Plant Reliability Specialist II

United States Steel Corporation has an immediate opening for a Reliability Maintenance Engineer. The Reliability Maintenance Engineer will provide ongoing technical support to Operating units for the identification of opportunities to increase the reliability of equipment assets to world-class standards. This person will create an atmosphere that supports continuous knowledge transfer between Operating units at the plant level.

 

Position Summary:
The Reliability Maintenance Engineer is responsible for improving equipment reliability, maintenance effectiveness, and operational performance within Wheeling Pine Bluff Tubular Operations. This role provides technical support to Operations and Maintenance teams by identifying opportunities to improve asset reliability, reduce operational delays, strengthen preventive and predictive maintenance programs, and support long-term equipment performance.
This role will lead and support reliability initiatives, maintenance improvement projects, root cause analysis, equipment studies, and continuous improvement efforts across assigned operating areas.
The Reliability Maintenance Engineer will work closely with Operations, Maintenance, Engineering, Quality, vendors, contractors, and plant leadership to ensure maintenance practices, reliability strategies, and equipment performance support safe, efficient, and sustainable manufacturing operations.
Responsibilities:

• Provide technical leadership, expertise, and support in the development and execution of maintenance reliability strategies across Wheeling Pine Bluff Tubular Operations.
• Lead and support reliability improvement programs, maintenance initiatives, and cross-functional projects aimed at improving equipment availability, maintainability, and long-term performance.
• Strengthen preventive and predictive maintenance programs to ensure equipment inspections, planned maintenance activities, and condition-based monitoring practices are executed effectively.
• Support maintenance planning processes by helping identify equipment priorities, work scope requirements, recurring issues, and opportunities to improve job planning and execution.
• Conduct equipment reliability and maintainability studies to evaluate asset performance, identify failure patterns, and develop actions that improve operational stability.
• Perform Root Cause Analysis (RCA) on equipment failures, recurring downtime, operational delays, and reliability issues; ensure corrective actions are implemented and sustained.
• Analyze maintenance, operations, and equipment performance data to identify trends, reliability risks, and opportunities for continuous improvement.
• Conduct field evaluations, equipment reviews, investigations, and operational assessments; provide recommendations to Maintenance, Operations, Engineering, and plant leadership.
• Identify operational delays and lead problem-solving activities to improve equipment performance, maintenance response, throughput, and operating consistency.
• Develop, improve, and maintain effective Preventive Maintenance (PM) tasks for critical equipment to support business unit performance metrics.
• Create and communicate monthly progress updates for assigned operating areas, including reliability performance, improvement actions, project status, and key risks.
• Provide direction and technical support to Quality Improvement Teams (Q.I.T.) and other cross-functional support groups to help operating units meet business plan objectives.
• Partner with Operations and Maintenance leadership to ensure consistent maintenance practices, reliability standards, and equipment care expectations are maintained.
• Support equipment upgrades, outage planning, capital projects, vendor coordination, commissioning, and transition-to-operations activities as needed.
• Assist with development of standard work, troubleshooting guides, equipment care expectations, job plans, and training materials for Maintenance and Operations employees.
• Promote a culture of safety, accountability, operational discipline, and continuous improvement across Maintenance and Operations teams.
• Ensure work practices and reliability initiatives comply with applicable safety, environmental, quality, customer, and regulatory requirements.
• Partner with other operating facilities and technical resources to share best practices and support consistent reliability expectations.
• Provide feedback and recommendations to appropriate functional groups, including plant leadership and support teams, based on field analysis and reliability studies.
• Communicate reliability concerns, equipment risks, corrective actions, and improvement plans clearly to plant leadership and cross-functional stakeholders.

Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Maintenance Technology, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a related technical discipline is preferred. Equivalent relevant maintenance, reliability, or heavy industrial experience may be considered.
• Minimum 3 to 5 years of experience in maintenance, reliability engineering, operations support, equipment troubleshooting, or related technical areas within a manufacturing, steel, tubular, or heavy industrial environment.
• Strong understanding of Preventive Maintenance (PM), predictive maintenance, maintenance planning, equipment reliability, asset care, and Root Cause Analysis (RCA).
• Demonstrated ability to lead problem-solving efforts, influence cross-functional teams, and support improvement initiatives in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.
• Experience analyzing equipment performance, downtime, maintenance history, operational delays, and reliability data to drive sustainable improvements.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to engage hourly employees, front-line leaders, maintenance teams, operations leaders, vendors, contractors, engineering resources, and senior leadership.
• Effective project execution, planning, decision-making, change management, and follow-up capabilities.
• Ability to support a 24/7 manufacturing environment, including weekend, holiday, off-shift, outage, or extended-hour support as business needs require.
• Demonstrated commitment to safety, environmental stewardship, quality, reliability, and operational excellence.

Preferred but Not Required Experience:

• Experience supporting tubular products, steelmaking, finishing, threading, heat treatment, inspection, or other heavy industrial manufacturing processes.
• Knowledge of Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS), maintenance planning tools, equipment history tracking, and work order management.
• Experience with predictive maintenance technologies such as vibration analysis, oil analysis, thermography, ultrasonic testing, motor testing, or condition monitoring systems.
• Experience developing Preventive Maintenance (PM) programs, equipment care standards, job plans, maintenance procedures, and reliability dashboards.
• Knowledge of key maintenance and reliability metrics, including equipment availability, Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF), Mean Time To Repair (MTTR), downtime, schedule compliance, and Preventive Maintenance (PM) effectiveness.
• Experience supporting major equipment repairs, outages, capital projects, equipment installations, commissioning, startup, and process stabilization.
• Familiarity with Lean, Six Sigma, continuous improvement, structured problem-solving, and corrective/preventive action processes.
• Experience working effectively with union-represented employees, maintenance groups, operations teams, quality teams, contractors, vendors, and technical support functions.

 

At U. S. Steel all employees are expected to display the following core competencies every day to advance corporate, team and individual goals:

Think: Think Critically and Drive Change
Lead: Develop Talent and Collaborate
Do: Empower Performance and Deliver Results

Since 1901, U. S. Steel has been a recognized leader in steel production. Today, as the first North American steel company to have declared a 2050 net-zero greenhouse gas emissions goal, we remain as innovative as ever, leading transformation across our industry while continuing to make products for everyday life - from industries as far ranging as automotive, construction, containers and packaging, appliances, and energy.

Underneath it all is our Culture of Caring, which shows up in our community partnerships, charitable contributions, company-sponsored employee volunteer initiatives, scholarship programs, leadership training, and much more. And of course, it takes shape in a steadfast commitment to safety first in our workplaces and respect for our employees, who are United by Steel.

We are honored to have earned accolades and awards from well-regarded organizations, including the following:

• Ethisphere’s World’s Most Ethical Companies® 2022, ’23, ‘24
• Disability: IN’s Best Places to Work for Disability Inclusion 2021, ’22, ’23, ‘24
• Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Equality 100 Award 2020, ’21, ’22, ’23-24, ‘25
• Military Times’ Best for Vets: Employers 2023, ‘24

Conducting business with integrity and with the highest ethical values has underpinned U. S. Steel’s success for over 100 years, and it remains critical to our company’s success in the future. U. S. Steel is an Equal Opportunity Employer. It is our policy to provide equal employment opportunity (EEO) according to job qualifications without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, age, genetics, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity, disability status or status as a protected Veteran or any other legally protected group status. (California residents may visit www.ussteel.com/CANotice regarding collection of personal information and U. S. Steel's privacy practices.)