Maintenance & Reliability Manager

Job Description

Job Description

About Evie's Snacks

Evie's is a fast-growing, better-for-you snack brand sourcing from our family-owned, regenerative pecan farms in South Texas. We're reintroducing pecans to the modern consumer in a downright delectable way – with nostalgic flavors, premium sourcing, and a perfect crunch that keeps people coming back.

As Evie's continues to scale nationally, we're opening our first dedicated manufacturing and distribution facility in the Houston, Texas area. We're looking for an experienced Maintenance & Reliability Manager to be the guardian of our production heartbeat. You'll ensure our production lines run at peak performance, minimize unplanned downtime, and keep our facility safe, efficient and ready to scale. Your expertise will directly impact our ability to meet growing demand, maintain product quality, and innovate in the snack space.

The Maintenance & Reliability Manager will serve as the site's maintenance leader, responsible for helping stand up and operate Evie's first dedicated manufacturing and distribution facility. This person reports to the Director of Operations and will work closely with the founders, process engineers, and external partners during the build-out and pre-launch phase, then take ownership of all systems and equipment that support the plant.

The Maintenance & Reliability Manager owns equipment readiness, uptime, preventive maintenance, spare parts, utilities, repairs, technical troubleshooting, and helping to ensure equipment is properly installed, commissioned, and operating reliably.

This role is ideal for an entrepreneurial leader who combines technical acumen with a truly hands-on approach. You will be responsible for building food safety-conscious systems and SOPs, hiring and developing our maintenance team, and creating a culture of accountability on the floor. Because this is a hands-on leadership position, the Maintenance & Reliability Manager should expect to troubleshoot directly on the plant floor while helping install, commission, and learn the equipment, then building the systems, vendor base, spare parts program, and future maintenance team.

Facility Build-Out & Startup

• Partner with Director of Operations and external partners during the build-out phase to support equipment installations, facility readiness and launch planning.
• Help translate startup plans into practical operating systems for day-one readiness.
• Collaborate with engineers, project managers, and contractors on new facility design and updated specifications.
• Build SOPs, training materials, startup routines, sanitation processes, and daily management tools for operator use.
• Develop and implement a preventive maintenance schedule that minimizes downtime and maximizes throughput.
• Support plant expansion projects, including equipment installation and commissioning for new product lines.
• Participate in equipment installation, commissioning, startup testing, and acceptance signoff; document equipment settings, manuals, maintenance requirements, spare parts, and known startup issues.

Leadership & Team Building

• Serve as an on-site maintenance manager for the facility and set the tone for performance, ownership, and operational discipline.
• Hire and lead the plant's initial maintenance team.
• Train and mentor maintenance technicians, fostering a culture of safety, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Build a strong culture centered on safety, reliability, teamwork, and continuous improvement.
• Provide direction to implement maintenance plans that optimize asset life and total life cycle costs.

Maintenance Strategy & Reliability

• Build and lead an in-house maintenance function focused on equipment ownership, preventive maintenance, and uptime.
• Track and report maintenance KPIs, identifying opportunities for cost savings and efficiency gains.
• Manage spare parts inventory and vendor relationships for equipment repairs and upgrades.
• Lead all preventive and corrective maintenance for all equipment, conveyors and lines.
• Troubleshoot mechanical, electrical, and pneumatic systems to quickly resolve production interruptions.
• Work with OEMs, contractors, and vendors to support equipment and building/grounds maintenance.
• Oversee safety and regulatory compliance programs, including OSHA, EPA, and local agency requirements.
• Develop predictive maintenance strategies, lubrication programs, and equipment condition monitoring where appropriate.
• Develop and monitor reliability metrics including equipment uptime, MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure), and MTTR (Mean Time to Repair).
• Lead root cause failure analysis and implement corrective actions to eliminate recurring equipment issues.

Manufacturing-Maintenance Essentials

• Implement and manage CMMS systems and work-order discipline across the facility.
• Own or partner with Operations on lockout/tagout (LOTO) programs and compliance.
• Develop and maintain critical spare parts inventories and management strategies.
• Manage facility utilities including compressed air, HVAC, electrical, water, drainage, and gas systems.
• Ensure preventive maintenance compliance targets are achieved.
• Maintain equipment manuals, drawings, and technical documentation.
• Support calibration programs for scales, thermometers, metal detection systems, and checkweighers.
• Manage contractors, permits, and hot work processes to ensure safety and compliance.

Operational Support

• Collaborate with production and quality teams to ensure equipment meets food safety and compliance standards (FDA, SQF, HACCP, GMP).
• Serve as a subject matter expert for maintenance operations and collaborate with operations and suppliers.
• Support allergen management programs, root cause analysis and food safety audits.

• 5+ years of maintenance experience in a food manufacturing or snack production environment.
• Flexibility to provide hands-on support during startup and critical production periods, including occasional off-shift or weekend availability to ensure equipment uptime as operational needs evolve.
• Strong knowledge of mechanical, electrical, and PLC-controlled systems.
• Experience with preventive maintenance programs and technical knowledge of manufacturing maintenance systems.
• Familiarity with food safety regulations and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP).
• Experience implementing, managing, or utilizing CMMS platforms and maintenance work-order systems.
• A hands-on, problem-solving mindset with the ability to work under pressure.
• Excellent leadership and communication skills to coordinate across teams.
• Ability to work in a high heat manufacturing environment, including standing/walking on the production floor, using PPE, entering production and warehouse areas, and occasionally lifting up to 25–50 lbs depending on role requirements.
• Travel occasionally, up to approximately 10%, as needed.

• Experience in snack foods, nuts, roasting, coffee, bakery, or adjacent food manufacturing environments.
• Experience in both larger CPG environments and entrepreneurial or high-growth manufacturing businesses.
• Familiarity with SQF, HACCP, FSMA, allergen controls, GMPs, and audit readiness.
• Budgeting and cost control skills. Project and capital planning experience.

• Salary range: $120k–$150k depending on experience, plus performance-based bonus.
• Comprehensive benefits package, including vision/dental/medical, paid time off & employer-sponsored 401k plan.
• Opportunity to build and lead the Maintenance department in Evie's first owned manufacturing and distribution facility.
• Clear path to grow into broader operations leadership as the business expands.

You'll be joining at a foundational moment. This is a rare opportunity to help shape a facility before launch, build the operating culture from the ground up, and create the systems and team that power the next chapter of the business.