Maintenance Lead

Maintenance Lead

Provides shift leadership for the maintenance team in a fast-paced industrial baking facility. This is a working maintenance lead position that is expected to spend approximately 50-75% of their time performing hands-on maintenance activities while coordinating shift priorities, developing technicians, and serving as the first-line technical resource for equipment reliability and production support. Coordinates maintenance activities, prioritizes work, supports emergency response efforts, mentors technicians, and serves as the primary communication link between maintenance, production, sanitation, quality, and management. Drives equipment reliability, safety compliance, workforce development, and continuous improvement initiatives.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead and coordinate maintenance activities across the assigned shift.
• Ensure maintenance technicians are completing assigned work orders, responding to breakdowns, and following established procedures.
• Coordinate emergency breakdown response and reassign resources to maximize production uptime.
• Communicate frequently with production, sanitation, quality, and management regarding equipment status and maintenance priorities.
• Provide leadership during shift handoffs and complete detailed shift communications and reports.
• Lead investigations, root cause analysis, and continuous improvement initiatives to reduce downtime.
• Ensure work activities are properly documented within the CMMS, including parts usage, failure analysis, and follow-up actions.
• Perform weekly audits of preventive maintenance activities and work order quality.
• Mentor, coach, and support training and qualification activities for all maintenance technician levels.
• Lead pre-startup and pre-flight inspections prior to bakery restarts.
• Utilize team strengths to maintain efficient bakery operations and achieve maintenance objectives.
• Identify maintenance hot spots and drive corrective actions for long-term reliability improvements.
• Serve as a technical resource for mechanical, electrical, pneumatic, hydraulic, automation, and facility support systems.
• Ensure compliance with safety, LOTO, GMP, food safety, environmental, and company policies.
• Support capital projects, equipment installations, and major equipment rebuilds when required.
• Maintain professional conduct with dignity and respect toward all team members.
• Must maintain technical qualifications and perform hands-on maintenance activities while leading the shift.
• Perform and assist with advanced troubleshooting and repair of mechanical, electrical, pneumatic, hydraulic, and automated equipment.
• Lead diagnosis and repair of complex failures on bakery production and packaging equipment including mixers, ovens, proofers, conveyors, dividers, slicers, coolers, and packaging systems.
• Serve as the primary technical resource during major equipment breakdowns and startup issues.
• Support troubleshooting of PLC-controlled equipment, HMIs, VFDs, servo systems, sensors, and automation systems.
• Perform and support major equipment rebuilds, installations, upgrades, and commissioning activities.
• Utilize root cause analysis techniques to identify chronic equipment failures and implement corrective actions.
• Maintain working knowledge of facility support systems including boilers, HVAC, refrigeration, compressed air systems, and utility equipment.
• Read and interpret mechanical drawings, electrical schematics, P&IDs, equipment manuals, and technical documentation.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Qualifications:

• High school diploma or GED required; technical training, apprenticeship, or equivalent industrial maintenance experience preferred.
• Must meet the qualifications of Maintenance Technician Level 4 or higher and demonstrate the ability to independently troubleshoot complex mechanical systems. Maintenance Technician Level 5 or 6 preferred.
• Minimum 7 years of industrial maintenance experience, preferably in food manufacturing or baking operations.
• Demonstrated leadership, mentoring, and team coordination experience in a manufacturing environment.
• Strong troubleshooting knowledge of mechanical, electrical, pneumatic, hydraulic, and automated systems.
• Proficiency with CMMS systems, work planning, documentation, and maintenance metrics.
• Experience conducting root cause analysis and implementing reliability improvements.
• Working knowledge of bakery production equipment, support utilities, and facility systems.
• Excellent communication and organizational skills.
• Ability to work in high-temperature, noisy, and physically demanding environments including lifting up to 50 pounds.

Working Conditions:

• Unionized environment subject to collective bargaining agreements and seniority rules.
• Fast-paced industrial baking facility with exposure to heat, noise, moving machinery, and food production environments.
• Regular availability for overtime, extended shifts, and emergency call-ins as operational needs require.