Maintenance Project Manager

Job Description

Job Description

Maintenance Project Manager – IQF Herb Processing Plant

FLSA Classification

Exempt

Reports to

Director of Operations & Quality

Salary Grade/Level/Family/Range

$125,000 - $140,000.00

Date

Sept 2026

Job Description 

About SupHerb Farms

 
For over 30 years, SupHerb Farms has provided fresh-from-the-garden flavor and innovative product formats for foodservice operators and food manufactures. We offer our clients on-trend specialty IQF vegetable and herbs, purees and clean-label culinary pastes that bring crave-ability to life on menus and in food products. Flavor is not just what we do, it is who we are.

Position Summary

The Maintenance Project Manager is responsible for planning, managing, and executing maintenance, reliability of facility, equipment, automation, utility, and capital-improvement projects at SupHerb Farms processing.

The position requires a combination of project-management expertise and direct understanding of industrial Ammonia refrigeration and food-processing equipment, IQF freezing systems, automation, utilities, and hygienic equipment design.

The Maintenance Project Manager will lead projects from initial concept and feasibility through engineering, budgeting, procurement, installation, commissioning, validation, and final handover to Operations and Maintenance.

The position is also responsible for identifying opportunities to improve equipment reliability, reduce downtime, increase production capacity, improve energy efficiency, and reduce maintenance costs.

Key Responsibilities

Maintenance & Reliability

• Develop and manage preventive, predictive, and corrective Maintenance Projects.
• Identify equipment reliability issues and develop projects to eliminate recurring failures and production downtime.
• In conjunction with Maintenance Manager analyzes equipment breakdowns, maintenance history, downtime data, and root-cause analysis findings.
• Develop and implement reliability improvement programs for critical processing and packaging equipment.
• Coordinate in conjunction with Maintenance Manager major equipment repairs, rebuilds, overhauls, upgrades, and replacements.
• Establish equipment criticality assessments and prioritize maintenance projects based on safety, food safety, production impact, reliability, and cost.
• Support development and improvement of the plant's CMMS maintenance program.
• Coordinate planned shutdowns and major maintenance outages.

Manage projects involving equipment such as:

• Herb receiving, washing, blanching, automation and inspection systems.
• Conveyors, feeders, hoppers, and product handling systems.
• IQF freezing systems and associated refrigeration equipment and tunnel freezers.
• Refrigeration compressors, condensers, evaporators, pumps, and controls.
• Frozen product storage and material-handling systems.
• Weighing, filling, bagging, sealing, labeling, metal detection, checkweighing, and packaging equipment.
• Case packing, palletizing, and conveying systems.
• Compressed air, steam, hot water, chilled water, process water, and other plant utilities.

Capital & Engineering Projects

• Lead capital maintenance and engineering projects from scope development through completion.
• Prepare project scopes, estimates, budgets, schedules, specifications, and execution plans.
• Evaluate equipment replacement versus repair options.
• Develop capital expenditure requests and support business cases.
• Collaborate with vendors, engineers, contractors, and equipment manufacturers to develop project solutions.
• Review equipment specifications, layouts, drawings, P&IDs, electrical drawings, and installation requirements.
• Coordinate equipment procurement, fabrication, delivery, installation, and commissioning.
• Manage multiple projects simultaneously while maintaining priorities, budgets, and schedules.
• Conduct project risk assessments and develop mitigation plans.
• Track project costs, schedules, milestones, change orders, and contractor performance.
• Ensure projects are completed according to approved specifications and operational requirements.

Refrigeration & Utilities

• Coordinate maintenance and improvement projects involving industrial refrigeration and freezing systems.
• Work with qualified refrigeration personnel and contractors on compressor, evaporator, condenser, piping, controls, and refrigeration-system projects.
• Support energy-efficiency initiatives involving refrigeration, compressed air, water, and electrical systems.
• Identify opportunities to reduce energy consumption and operating costs.
• Coordinate projects involving boilers, hot water, water treatment, wastewater, electrical distribution, HVAC, and other critical utilities.
• Ensure utility systems have adequate capacity, redundancy, and reliability for production requirements.

