Director of Engineering and Maintenance

Job Description

Job Description

We are seeking an experienced Director of Engineering & Maintenance for a growing food manufacturer in the Eastern Lexington area. This leadership role will oversee all maintenance, engineering, reliability, utilities, and capital project activities while supporting an expanding manufacturing facility with new production lines and increased capacity. The ideal candidate is a hands-on engineering and maintenance leader with mandatory experience in high-speed salty snack manufacturing, including baked and/or fried snack products. This is an exciting opportunity to build a proactive maintenance organization, lead key capital investments, and help shape the future growth of the operation.

Job Responsibilities:

• Provide overall leadership for Maintenance, Engineering, Reliability, Utilities, and Facility Operations.
• Build and develop a high-performing maintenance organization focused on reliability, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Lead, coach, and develop maintenance managers, supervisors, planners, and technicians.
• Drive the transition from reactive maintenance to a proactive, preventive, and predictive maintenance culture.
• Develop and execute preventive and predictive maintenance programs that maximize equipment uptime and asset life.
• Improve equipment reliability, Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), and maintenance performance through data-driven decision making.
• Lead troubleshooting of critical manufacturing equipment and implement permanent corrective actions.
• Develop maintenance KPIs including downtime, PM compliance, MTBF, MTTR, and maintenance costs.
• Lead all capital projects from concept through startup, including equipment selection, budgeting, installation, commissioning, and validation.
• Support new product launches through equipment modifications and process improvements.
• Manage equipment upgrades, line expansions, and manufacturing capacity improvements.
• Partner with Operations and Supply Chain to ensure projects are delivered safely, on time, and within budget.
• Oversee all facility utility systems including steam, refrigeration, compressed air, nitrogen, electrical distribution, and building infrastructure.
• Ensure utility systems operate safely, efficiently, and reliably to support production requirements.
• Develop long-term facility maintenance strategies supporting future expansion.
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Required Skills/Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or related technical discipline preferred.
• 10+ years of progressive engineering and maintenance leadership experience within food manufacturing.
• Previous leadership experience overseeing maintenance, engineering, reliability, and capital projects.
• Required experience in salty snacks, chips, pretzels, crackers, or similar baked and/or fried snack manufacturing.
• Strong knowledge of preventive maintenance, reliability engineering, utilities, and facility infrastructure.
• Demonstrated experience leading capital equipment installations, manufacturing expansions, and startup activities.
• Experience leading facility expansions and startup operations.
• Experience implementing CMMS systems and world-class preventive maintenance programs.
• Experience building engineering and maintenance organizations within high-growth manufacturing environments.
• Proven success developing teams while improving equipment reliability and operational performance.