Senior Reliability Engineer

SK Innovation; Freeport (TX); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

SK Innovation in Texas is seeking a Senior Reliability Engineer to strengthen maintenance and reliability strategies across a chemical/polymer plant. You will lead root-cause investigations, develop repair procedures, and optimize maintenance programs to reduce downtime and costs.

The role requires extensive experience in chemical/process industries, strong analytical skills, and cross-functional collaboration with Operations, Process Engineering, and MRO teams.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical or chemical engineering or closely related field.
• 8+ years of experience in plant reliability, maintenance engineering, or asset performance.
• Experience in chemical, petrochemical, polymer, refinery, or continuous-process environments.
• Knowledge of RCA, FMEA, RCM, preventive/predictive maintenance, and reliability analysis.
• Experience with SAP, ERP, CMMS, or similar systems.
• Familiarity with HAZOP, PHA, LOPA, MOC, PSSR and process safety.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement maintenance and reliability strategies aligned with safety and production goals.
• Monitor KPIs, PM compliance, work-order backlogs, downtime, and costs.
• Analyze data to identify risks, recurring failures, and improvement opportunities.
• Lead root-cause investigations, failure analyses, and corrective actions.
• Provide troubleshooting support for unplanned events and critical maintenance.
• Oversee QA/QC for plant and third-party maintenance activities.

Skills

Reliability engineering

Root cause analysis

Data analysis

Cross-functional collaboration

Leadership

Process safety awareness

Troubleshooting

Education

Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering

Bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering

Tools

SAP

CMMS

ERP

Job description

The Senior Reliability Engineer supports the facility’s maintenance and reliability strategy by providing engineering expertise for plant issues affecting production and improving the reliability, availability, and performance of plant assets.

The role applies engineering principles, data analysis, structured problem-solving, and maintenance optimization to eliminate recurring equipment failures and production losses. Responsibilities include providing equipment and repair expertise, overseeing third-party maintenance services, evaluating performance, identifying gaps and improvement opportunities in maintenance work processes and management, and driving their resolution.

The position requires an experienced Mechanical or Chemical Engineer with at least eight years of experience in a chemical, petrochemical, polymer, or similar process manufacturing environment. Experience in high-pressure polyethylene, LDPE, EVA, or comparable polymer plants is strongly preferred. The engineer will work closely with the Reliability and Maintenance team, Operations, Process Engineering, Inspection, Projects, MRO, Procurement, and other technical resources to implement safe, practical, and sustainable improvements.

Essential Functions (Duties that are fundamental to the role and must be performed on-site)

• Develop and implement maintenance and reliability strategies aligned with plant safety, production, quality, and cost objectives.
• Monitor and improve maintenance KPIs, work processes, procedures, schedules, PM compliance, work-order backlogs, downtime, equipment availability, reliability, and maintenance costs.
• Analyze equipment, process, maintenance, and operating data to identify risks, recurring failures, bad actors, and improvement opportunities.
• Lead Root Cause Investigations, failure analyses, FMEAs, RCM studies, and other reliability assessments; develop, track, and verify corrective and preventive actions.
• Provide technical and troubleshooting support for unplanned events, equipment failures, repairs, modifications, turnarounds, outages, and critical maintenance activities.
• Develop and review repair procedures, job plans, scopes, specifications, and quality-control plans for critical equipment and spare parts, ensuring requirements such as materials, clearances, tolerances, welding procedures, inspections, and as-left conditions are documented.
• Oversee QA/QC for plant and third-party maintenance and repair activities, address deficiencies, and ensure compliance with approved procedures and technical requirements.
• Evaluate and optimize Preventive, Predictive, and Condition-Based Maintenance programs using equipment history, failure modes, risk, and monitoring results.
• Support condition-monitoring programs, equipment reliability strategies, operator rounds, PPM reviews, procedure development, parts identification, and small reliability improvement initiatives.
• Provide reliability and maintainability expertise for high-pressure polyethylene and other critical plant equipment, including compressors, reactors, extruders, pelletizers, pressure vessels, piping, valves, utilities, and related systems.
• Investigate failures involving pressure, temperature, cyclic loading, fatigue, vibration, erosion, corrosion, polymer buildup, plugging, seals, lubrication, and process instability.
• Collaborate with Operations, Process Engineering, Maintenance, Inspection, Projects, Procurement, MRO, and other technical teams to improve equipment performance and address the effects of process and operating changes.
• Provide reliability, maintainability, lifecycle-cost, equipment-selection, spare-parts, and purchasing input to projects, modifications, debottlenecking, specifications, and vendor evaluations.
• Participate in project and process-safety activities, including FEL, value engineering, design reviews, HAZOPs, LOPAs, MOC, PSSR, commissioning, and startup.
• Use SAP to review work orders, equipment history, maintenance plans, failure codes, bills of material, and spare-parts data.
• Manage vendor quality notifications, follow up on corrective actions, and share technical guidance, lessons learned, and reliability practices across the plant.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, Chemical Engineering, or a closely related engineering discipline.
• Minimum of 8 years of experience in plant reliability, maintenance engineering, asset performance, or a closely related industrial engineering function.
• Experience in a chemical, petrochemical, polymer, refinery, or continuous-process manufacturing environment is required; high-pressure polyethylene experience is strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated knowledge of reliability engineering principles and methodologies, including RCI, RCA, FMEA, RCM, Preventive/Predictive Maintenance, equipment criticality, condition monitoring, and reliability analysis.
• Working knowledge of industrial equipment, maintenance practices, process operations, and mechanical integrity requirements.
• Experience analyzing equipment performance, maintenance, cost, downtime, and failure data and translating findings into actionable improvements.
• Experience with SAP, ERP, CMMS, or comparable maintenance-management systems.
• Familiarity with HAZOP, PHA, LOPA, MOC, PSSR, process safety, and mechanical-integrity processes.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, communication, presentation, organizational, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
• Ability to lead multidisciplinary teams, work independently, manage multiple priorities, and influence without direct supervisory authority.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in a high-pressure polyethylene, LDPE, EVA, polymerization, or similar polymer manufacturing facility.
• Experience with hyper compressors, high-pressure compressors, reactors, pressure vessels, high-pressure piping, extruders, pelletizers, and polymer-processing systems.
• Mechanical engineering experience with rotating equipment, pressure equipment, piping, vibration, lubrication, and mechanical integrity.
• Experience with Weibull analysis, Six Sigma, reliability modeling, Power BI, PI System, or asset-performance-management software.
• CMRP, CRE, Six Sigma, or other relevant professional certification.
• Experience supporting capital projects from concept development through commissioning and startup.

Physical & On-Site Requirements

• This position is performed primarily on-site at the company’s chemical or petrochemical manufacturing facility.
• Regular, predictable, and punctual attendance is required.
• Must be able to work safely in and around an operating chemical or petrochemical facility and comply with all site safety requirements.
• Must be able to walk, stand, climb stairs or fixed ladders, access elevated platforms, and wear required personal protective equipment (PPE).
• The position may require participation in equipment inspections, shutdowns, turnarounds, startups, commissioning activities, and emergency equipment support.
• Specific physical requirements will be evaluated based on the essential functions of the position and applicable safety requirements.

Work Authorization

Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States. The Company does not provide immigration sponsorship for this position.

ADA & Accommodation Notice

The duties listed above are intended to describe the general nature and level of work required for this position. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required. The essential functions of this position are fundamental to the role and, due to the operational and plant-based nature of the position, are generally expected to be performed on-site. Requests for reasonable accommodation will be considered in accordance with applicable law.