Director of Maintenance

About the role

Strategic oversight and leadership for a 975,000 square-foot animal-protein production facility that includes a 195,000-pound ammonia system, 32-million-gallon wastewater treatment plant, rendering and steam generation operation, 38-million-pound distribution center, and axis robotic/automation systems. Leads a team of 8 direct reports and 200+ maintenance technicians and specialists responsible for planning, scheduling, preventive and corrective maintenance, reliability, skills training, special projects, and facility enhancements aimed at product and workforce improvements. Focus is on maintaining production efficiencies within budget and driving continuous improvement.

Responsibilities

• Align business strategy with available technology and innovation to provide feasible, realistic options.
• Use data analytics to monitor systems and processes, make projections, and offer solutions for sustainable, effective facility management.
• Generate all required information to support appropriations requests (ARs) for the facility.
• Oversee root-cause failure analysis (RCFA) for chronic or catastrophic equipment failures; ensure corrective actions are implemented and sustained.
• Act as facility expert to interpret complex technical instructions involving abstract and concrete variables.
• Collaborate with stakeholders, contractors, suppliers, and vendors to ensure successful negotiations and outcomes while upholding business ethics.
• Propose, design, and introduce new equipment, automation, and process designs to maximize production and labor efficiencies while improving product quality.
• Own the company-wide reliability strategy, including predictive, preventative, and condition-based maintenance programs.
• Oversee maintenance onboarding and technical developmental training.
• Ensure compliance with all local, state, and federal laws and regulations (OSHA, FSIS, EPA).
• Partner with Engineering and Projects to support capital project development and installation.
• Analyze and track key performance indicators for all areas of responsibility.
• Manage ground property services: snow removal, lawn care, landscaping, irrigation, trash removal, and parking-lot upkeep.
• Establish and maintain critical-asset rankings for production, packaging, refrigeration, rendering, wastewater, and utility systems.
• Coordinate contractor work alongside unscheduled work.
• Participate as a key stakeholder in selection, onboarding, training, and development of maintenance employees at all levels.
• Obtain Management of Change (MOC) approvals, write appropriation requests, and complete capital projects efficiently and cost-effectively.
• Analyze asset lifecycle data, downtime trends, and failure history to drive reliability improvements and capital planning.
• Oversee thermal, refrigeration, compressed air, hazardous gases, wastewater, steam, electrical, water, natural gas, HVAC, ammonia systems, sustainability, and compliance in a safe, compliant, and efficient manner.
• Lead activities that require managing through operational unpredictability.