Maintenance & Reliability Manager

DESCRIPTION

Position Summary

Louisiana Fish Fry is seeking an experienced Maintenance & Reliability Manager to lead all aspects of maintenance, reliability, facilities, and utility operations within our manufacturing facility. This role is responsible for maximizing equipment uptime, improving plant performance, developing a world-class reliability program, and building a high-performing maintenance team.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the plant's maintenance, reliability, facilities, and utility functions to ensure safe, efficient, and reliable operations.
• Develop and execute preventive, predictive, condition-based, and corrective maintenance programs that improve asset performance and equipment uptime.
• Drive reliability initiatives through Root Cause Analysis (RCA), Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM), and continuous improvement practices.
• Partner closely with Operations, Quality, Engineering, Safety, and Supply Chain teams to improve productivity, reduce downtime, and achieve business goals.
• Oversee maintenance planning and scheduling, work execution, backlog management, and CMMS effectiveness.
• Develop and manage maintenance budgets, including labor, spare parts, contractors, and capital expenditures.
• Lead spare parts inventory and storeroom strategies to balance equipment reliability and cost control.
• Manage capital projects, equipment installations, commissioning activities, and long-term asset lifecycle planning.
• Build, coach, and develop a high-performing maintenance team through effective leadership, accountability, training, and succession planning.
• Ensure compliance with all safety, environmental, food safety, and regulatory requirements.
• Foster a culture of proactive maintenance, operational excellence, continuous improvement, and employee development.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 7+ years of progressive maintenance and reliability experience within a manufacturing environment.
• 3+ years of leadership experience managing maintenance teams, supervisors, planners, or reliability personnel.
• Demonstrated success improving equipment reliability, uptime, asset utilization, and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).
• Experience leading reliability improvement programs utilizing RCA, FMEA, RCM, and other structured problem-solving tools.
• Strong understanding of CMMS systems, maintenance planning and scheduling, and asset management practices.
• Experience managing maintenance budgets, contractor relationships, spare parts inventories, and capital projects.
• Working knowledge of OSHA, environmental, food safety, and regulatory compliance requirements.
• Strong leadership, communication, and team-building skills.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and data-driven performance reporting.
• Ability to support off-shift operations and respond to critical plant issues when necessary.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in food, beverage, packaging, consumer packaged goods (CPG), or other highly automated manufacturing environments.
• Experience with Lean Manufacturing, TPM, Six Sigma, Theory of Constraints, Reliability Excellence, or World Class Manufacturing programs.
• Knowledge of PLCs, controls, VFDs, automated packaging systems, robotics, machine vision systems, and industrial utility systems.

REQUIREMENTS

We are proudly US-owned and US-made. In fact, our plant and headquarters are still located right where we started, in Baton Rouge.

In 1982, Louisiana Fish Fry Products was established to bring the true taste of Louisiana to a wider audience, with Cajun-inspired products that are authentic and easy to prepare. It started with fry mixes, then expanded to base mixes for Louisiana favorites like Jambalaya and Etouffée, followed by seafood boil, sauces and gravy mixes. Louisiana Fish Fry Products has since seen steady growth in both the retail and foodservice industry.

Today, Louisiana Fish Fry Products still proudly calls Baton Rouge, Louisiana home. Nearly forty years later, that same commitment to selling authentic Louisiana-style dishes made from only the finest, high-quality ingredients still proudly inspires everything we do.