Reliability Engineer III

Omaha Public Power District; Plattsmouth (NE); On-site; USD 89,000 - 109,000; Full time

Job summary

Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) is seeking a Reliability Engineer III to enhance equipment reliability and maintenance strategies across our generation fleet. The role emphasizes data‑driven analysis, root cause investigations, and standard work development to improve asset performance.

You will lead cross‑disciplinary teamwork, coaching junior engineers and expanding condition monitoring, RCMS, and PM/CBM programs to support safe, reliable power delivery.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated ability to independently execute essential reliability engineering duties.
• Ability to apply advanced technical judgment, perform complex analyses, and interpret system behavior.
• Experience managing engineering project tasks, meeting scope and schedule requirements.
• Demonstrated ability to develop or refine engineering standards, specifications, and procedures.
• Strong communication skills and ability to collaborate across multi‑disciplinary teams.
• Ability to lead or mentor early‑career engineers, providing technical oversight and guidance.

Responsibilities

• Lead operational excellence activities by advancing equipment reliability and asset management practices across assigned sites
• Conduct engineering evaluations to diagnose issues, develop technical solutions, and validate results with advanced judgment
• Prioritize and monitor asset reliability risks using data analysis, failure modes, and system performance insights
• Develop, optimize, and maintain maintenance strategies, PM/CBM programs, and standard work documentation
• Lead or support investigations for significant failures, recommend corrective actions, and drive implementation across functions
• Improve work management quality by reviewing maintenance plans, work orders, and task effectiveness
• Coach engineers, technicians, and operators to build a high‑reliability culture and strengthen system‑thinking capability
• Coordinate cross‑discipline collaboration between engineering, operations, maintenance, and project teams to execute improvements

Skills

Reliability engineering

Technical judgment

Data analysis

Cross-team collaboration

Mentor engineers

Project management

Tools

CMMS

RCM

Job description

Position Overview

Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) delivers affordable, reliable, and environmentally responsible energy to the communities we serve. As a publicly owned utility, OPPD is committed to operational excellence, innovation, and ensuring long-term reliability across our generation fleet.

As a Reliability Engineer III, you will centralize efforts related to equipment reliability‑improving maintenance strategies, creating standard work packets, developing or strengthening preventive maintenance standards, and ensuring sites have critical spare parts. You will strengthen asset performance by systematically prioritizing assets, analyzing failure modes and historical performance, building and evaluating reliability KPIs and statistical models, leading root cause investigations, identifying design or commissioning weaknesses, monitoring operational practices, reviewing and optimizing maintenance work orders, and auditing PM/CBM tasks to verify effectiveness.

You will also manage fleet‑wide reliability improvement by developing and optimizing maintenance strategies, implementing corrective actions from causal analysis, directing updates to engineering standards and operating procedures, coordinating improvements with maintenance and operations teams, leading post‑failure strategy changes, supporting spare‑parts justification, expanding condition monitoring programs, embedding reliability principles in capital projects, supporting operator/technician training, and managing risk through structured risk registers or risk‑based maintenance frameworks.

Finally, you will influence change and strengthen organizational capability by coaching teams, promoting high‑reliability thinking, fostering disciplined questioning, teaching teams how to interpret system behaviors, modeling accountable leadership, driving documentation and adoption of standards, and reinforcing operational habits that sustain long‑term reliability improvement.

The Impact You'll Have

• Lead operational excellence activities by advancing equipment reliability and asset management practices across assigned sites
• Conduct engineering evaluations to diagnose issues, develop technical solutions, and validate results with advanced judgment
• Prioritize and monitor asset reliability risks using data analysis, failure modes, and system performance insights
• Develop, optimize, and maintain maintenance strategies, PM/CBM programs, and standard work documentation
• Lead or support investigations for significant failures, recommend corrective actions, and drive implementation across functions
• Improve work management quality by reviewing maintenance plans, work orders, and task effectiveness
• Coach engineers, technicians, and operators to build a high‑reliability culture and strengthen system‑thinking capability
• Coordinate cross‑discipline collaboration between engineering, operations, maintenance, and project teams to execute improvements

What You'll Bring

• Demonstrated ability to independently execute essential reliability engineering duties
• Ability to apply advanced technical judgment, perform complex analyses, and interpret system behavior
• Experience managing engineering project tasks, meeting scope and schedule requirements
• Demonstrated ability to develop or refine engineering standards, specifications, and procedures
• Strong communication skills and ability to collaborate across multi‑disciplinary teams
• Ability to lead or mentor early‑career engineers, providing technical oversight and guidance

Preferred Experiences

• Experience with reliability engineering, maintenance strategy development, or asset management
• Familiarity with causal analysis, root cause methodologies, and condition monitoring technologies
• Experience with CMMS systems, work order quality programs, or reliability‑centered maintenance (RCM)
• Background working in power generation, industrial operations, or other asset‑intensive industries
• Advanced data analysis skills, statistical modeling, or reliability KPI development
• Experience coaching teams or driving cultural change focused on reliability and operational discipline

Time Demands

Non‑Essential Position: This position may be required to report to work beyond the normal shift to support the restoration of normal business operations.

This position must be available for overtime work and callouts as required to ensure continuance of efficient operation.

Work Location

Office: Work will be performed in a modern office environment amid normal conditions of dust, odors, fumes, and noises.

Field: Work will be performed outside in a wide variety of weather conditions (snow, rain, heat, cold, wind, etc.), terrain, and other natural environmental hazards as well as pollen and other airborne allergens.

Generation Plant: Work will be performed inside with exposure to industrial building conditions and will be exposed to extreme temperatures, odors, dust, gases, poor ventilation and exposure to sounds. Noise levels may require shouting to be heard.

Work Environment: Work will be performed in high traffic environments.

Will work around energies high voltage electrical equipment.

Will work in construction areas that present many physical hazards.

Will work at heights.

Will work in closed or confined spaces.

Will work around asbestos and lead.

Physical Demands

Minimal physical effort typically found in clerical work. Primarily sedentary, may occasionally lift and carry light objects. Walking and/or standing as needed and minimal.

Light to moderate physical effort that includes frequent standing or walking or maintaining arms and hands in the same position for repetitive tasks. Frequently works with light objects and light hand tools.

Salary/Wage Info

Grade: S5

Minimum: $98,877

Midpoint: $123,596

The OPPD Difference

Our Culture & Mission

At Omaha Public Power District, everything starts with people. Our teams, our communities, and the customer owners who count on us. As the 12th largest public power utility in the U.S., we serve more than 900,000 people across 13 counties, and we take that responsibility seriously.

We lead with integrity, support one another, and do what is right because how we serve matters just as much as what we deliver. Our goal is simple: provide affordable, reliable, and environmentally responsible energy today and for generations to come.

We create power with purpose. Your work here has real impact on families, the environment, and on the future of energy. And we believe great ideas can come from anywhere.

If you want to be part of a team that takes care of the community and the people who serve it, you are in the right place. We back up our mission by taking care of our employees, too, which is why our benefits are among the most comprehensive and competitive in the region.

EOE: Protected Veterans/Disability