Senior Maintenance Manager

Job Description

Job Description

OVERVIEW

The Senior Maintenance Manager provides strategic and operational leadership for all production and facilities maintenance functions to ensure that equipment, utilities, and infrastructure operate safely, reliably, and cost-effectively. The role exists to maximize asset availability, reduce unplanned downtime, and extend equipment life through proactive maintenance strategies, technical problem-solving, and disciplined execution. As the site owner of the Progressive Maintenance Pillar, this position leads the development and deployment of maintenance standards, autonomous maintenance practices, and loss-elimination systems that build equipment capability and strengthen the reliability culture. The Senior Maintenance Manager partners closely with FSQA, operations, engineering, and EHS to support stable production, regulatory compliance, and long-term asset health across the entire site.

WHAT YOU WILL DO

• Ensures all maintenance activities comply with OSHA, environmental regulations, building codes, internal safety policies, GMP, HACCP, and food safety requirements.
• Leads development and enforcement of critical safety programs, including LOTO, confined space, hot work, and contractor safety compliance.
• Partners with QA and EHS to ensure equipment, maintenance practices, and facility conditions support sanitation, allergen control, contamination prevention, and regulatory compliance.
• Conducts safety audits, risk assessments, incident investigations, and corrective action follow-up while promoting a culture of hazard identification and continuous improvement.
• Oversees maintenance execution for all production equipment to ensure safe, reliable, and efficient operations.
• Prioritizes maintenance work orders based on production requirements and asset criticality.
• Leads troubleshooting and resolution of chronic equipment issues using structured problem-solving and reliability tools.
• Ensures preventive, predictive, and condition-based maintenance programs are optimized and consistently executed.
• Coordinates maintenance support during startups, changeovers, and shutdowns to minimize downtime and maximize performance.
• Maintains accurate maintenance documentation, asset data, BOMs, and procedures within the CMMS/EAM system.
• Owns maintenance and reliability of facility infrastructure, including HVAC, electrical systems, compressed air, water systems, fire protection, buildings, and grounds.
• Ensures facility systems operate within environmental, safety, and regulatory requirements.
• Manages contractors and service providers supporting facility, utility, and infrastructure systems.
• Develops long-term plans for facility upgrades, utility capacity, infrastructure improvements, and asset reliability.
• Leads implementation and governance of Progressive Maintenance standards across production and facilities.
• Drives defect elimination, equipment hardening, loss reduction, and reliability improvement initiatives.
• Partners with operations to sustain autonomous maintenance practices, operator care, inspections, and early issue detection.
• Conducts PM audits, tracks maturity progression, and develops training programs to build maintenance and operational capabilities.
• Ensures effective maintenance planning and scheduling to maximize labor efficiency and equipment uptime.
• Oversees spare parts strategy, inventory accuracy, and critical spare parts management.
• Reviews backlog, PM compliance, work execution, and reliability metrics to drive continuous improvement.
• Leads, mentors, and develops maintenance supervisors, planners, and technicians while fostering a high-performance culture.
• Aligns staffing, training, and skill development with current and future operational needs.
• Promotes collaboration among Maintenance, Operations, Engineering, QA, and EHS teams.
• Develops and manages maintenance budgets, including labor, parts, contractors, and capital expenditures.
• Leads asset lifecycle planning, equipment replacement strategies, reliability improvements, and capital project justification.
• Oversees maintenance-related capital projects to ensure scope, schedule, and cost objectives are achieved.
• Uses KPIs, reliability analytics, and performance data to guide investment decisions and improve operational performance.

WHAT WE NEED FROM YOU

• 10+ year of experience in maintenance or other relevant manufacturing operation
• Engineering degree or equivalent is preferred
• Comprehensive understanding of maintenance and reliability engineering principles, including preventive, predictive and condition based maintenance
• Deep knowledge of industrial equipment, utilities, building systems and facility infrastructure (HVAC, Electrical Distribution, compressed air, chillers, cogenerators, fire protection, air handling units, etc)
• Expertise in Progressive Maintenance Pillar Methodologies, including standards development, defect elimination and autonomous maintenance enablement
• Strong understanding of root-cause analysis tools (5-Why, Fishbone, FMEA, RCA, etc)
• Knowledge of CMMS/EAM systems and best practices for work order management, planning, scheduling and asset life cycle management
• Familiarity with regulatory and compliance requirements, including OSHA, environmental regulations, building codes and safety standards
• Understanding of capital planning and asset replacement strategies, including lifecycle costing and reliability-based investment decisions.
• Leadership and team development skills to coach, mentor, and build capability across supervisors, planners, technicians and operators.
• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills to diagnose chronic equipment issues and drive sustainable solutions
• Project management skills for coordinating shutdowns, facility upgrades and capital projects
• Effective communication skills to collaborate with operations, engineering, EHS and external contractos
• Data-driven decision-making skills, including the ability to interpret KPI's, maintenance metrics and reliability data.
• Change management skills to lead cultural transformation and drive adoption of maintenance standards and PM pillar practices
• Vendor and contractor management skills, including negotiation, performance oversight and contractor compliance
• Ability to lead a multi-disciplinary maintenance organization and align teams around shared reliability goals.
• Ability to develop and implement maintenance strategies that improve uptime, reduce costs and enhance asset performance.
• Ability to balance short-term operational needs with long-term asset health ensuring sustainable reliability
• Ability to influence cross-functional teams and drive operator ownership through autonomous maintenance.
• Ability to identify systemic issues and implement standardized processes that eliminate variability and equipment losses
• Ability to foster a safety-first culture, ensuring all maintenance activities meet or exceed safety and environmental standards.

Since 1971, FurstStaffing has been servicing two clients: companies seeking talent and individuals seeking employment or a career change.

FurstStaffing provides project (assignments), to-hire, and direct placement opportunities in a variety of industries for entry-mid level office and industrial careers. FurstProfessionals focuses on mid-management and technical careers in fields such as HR, IT, Financial, Engineering, Maintenance Mechanics, Sales, etc. FurstExecutiveSolutions is a retained executive search organization which focuses on the VP, C, and BOD level careers. FurstStrategies provides HR Consulting and Talent Transition Services.

We are family-owned and certified as a WBENC business. Headquartered in Rockford, IL, and offices in Stockton, IL and Darlington, WI.

Company Description

Since 1971, FurstStaffing has been servicing two clients: companies seeking talent and individuals seeking employment or a career change. \r\n\r\nFurstStaffing provides project (assignments), to-hire, and direct placement opportunities in a variety of industries for entry-mid level office and industrial careers. FurstProfessionals focuses on mid-management and technical careers in fields such as HR, IT, Financial, Engineering, Maintenance Mechanics, Sales, etc. FurstExecutiveSolutions is a retained executive search organization which focuses on the VP, C, and BOD level careers. FurstStrategies provides HR Consulting and Talent Transition Services. \r\n\r\nWe are family-owned and certified as a WBENC business. Headquartered in Rockford, IL, and offices in Stockton, IL and Darlington, WI.