Food Safety & Sanitation

• Ensure maintenance projects are designed and executed in accordance with food-safety and hygienic-design requirements.
• Coordinate with Quality Assurance and Food Safety before modifying processing equipment or product-contact surfaces.
• Ensure equipment installations minimize contamination risks and facilitate effective cleaning and sanitation.
• Ensure contractors follow plant GMPs, sanitation requirements, hygiene policies, and site safety procedures.
• Participate in food-safety risk assessments and change-control processes.
• Ensure maintenance work does not compromise product quality or food-safety controls.

Project Execution

• Develop detailed project schedules and execution plans.
• Coordinate with Maintenance Manager for internal maintenance support,
• Coordinate with Contractor/Vendor electricians, mechanics, controls technicians and operators.
• Manage contractor access, work permits, safety requirements, site planning, and work sequencing.
• Coordinate installations during production and planned downtime.
• Ensure lockout/tagout and other safety requirements are incorporated into project execution.
• Conduct project meetings and provide regular progress reports to management.
• Manage project changes and obtain appropriate approvals.
• Identify and resolve technical, scheduling, procurement, and operational issues.
• Coordinate startup, commissioning, testing, and performance verification.
• Ensure operators and maintenance personnel receive appropriate training.
• Obtain operating manuals, electrical drawings, spare-parts lists, warranties, recommended PM procedures, and other documentation.
• Ensure new equipment is properly entered into the CMMS.
• Establish preventive-maintenance requirements for newly installed equipment.
• Complete project closeout documentation and lessons-learned reviews.

Safety Responsibilities

• Promote a strong safety culture throughout all maintenance and project activities.
• Ensure projects comply with applicable OSHA, electrical, machine-safety, LOTO, confined-space, fall-protection, and contractor-safety requirements.
• Participate in Job Safety Analyses and risk assessments.
• Ensure machine guarding and safety controls are incorporated into new installations and modifications.

Required Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, Electrical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Construction Management, or a related technical field; equivalent experience may be considered.
• 5+ years of experience in Maintenance, Ammonia Refrigeration, engineering, manufacturing, food processing, or industrial project management.
• Demonstrated experience managing maintenance, equipment installation, facility, or capital projects.
• Experience on related Ammonia Refrigeration System projects.
• Experience working in a manufacturing or food-processing environment.
• Strong knowledge of mechanical and electrical industrial systems.
• Experience with preventive and predictive maintenance programs.
• Strong understanding of project scheduling, budgeting, procurement, and contractor management.
• Ability to read and interpret mechanical drawings, electrical schematics, P&IDs, equipment manuals, and technical specifications.
• Strong understanding of industrial safety requirements.
• Excellent communication, organizational, and critical thinking skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in frozen food, vegetables, herbs, or other food-processing operations, including IQF freezing technology.
• Knowledge of industrial refrigeration, conveyors, automated material-handling systems, and food-processing and packaging equipment.
• Proficiency with PLCs, HMIs, VFDs, sensors, instrumentation, and industrial controls.
• Familiarity with CMMS systems.
• Knowledge of HACCP, preventive controls, GMPs, and hygienic equipment design.
• Demonstrated success managing large capital projects.
• Project Management Professional (PMP) certification preferred.
• Certified Maintenance & Reliability Professional (CMRP) certification preferred.
• Familiarity with Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, TPM, or similar reliability methodologies.

Physical demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those an employee should possess to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

·         Ability to occasionally reach with hands and arms, as well as walk, stand, stoop, kneel, crouch, climb as well as lift, push and pull.

·         Ability to stand and walk in a cold, wet environment.

·         Ability to wear all required Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

·         Specific vision abilities required for this job include distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.

·         Ability to sit and use the computer for extended periods of time; ability to answer phones and use a variety of office equipment; ability to lift 20 pounds and reach overhead.

Travel required

10%

Schedule
Monday through Friday, with the availability and flexibility to work weekends, alternate shifts, or additional hours as needed to support business and operational needs.

Work authorization/security clearance requirements.

SupHerb Farms does not sponsor employment-based visas for this position now or in the future. Authorized to work in the US, E-Verify participant, Social Security Trace, Drug Test, Criminal Background, Education and Employment verification.

SupHerb Farms is an Equal Opportunity Employer

Other duties

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

Please feel free to directly apply to this job on our company website or

For over 30 years, SupHerb Farms has provided fresh-from-the-garden flavor and innovative product formats for foodservice operators and food manufactures. We offer our clients on-trend specialty IQF vegetable and herbs, purees and clean-label culinary pastes that bring crave-ability to life on menus and in food products. Flavor is not just what we do, it is who we are.