Summary:

Our client, a well-regarded food and beverage manufacturer, is looking for a Maintenance Manager II to lead the plant's maintenance organization. You will run preventive and corrective maintenance programs, guide electrical and mechanical troubleshooting, manage contractors, and drive reliability and continuous improvement efforts that reduce downtime and increase production capacity. You will partner closely with Production, Engineering, Quality, and other teams to improve equipment performance, support new product and process launches, control maintenance costs, and meet OSHA, environmental, GMP, and food safety requirements.

 

Responsibilities:

- Lead the Maintenance Department so plant equipment, utilities, and facilities run reliably and are fully utilized.

- Build and sustain preventive and predictive maintenance programs that improve reliability and cut unplanned downtime.

- Direct electrical, mechanical, and general equipment troubleshooting and make sure issues are resolved quickly.

- Work with Production to reduce downtime, remove bottlenecks, and increase throughput.

- Maintain compliance with company health and safety policies, GMPs, PPE rules, OSHA, environmental standards, and food safety requirements such as SQF.

- Hire, onboard, train, coach, evaluate, and develop maintenance staff, setting clear performance expectations.

- Apply Lean and continuous improvement methods to improve processes, equipment performance, and maintenance practices.

- Find opportunities to lower maintenance costs, scrap, defects, energy use, and production losses.

- Make sure maintenance systems, procedures, and documentation are in place and followed, with accurate records of maintenance activity, downtime, and compliance.

- Coordinate installation, commissioning, modification, and optimization of new equipment to improve efficiency, safety, and maintainability.

- Support Engineering on launches of new products, equipment, and processes.

- Manage contractors and outside service providers on maintenance and non-engineering projects, ensuring safe work that meets specifications.

- Identify safety risks in equipment design, process changes, and installations, and correct them.

- Keep a working knowledge of plant utilities, capacity, current use, and future infrastructure needs.

- Maximize the useful life and return on company assets through sound maintenance practices.

- Investigate safety, environmental, equipment, and regulatory issues, find root causes, and implement corrective actions.

- Develop strategies for accident prevention, energy conservation, and waste reduction.

- Deploy maintenance staff effectively across the plant, and follow escalation procedures for major downtime.

 

Qualifications:

- High school diploma or equivalent; bachelor's degree in Engineering, Maintenance Management, Manufacturing, Industrial Technology, or a related field preferred.

- 8 to 10 years of management experience in a manufacturing setting, including experience leading maintenance teams in a fast-paced production environment.

- Food and beverage manufacturing experience strongly preferred.

- Background in equipment reliability, preventive maintenance, troubleshooting, continuous improvement, and regulatory compliance preferred.

- Strong leadership, troubleshooting, and problem-solving skills with a results-driven approach.

- Working knowledge of OSHA, environmental, GMP, and food safety requirements, and of Lean principles.

- Excellent communication, organization, and time management; sound judgment even with limited information.

- Proficiency with Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and SAP.

 

Leadership:

- Build a culture of trust, accountability, and continuous improvement.

- Develop team members at every performance level and recognize their contributions.

- Promote collaboration across departments and plan staffing, training, and development.

 

Working Conditions:

- Schedule may include weekdays, weekends, evenings, overnights, and holidays depending on production needs; overtime as required.

- Fast-paced plant with moving equipment and varying temperatures; hearing protection and other PPE required in production areas.

- Roughly half of the time is spent on the plant floor, including standing, walking, climbing, and bending around operating machinery.

- Travel is rare.