Senior Consultant — Asset Reliability & Maintenance Excellence
*Contract type: Contractor or full time*
*100% Travel Required to client site*
Division: Operations & Delivery
Reports to: Engagement Manager / Programme Lead
Location: Europe-based; international travel required
Languages: English (fluent) and German (fluent) required
Role Purpose
We are seeking an experienced asset reliability and maintenance transformation professional to support a large-scale, multi-site operational excellence programme within an international industrial organisation.
The role focuses on improving equipment availability, maintenance effectiveness, and cost efficiency across a network of production and operational sites. You will work directly with plant-level maintenance teams, supporting the implementation of structured reliability practices, new ways of working, and data-driven decision-making.
This is a delivery-focused, hands-on role. Success depends on your ability to operate on the shop floor, coach operational teams, and embed sustainable improvements—not provide remote or purely advisory support.
What You Will Do
Asset Reliability Assessment & Strategy
- Conduct structured maintenance and reliability maturity assessments at site level
- Identify performance gaps across reliability practices, work management, workforce effectiveness, and asset performance
- Quantify improvement opportunities related to availability, asset reliability, maintenance cost, and inventory
- Define site-specific maintenance strategies and prioritised improvement roadmaps
Programme Delivery & Implementation
- Translate assessment findings into clear, actionable implementation work packages
- Support the development of multi-site implementation roadmaps, including sequencing and dependency management
- Facilitate working sessions and workshops with maintenance and operations teams to drive implementation
- Adapt solutions to local operating contexts, maturity levels, and organisational environments
Coaching & Capability Building
- Coach maintenance supervisors and managers in:
- Structured work management
- Planning and scheduling
- Performance monitoring and KPI use
- Reliability-centred maintenance practices
- Support frontline teams in adopting new processes and using CMMS tools effectively
- Enable knowledge sharing and best-practice transfer across sites
Performance Monitoring & Sustainment
- Establish and track maintenance performance KPIs at site and programme level
- Monitor progress against agreed implementation plans and identify delivery risks
- Support corrective actions where outcomes deviate from plan
- Ensure improvements are embedded in daily operations and sustained beyond initial implementation
What You Bring
Essential Experience
- Proven hands-on experience delivering asset reliability and maintenance improvement programmes in industrial or manufacturing environments
- Strong background working directly with plant maintenance teams, coaching and enabling behaviour change
- Practical experience with:
- Maintenance maturity assessments
- Reliability-centred maintenance (RCM)
- FMEA and failure analysis
- Preventive and predictive maintenance strategies
- Deep understanding of maintenance work management:
- Planning and scheduling
- Backlog management
- Work order discipline
- Productivity and wrench-time improvement
- Demonstrated success improving asset availability and reducing unplanned downtime
- Experience working across multiple sites and/or countries
Technical & Systems Knowledge
- Working knowledge of SAP Plant Maintenance (PM) and SAP Materials Management (MM) in a maintenance environment
- Experience using CMMS data for:
- Performance analysis
- Failure pattern identification
- Inventory and spare parts optimisation
- Understanding of how to embed maintenance processes within SAP- or CMMS-led operating models
Languages
- English, fluent (written and spoken)
- German, fluent (written and spoken)
Personal Attributes
- Comfortable working on the shop floor with technicians and supervisors
- Credible, pragmatic, and delivery-oriented
- Able to translate strategy into executable daily routines
- Resilient and adaptable in complex operational environments
- Willing to travel extensively across Europe and internationally as required
Why Join
This role offers the opportunity to work on a high-impact, international operational improvement programme, supported by a team with deep expertise in maintenance, reliability, and operational excellence.
You will play a key role in helping operational teams improve performance in a practical, sustainable way, while further developing your own expertise in large-scale, multi-site transformation delivery.