General Foreman Maintenance/Refractory

About the Role

The General Foreman - Maintenance/Refractory is responsible for the safe, reliable, and cost-effective execution of maintenance and refractory activities across the Dunkirk facility. This position balances front-line leadership, technical oversight, work planning, and administrative responsibilities to ensure equipment reliability, refractory integrity, regulatory compliance, effective use of labor and contractors, and coordination of maintenance work with plant operating requirements.

Responsibilities

• Safety and Compliance: Make safety the first priority in all maintenance and refractory work. Ensure employees and contractors comply with company safety rules, procedures, required PPE, and applicable Safety & Health and Environmental requirements. Stop work when unsafe conditions or behaviors are identified and ensure hazards are corrected before work resumes.
• Safety Leadership and Field Execution: Lead pre-job planning, job hazard analysis/risk assessment, toolbox discussions, and field verification for maintenance and refractory work. Reinforce requirements for lockout/tagout, confined space, hot work, fall protection, line breaking, lifting/rigging, mobile equipment, and other high-risk work.
• Support the Maintenance Manager: Assist with priorities, resource allocation, outage planning, contractor coordination, cost control, and execution of the maintenance strategy.
• Leadership and Accountability: Lead through direction, delegation, follow-up, and accountability. Assign work clearly to supervisors, skilled trades, refractory personnel, and contractors; establish expectations for safety, quality, timing, and results; and routinely follow up in the field to verify progress and completion. Address performance, behavioral, and execution issues promptly and directly.
• Maintenance Execution: Plan, coordinate, and monitor corrective, preventive, and predictive maintenance activities. Ensure work is properly scoped, scheduled, permitted, executed, and closed out with appropriate documentation and follow-up.
• Equipment Reliability: Drive improvement in equipment availability, reliability, and maintainability. Support root-cause problem solving for repeat failures and implement corrective actions that reduce downtime and emergency work.
• Refractory Execution: Plan and oversee refractory inspection, repair, demolition, installation, dry-out, and commissioning activities for furnaces and other refractory-lined equipment. Ensure work follows approved specifications, installation practices, and required cure/dry-out procedures.
• Technical Quality: Verify maintenance and refractory work meets drawings, specifications, OEM requirements, and accepted industrial practices. Identify deficiencies, ensure proper repairs, and maintain appropriate inspection and work records.
• Workforce and Contractor Coordination: Manage manpower schedules, work assignments, and contractor activities to support plant priorities, planned outages, and emergency repairs. Ensure contractors are properly oriented, qualified, and held to the same safety and performance expectations as employees.
• Planning and Materials: Coordinate required parts, tools, lifting equipment, consumables, and refractory materials in advance of scheduled work. Identify critical spares and material risks that could affect equipment availability or outage execution.
• Cost and Productivity: Control maintenance and refractory costs through effective planning, efficient use of labor and contractors, elimination of non-value-added work, and reduction of repeat failures and unplanned downtime.
• CMMS and Documentation: Ensure maintenance work orders are properly documented in the plant CMMS, including labor, parts, failure information, findings, and completed work. Support accurate backlog management, preventive maintenance compliance, and maintenance performance reporting.
• Continuous Improvement and 5S: Lead and support continuous improvement, 5S, and workplace organization within maintenance shops, storage areas, and work sites. Promote a culture of urgency, attention to detail, disciplined execution, and ownership.
• Cross-Functional Coordination: Coordinate closely with Operations, Engineering/Technical, Safety, Quality, and Purchasing to safely schedule work, manage equipment releases, support production requirements, and execute plant improvement projects.
• Emergency Response: Provide leadership and technical direction during equipment breakdowns and refractory emergencies, ensuring safe troubleshooting, effective communication, and timely restoration of equipment without compromising repair quality or safety.

Skills

• Strong working knowledge of industrial mechanical maintenance, including bearings, gearboxes, couplings, shafts, pumps, fans, conveyors, hydraulics, pneumatics, and lubrication systems.
• Ability to troubleshoot mechanical equipment failures and support systematic root-cause analysis and permanent corrective actions.
• Working knowledge of industrial electrical and controls systems sufficient to coordinate troubleshooting and repairs involving motors, drives/VFDs, sensors, instrumentation, PLC-controlled equipment, and power distribution with qualified electrical personnel.
• Knowledge of welding, fabrication, machining, alignment, fit-up, and repair practices used in a heavy industrial/metals manufacturing environment.
• Knowledge of preventive and predictive maintenance practices, equipment inspections, lubrication programs, condition monitoring, and maintenance planning/scheduling.
• Practical knowledge of lifting and rigging, crane activities, material handling, and safe execution of heavy maintenance work.
• Strong knowledge of refractory systems and materials, including brick, castable, gunning/shotcrete, ramming/plastic materials, mortars, anchors, and insulation systems.
• Ability to assess refractory condition and common failure modes such as cracking, spalling, erosion, chemical attack, hot spots, anchor failure, and mechanical damage.
• Knowledge of refractory demolition and installation methods, mixing/application requirements, anchoring, expansion allowances, curing, dry-out/heat-up practices, and quality checks.
• Ability to read and interpret mechanical drawings, equipment manuals, refractory drawings/layouts, specifications, work instructions, and technical documentation.
• Working knowledge of CMMS use, work-order control, preventive maintenance, backlog management, parts usage, and maintenance KPI tracking.
• Ability to plan and lead shutdown/outage work, coordinate multiple crafts and contractors, and sequence work around operational constraints.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated commitment to safety and the ability to enforce safety expectations consistently.
• Demonstrated ability to lead through others: effectively delegate work, give clear direction, verify execution, provide direct feedback, and hold employees and supervisors accountable for results.
• Strong front-line leadership, coaching, and accountability skills.
• Strong interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills.
• Critical thinking, sound judgment, and effective problem-solving ability.
• Strong planning, scheduling, coordination, and prioritization skills.
• Ability to work effectively across Operations, Maintenance, Engineering/Technical, Safety, Quality, and contractor organizations.
• Ability to manage competing priorities in a fast-paced heavy industrial environment.
• Strong attention to detail with a practical, hands-on approach to field execution.
• General knowledge of plant operations and the impact of maintenance and refractory condition on safety, quality, throughput, and cost.

Education and Experience

• Minimum 5 years of industrial maintenance experience in a metals, steel, foundry, furnace, or comparable heavy industrial environment; primary steelmaking or specialty metals experience preferred.
• Minimum 3 years of experience leading skilled trades, hourly employees, supervisors, and/or contractors.
• Demonstrated hands-on experience with industrial mechanical maintenance and equipment troubleshooting.
• Demonstrated experience with furnace/refractory maintenance, refractory installation/repair, or management of refractory contractors strongly preferred.
• Experience planning and executing shutdowns, outages, major repairs, and contractor work.
• Experience with a CMMS and preventive maintenance systems; Maximo experience preferred.
• Demonstrated leadership in continuous improvement and 5S.
• Technical degree, skilled-trades apprenticeship, journeyman background, or equivalent combination of education and industrial experience preferred.

Physical and Other Requirements

• Ability to safely move throughout a heavy industrial plant environment for extended periods, including stairs, platforms, and uneven surfaces.
• Ability to work around heat, noise, dust, and active industrial equipment while wearing required PPE.
• Ability to enter production and maintenance areas to inspect work and equipment, including confined or elevated areas when properly trained and authorized.
• Ability to respond to urgent maintenance or refractory issues outside normal working hours as business needs require.
• Ability to safely operate or work around industrial machinery and mobile equipment consistent with training and authorization.