site's top bad actors, and translate condition trends into engineering and CAPEX recommendations.

What You'll Bring

• A background in mechanical or reliability engineering within a heavy industrial, process, or continuous manufacturing environment (cement, minerals, power, or similar preferred).
• Hands-on experience with FMEA and RCFA methodologies, and a track record of turning them into completed corrective actions — not just reports.
• Working knowledge of condition monitoring techniques (vibration analysis, thermography, oil analysis) and NDT/inspection methods.
• Confidence presenting data-backed recommendations to maintenance and operations leadership, and the credibility to get them prioritised.
• A coaching mindset — genuine interest in developing technicians and building reliability capability across a site.
• Familiarity with CMMS platforms and reliability KPI tracking (MTBF, PM effectiveness, bad actor analysis).
• Vibration analysis certification (e.g. CAT I/II) and shaft alignment/balancing experience are a strong plus, though we'll support the right candidate in developing these.