Structural Asset Management Engineer - Civil Assets (Freelance possible)

About the role

At an industrial production site in Hoboken, you will reinforce the asset team as an engineer focused on civil and structural assets. In this position, asset management is the core discipline, while civil and structural engineering forms the technical domain. Your assignment is to help develop, implement and continuously improve the asset management approach for buildings, structures and related civil assets.

You contribute to tactical asset planning, maintenance strategy and lifecycle management. In addition, you gather operational feedback, technical observations and improvement opportunities, and translate these into concrete proposals and follow-up actions.

Engineering environment

You work in an engineering context that supports production across the full lifecycle of technical projects, from feasibility and design through execution and start-up. Because the asset management maturity is still developing, this role requires a pragmatic approach: you will not only apply existing methods, but also help define and embed the way of working in day-to-day operations.

📋 Tasks and responsibilities

Asset management system development and rollout

• Support the design, implementation and rollout of the asset management system for civil and building assets in an industrial environment.
• Help structure processes, asset registers, asset hierarchies, criticality models, maintenance logic, KPIs and documentation flows.
• Translate asset management principles such as ISO 55000, lifecycle thinking and risk-based decision-making into workable methods for an industrial setting.
• Contribute to embedding this approach together with stakeholders from production, maintenance and engineering.

Asset planning and lifecycle follow-up

• Develop tactical plans to improve the reliability, safety and service life of buildings and structural assets.
• Create, maintain and optimize multi-year maintenance plans.
• Define and monitor relevant performance indicators for civil and structural asset management.
• Translate risks, degradation insights and operational improvement opportunities into maintenance strategies, improvement actions and project proposals.

Risk analysis and continuous improvement

• Investigate degradation, deficiencies and incidents to control and reduce structural risks.
• Carry out root cause analyses for recurring technical issues and structural shortcomings.
• Interpret inspection data and risk-based inspection information, including trends, degradation curves and remaining-life assessments.
• Apply criticality and risk analysis methods to prioritize interventions and lifecycle actions.
• Define preventive and mitigating measures and convert them into practical maintenance strategies.

Work preparation and execution support

• Prepare interventions up to execution-ready level, including scope, technical descriptions, required documents, permits, safety conditions, materials, contractor input and planning constraints.
• Transfer complete work packages to the work coordinator and use execution feedback to improve future maintenance plans and strategies.
• Maintain a balanced focus between engineering responsibilities and work preparation tasks in close collaboration with the asset team.

Small improvement projects

• Translate identified measures into practical civil and structural improvement actions.
• Define scope, risks, planning and budget for smaller interventions on buildings and structures.
• Coordinate contractors and condition-monitoring partners during both engineering and execution phases.
• Provide technical guidance, quality follow-up and documentation support for assigned interventions.
• Prepare project scope documents and CAPEX/OPEX proposals when required.

Design and compliance support

• Help ensure assets are designed to be inspectable, maintainable and reliable from the design phase onward.
• Advise engineering and design stakeholders on parameters that influence the lifecycle performance of structural assets.
• Review designs and as-built documentation against structural, reliability and maintainability criteria.
• Support technical acceptance criteria, validation checklists and handover requirements.
• Safeguard compliance with applicable standards and regulations, including ISO 55000, SEVESO and Eurocode where relevant.
• Ensure accurate and high-quality asset data management in EAM and DMS systems.

📝 Your profile

• You have hands-on experience in industrial asset management, with a clear focus on tactical asset planning, maintenance strategy, criticality-based decision-making and lifecycle management.
• You have experience with the implementation of an asset management system in an industrial environment.
• You hold a master's degree in engineering. A background in civil or construction engineering is an advantage, but engineers from other disciplines are also considered if they have grown into asset management and can demonstrate a strong civil/structural affinity.
• You bring solid civil / structural knowledge & experience; this is an essential requirement for the role.
• You can demonstrate a strong affinity with construction and civil engineering.
• You have working knowledge of ISO 55000, SEVESO and Eurocode.
• You are able to analyse technical and inspection data and turn conclusions into practical maintenance strategies and improvement proposals.
• You have experience with or exposure to methodologies such as RBI data interpretation, RCA, criticality analysis, risk analysis, degradation analysis and remaining-life assessment, and you are motivated to deepen your expertise further.
• You have experience coordinating projects and working with contractors, inspectors or other external partners.
• Experience in a mature industrial asset management environment is a plus.
• Experience with EAM systems, DMS platforms, inspection databases, spreadsheets used for degradation models or predictive analysis tools is an asset.
• Experience with industrial structures, corrosion issues, cracking, renovation works or smaller civil interventions is a plus.
• Experience with work preparation in an industrial maintenance or turnaround environment is an advantage.
• You take ownership, communicate clearly and collaborate effectively with a broad range of stakeholders.
• You combine problem-solving ability, learning agility and the motivation to further specialize in asset management.
• You are fluent in English and Dutch, both spoken and written. Other languages are a plus.

Location

This role is based in Hoboken, Belgium and requires full-time onsite presence. Occasional homeworking may be possible with prior alignment and approval.

💼 Offer

You will be part of a growing Belgian SME where initiative and personal development are encouraged. We will provide you with an enjoyable work environment with fun colleagues. We will work out a career plan with you, with attention and a budget for extra education/certification. You can count on an attractive salary, supplemented with extra-legal benefits, including a company car.
(Freelance is also possible)