Head

PeopleStrong; Mumbai; On-site; INR 9,000,000 - 15,000,000; Full time

Job summary

PeopleStrong is seeking a senior Reliability/Engineering leader to shape the reliability strategy across PIL manufacturing units. The role targets zero safety incidents due to equipment, maximized asset uptime, and optimized lifecycle costs.

You will drive a proactive maintenance culture, ensure 100% statutory compliance, and deploy best practices to achieve world-class manufacturing standards across all sites. You will mentor UEMs, lead RCA/CAPA, oversee spares, and manage lifecycle budgeting.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical, or Instrumentation Engineering (Master’s degree in Reliability Engineering or Management highly preferred).
• 15–18 years of progressive experience in Engineering, Maintenance, and Reliability in large-scale manufacturing (Chemicals, Paints, Pharmaceuticals, FMCG).
• Minimum 5–8 years in a senior leadership role managing multiple units or a corporate reliability function.
• Certifications preferred: CMRP, CRE; strong analytical and regulatory acumen.

Responsibilities

• Lead safety and compliance programs to achieve zero accidents related to equipment condition.
• Develop and deploy SOPs, WI, and ITPM checklists for safety-critical assets.
• Oversee preventive and predictive maintenance strategies and calibration schedules across PIL plants.
• Drive RCA & CAPA processes and ensure horizontal deployment of improvements.
• Manage spares, budgeting, and lifecycle optimization for end-of-life assets.
• Guide leadership across UEMs and plant teams to foster a reliability-first culture.

Skills

Reliability strategy

Leadership

Regulatory compliance

RCA & CAPA

Budgeting (CAPEX/OPEX)

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical or Instrumentation Engineering

Master’s degree in Reliability Engineering or Management (preferred)

Job description

To lead and drive the engineering reliability strategy across all PIL manufacturing units, ensuring zero safety incidents attributable to equipment condition, maximizing asset uptime, and optimizing lifecycle costs. This role is accountable for embedding a proactive maintenance culture, ensuring 100% statutory compliance, and horizontally deploying reliability best practices across the organization to achieve world-class manufacturing standards.

2. Key Responsibilities

A. Safety & Compliance (Non-Negotiable)

• Zero Accidents: Achieve and sustain zero reportable accidents caused by equipment or system condition failures.
• Safety Tagging: Ensure all safety-critical equipment and systems are identified, documented, and tagged per Standard Operating Procedures (SOP).
• Inspection & Auditing: Conduct regular field inspections to verify that maintenance practices for safety-critical equipment strictly adhere to laid-down standards.
• SOP Development: Develop, deploy, and continuously improve SOPs, Work Instructions (WI), and Inspection/Test/Preventive Maintenance (ITPM) checklists for safety-critical assets across all PIL units.
• Statutory Compliance: Monitor and guarantee 100% statutory compliance for all equipment registered under applicable statutory and regulatory bodies.

B. Preventive & Predictive Care

• Maintenance Strategy: Define and ensure a robust maintenance strategy exists for all manufacturing equipment at every PIL plant.
• Annual Planning: Plan and oversee the flawless execution of annual Preventive Maintenance (PM), Predictive Maintenance (PdM), and instrument/equipment calibration schedules per the PIL maintenance strategy.
• System Audits: Conduct systematic audits of engineering systems compliance at PIL plants, identifying gaps and tracking them to closure.
• Hazardous Area Integrity: Ensure strict flameproof integrity checks and audits in all hazardous areas with flammable atmospheres.
• Asset Inspection: Oversee the inspection of safety-critical vessels, piping, and structures at predefined frequencies, executing corrective work to restore them to original design status.
• Spares Management: Direct Unit Engineering Managers (UEMs) to routinely review and update critical spares lists, ensuring availability to eliminate unplanned downtime.
• Bad Actor Management: Drive the Bad Actor program, delivering reliable technical solutions to eliminate repeat failures and implementing preventive actions across all sites.
• RCA & CAPA: Lead the review and improvement of Breakdown Root Cause Analyses (RCAs), ensuring horizontal deployment of corrective actions across the organization.

C. Engineering Reliability (Lifecycle Management)

• Design Review: Review the design basis of critical equipment at the inception stage, ensuring procurement and installation meet reliability, maintainability, and local regulatory requirements.
• Quality Assurance: Ensure new installations strictly follow the Quality Assurance Plan (QAP), Factory Acceptance Tests (FAT), installation verification protocols, and Handover/Takeover (HOTO) procedures.
• Performance Assurance: Provide the necessary systems and comprehensive documentation to guarantee equipment performance (safety and reliability) before regular operation commences.
• Zoning Compliance: Verify that all new equipment complies with hazardous area zoning classifications.
• Lifecycle Optimization: Lead lifecycle management initiatives to proactively identify low-reliability assets and execute strategic replacement/upgrade plans before failure occurs.

D. People Development & Culture

• Capability Building: Cultivate deep reliability expertise and a proactive maintenance culture within engineering, reliability, and project teams.
• Skill Gap Analysis: Identify technical skill gaps among the workforce; upskill and reskill staff to enable advanced asset management techniques.
• RBTM Compliance: Ensure all maintenance personnel are trained per the Role-Based Training Matrix (RBTM); monitor yearly training plans and drive strict compliance.
• Leadership & Inspiration: Inspire teams to shift from reactive to proactive maintenance, championing asset reliability improvements at every level.

E. Coordination & Best Practices

• Project Integration: Provide critical reliability inputs during project scope definition, execution, and commissioning discussions, including Pre-Startup Safety Reviews (PSSR).
• Fabrication Oversight: Ensure rigorous quality monitoring during the fabrication and installation phases of critical systems.
• Seamless Handover: Oversee the comprehensive handover of new plants and equipment, guaranteeing the receipt of complete and accurate drawings, manuals, and documentation.
• KPI Governance: Actively participate in IRM (Incident Review Meetings) and Functional Review Meetings (FRM); drive the implementation of assigned Maintenance Indices (MI), Key Indicators (KI), and maintenance KPIs.
• Budgeting: Collaborate closely with UEMs and Cluster Engineering Heads (CEHs) to forecast and budget for end-of-life equipment replacements and major reliability upgrades.

4. Qualifications & Experience

Education:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical, or Instrumentation Engineering (Master’s degree in Reliability Engineering or Management is highly preferred).

Experience:

• 15–18 years of progressive experience in Engineering, Maintenance, and Reliability within a large-scale manufacturing environment (preferably Chemicals, Paints, Pharmaceuticals, or FMCG).
• Minimum 5–8 years in a senior leadership role managing multiple manufacturing units or a corporate reliability function.
• Proven track record of managing statutory compliance (e.g., Factory Act, Boiler/Pressure Vessel regulations, Hazardous Area certifications).

Certifications (Preferred):

• Certified Maintenance & Reliability Professional (CMRP).
• Certified Reliability Engineer (CRE).
• Strategic Thinking: Ability to balance long-term lifecycle planning with day-to-day operational pressures.
• Analytical Rigor: Deep expertise in RCA, FMEA, and statistical analysis of maintenance data.
• Regulatory Acumen: Strong understanding of local and national safety/statutory frameworks.
• Influential Leadership: Capable of inspiring UEMs, CEHs, and shop-floor teams to adopt reliability-first mindsets.
• Change Management: Experience in driving cultural shifts from reactive maintenance to proactive/predictive care.
• Financial Acumen: Competence in CAPEX/OPEX budgeting for large-scale asset replacements.