Senior Reliability Engineer Jobs in Kentucky (NOW HIRING)

In this position... 
As a Senior Maintenance Engineer, you will serve as the technical authority and strategic leader for maintenance operations across our battery cell and BESS module/container manufacturing lines. This role carries broad ownership of maintenance strategy, equipment reliability, and cross-site standardization as Ford Energy scales its Greenfield manufacturing footprint. In this critical role, you will:

• Lead with Integrity: Own the safe, reliable, and disciplined operation of production and facilities equipment across the energy storage manufacturing environment, setting the standard for maintenance excellence site-wide.
• Innovate: Apply advanced engineering judgment to architect equipment reliability programs, drive root-cause resolution methodologies, and establish predictive/preventative maintenance frameworks from the ground up.
   

Drive Excellence: Serve as the senior technical resource and escalation point for maintenance reliability, ensuring the facility operates with the precision required to deliver world-class energy products 

What you'll do...

Key Responsibilities
Greenfield Production Excellence & Manufacturing Systems:

• Own and continuously evolve the Maintenance Operating System (MOS) strategy across the production and facilities organization.
• Lead cross-functional optimization of production processes and maintenance methodologies across battery cell and BESS assembly equipment.
• Direct major equipment rebuilds, capital projects, and shutdown planning in partnership with engineering, operations, and site leadership.
• Architect and govern predictive and preventative maintenance strategies to achieve and sustain near-100% equipment uptime.
• Own the MOS Board and enterprise maintenance data strategy, leveraging Maximo to drive metrics reporting, forecasting, and long-term reliability planning.
• Champion a continuous improvement culture, building capability across all levels of the maintenance and production organization.

Leadership & Culture:

• Embrace the Gemba philosophy: Regularly engage on the production floor to assess equipment health, gather frontline insight, and resolve issues in real time.
• Proactively identify and eliminate systemic barriers and equipment constraints impacting production throughput.
• Partner cross-functionally with production, engineering, and quality teams to support new model and equipment launches.
• Serve as a senior mentor and technical coach, developing the skills and capabilities of technicians and engineers across the organization.
• Lead by example on the floor, instilling a culture of equipment ownership and quality accountability.
• Take full ownership of high-complexity projects, driving them to completion with minimal oversight.

Strategic – Reliability:

• Shape new equipment design, specification, and procurement strategy as the site scales battery cell and BESS assembly capacity.
• Lead readiness planning for new model and equipment launches.
• Own spare parts strategy and inventory governance to ensure alignment with long-term maintenance demand.
• Report on key reliability and maintenance performance metrics to site and functional leadership.

Capabilities for Success:

• Resilient Problem Solver: Rapidly diagnoses complex equipment issues and drives root-cause resolution under pressure.
• Self-Starter: Independently owns and drives complex, high-visibility projects to completion.
• Strong Communicator: Bridges technical and organizational levels, translating floor-level insight into strategic action.
• Agile Mindset: Thrives across shifts and in the ambiguity of a startup manufacturing environment.

You'll have...
Required:

• Education: Bachelor's degree in Engineering. 
• Experience: 7+ years of progressive maintenance engineering experience, including demonstrated ability to lead complex equipment reliability programs and mentor technical staff.
• Skills: Advanced computer proficiency; strong communicator capable of training and coaching technicians and engineers across the organization.
• Flexibility to support business needs by working across various shifts.
• Domestic and international travel may be required.

Leadership Attributes:

• Decisive Under Pressure: Remains calm and makes rapid, data-driven decisions during equipment failures or production constraints.
• Adaptability: Leads through the ambiguity of a new site startup, building and refining processes in real time.
• Business Partner: Translates technical maintenance needs into clear, actionable strategies for production and engineering stakeholders.
• ONE FORD Leadership: Demonstrates outstanding interpersonal, team-building, and communication skills across the organization.

Location – Travel:

• U.S. based; Glendale, Kentucky. Domestic and international travel may be required.

Even better, you may have...
Preferred:

• 7-10+ years of experience in high-volume manufacturing.
• Demonstrated Lean implementation leadership experience.
• Advanced AutoCAD and Maximo proficiency.
• High-volume manufacturing/assembly experience; battery or energy storage manufacturing strongly preferred.
• Advanced Excel proficiency.
• Ability to read and interpret complex engineering blueprints and technical manuals.
• Data-driven mindset with a focus on "value-added" reporting and problem-solving.

You may not check every box, or your experience may look a little different from what we've outlined, but if you think you can bring value to Ford Motor Company, we encourage you to apply!
As an established global company, we offer the benefit of choice. You can choose what your Ford future will look like: will your story span the globe, or keep you close to home? Will your career be a deep dive into what you love, or a series of new teams and new skills? Will you be a leader, a changemaker, a technical expert, a culture builder…or all of the above? No matter what you choose, we offer a work life that works for you, including:

• Immediate medical, dental, vision and prescription drug coverage
• Flexible family care days, paid parental leave, new parent ramp-up programs, subsidized back-up child care and more
• Family building benefits including adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement, fertility treatments, and more
• Vehicle discount program for employees and family members and management leases
• Tuition assistance
• Established and active employee resource groups
• Paid time off for individual and team community service 
• A generous schedule of paid holidays, including the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day 
• Paid time off and the option to purchase additional vacation time. 

This position is a salary grade 8 and ranges from $99,100 - $166,200.
Final determination of salary grade will be based on candidate's skills and experience, and base salary will be set within the applicable range according to job scope, responsibility and competitive market value.
For more information on salary and benefits, click here: https://fordcareers.co/GSR

Visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

Candidates for positions with Ford Motor Company must be legally authorized to work in the United States. Verification of employment eligibility will be required at the time of hire.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, age, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status or protected veteran status. In the United States, if you need a reasonable accommodation for the online application process due to a disability, please call 1-888-336-0660.

Company: As Ford establishes a wholly owned subsidiary focused on Battery Energy Storage Systems, this role will initially be employed by Ford and is expected to transition to the subsidiary within one year.

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