Maintenance Manager

Job Description

Job Description

Grower Direct Farms – Somers, CT
Full-Time | Exempt | On-Site

Grower Direct Farms (GDF) is one of the largest greenhouse operations in the Northeast, supplying annuals and perennials to major retailers. We are a family-owned company built on honesty, integrity, and a hands-on work ethic. We are seeking a Maintenance Manager to lead all maintenance operations across our extensive greenhouse and production facility.

This role manages the maintenance team, oversees the work order and preventative maintenance systems, ensures equipment and facilities operate safely and efficiently, and maintains the reliability of buildings, systems, and grounds. The ideal candidate will bring strong leadership, technical skill, and the ability to balance hands-on work with planning and oversight.

What You’ll Do

• Ensure department staff follow proper safety protocols; responsible for the training and execution of new and existing company safety guidelines, best practices, and making the safety of all GDF employees the top priority.
• Monitor work order and inventory system
  • Create reactive maintenance work orders
  • Schedule and assigns work orders and proactive maintenance tasks
  • Create PM work orders per the Preventive Maintenance Plan
  • Approve work order requests
  • Monitor part inventory levels to ensure parts are properly accounted for and necessary stock levels are maintained
  • Analyze and develop long-term plans for multiple/repeat calls
  • Oversee the proper utilization and continued development of the work order system
• Prioritize work across the team.
• Maintain and execute the Preventive Maintenance Plan.
• Evaluate service levels with reactive and preventative maintenance programs to ensure quality.
• Utilize work order data to formulate equipment and business system replacement programs.
• Monitor and maintain the building management system as necessary.
• Manage spare parts, supplies procurement, and maintain effective vendor relationships.

Administrative and Weekly Responsibilities:

• Invoice approval
• Review employee daily/weekly hours and attendance
• Attend regularly scheduled meetings with the team to discuss:
  • Any working or upcoming projects and level of completion
  • Any major impacts to the Growing and Production Teams or to equipment
  • Any major damage to company equipment
  • Technician metric results
  • Budget vs Actuals
  • Personnel or HR related issues
  • Large, unexpected expense
  • Reactive vs. Preventive work order report/analysis

What We’re Looking For

• Ability to execute a maintenance operating plan and manage expenses responsibly.
• Proven experience managing maintenance projects involving equipment, building systems, greenhouse structures, facilities, and grounds.
• Strong understanding of maintenance budgets, including operating expenses, capital planning, and asset life-cycle management.
• Demonstrated capability to maintain buildings, greenhouses, and grounds to high operational and safety standards.
  • Experience leading a maintenance team, setting priorities, and ensuring the department supports the company’s goals of:
  • Product excellence
  • Growth mindset
  • Experience working with vendors and contractors to integrate activities with the production team

Why Grower Direct Farms?

• Leadership role in a mission-critical department supporting greenhouse production.
• Family-owned company with a culture of respect, accountability, and teamwork.
• Competitive compensation and year-round operational stability.
• Opportunity to directly impact facility reliability, equipment uptime, and overall operational success.