Maintenance Manager

RELOCATION ASSISTANCE AVAILABLEReports To: Plant ManagerOn-Site: no remote work available) Position Summary:The Maintenance Manager provides strategic and operational leadership for the Maintenance Department, ensuring equipment uptime, reliability, and cost-effective operations. This role drives maintenance excellence through proactive safety leadership, structured planning, disciplined execution, continuous improvement, and team development. The Maintenance Manager aligns maintenance strategy with business objectives, establishes performance metrics, manages budgets and capital investments, and fosters a high-performing, accountable, and engaged workforce.Duties/Responsibilities - Leadership, Safety and CultureProvide overall direction for the Maintenance Department – including Maintenance Supervisors, Technicians, and support staff—while modeling transparent, trusted leadership and accountability.Champion a proactive safety culture: deploy the safety program, ensure completion of safety training and observations, lead/oversee incident investigations, and drive safety initiativesReinforce 5S/housekeeping standards across all maintenance areas.Build and sustain a positive work environment through effective onboarding, regular one-on-ones, recognition, and role-modeling leadership behaviors that promote respect, inclusion, and constructive teamwork.Strategy and Change LeadershipTranslate plant and company strategy into clear departmental goals and priorities; communicates the "why," sets expectations, and drives accountability to results.Act as a change agent—planning and leading implementation of strategic initiatives, ensuring team understanding and adoption through proactive communication and action plans.Align maintenance objectives with customer and business needs; develop strong relationships that support safe, reliable, and cost-effective operations.Maintenance Operations ManagementDevelop, execute, and continuously improve maintenance systems and standards (PM, PdM, TPM, reliability practices) to minimize downtime and extend asset life.Ensure disciplined planning/scheduling and high-quality execution of all maintenance activitiesMaintain accurate CMMS data (work orders, asset history, parts usage, labor hours, and costs) to enable data-driven decisions.Oversee spare parts strategy, inventory accuracy, and vendor/contractor performance to support uptime and total cost objectives.Performance, Metrics & Continuous ImprovementEstablish and monitor maintenance KPIs (e.g., equipment uptime, OEE, PM compliance, MTTR/MTBF, budget performance) and drive corrective actions to close performance gaps.Lead structured problem solving (root-cause analysis/5-Why), removes barriers to address recurring failures and improve reliability.Drive continuous improvement initiatives that enhance reliability and operational efficiency.Maintain strong customer/internal stakeholder communication on priorities, equipment status, and emerging risks to support informed decisions.Capital Planning, Budgeting & Project LeadershipDevelop the annual maintenance budget; manages departmental spend across labor, overtime, materials, services, and MRO inventory to meet business targets.Identify reliability-driven capital needs; prepares formal capital requests (scope, justification/ROI, schedule) and oversees projects from concept through install, commissioning, and handoff.Communication & ReportingProvide regular status updates to plant leadership on asset performance, maintenance activities, major issues, budget status, and project milestones.Represent Maintenance in audits, customer visits, and cross-functional reviews; ensures timely escalation and alignment on plant priorities.Qualifications/Requirements:Education: Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Industrial Technology, Business, or related field preferred; equivalent experience considered.Experience: 8+ years in industrial maintenance/engineering with progressive responsibility; 3+ years of supervisory leadership with a focus on employee development.Technical: Strong foundation in mechanical, electrical, and automation systems (PLCs/drives/instrumentation), and fluency in maintenance strategies (PM, PdM, TPM) and reliability principles; demonstrated use of CMMS and data to drive decisions.Leadership & Business Acumen: Proven ability to communicate vision, lead change, coach and build teams, and maintain effective customer relationships; resilient, emotionally intelligent, and adept at managing financial performance.