Sr. Manager Automation Sustainment

Main Responsibilities

• Partner with the Director of Automation to define and execute an automation sustainment strategy that maximizes utilization, uptime, and continuity across the network.
• Drive an OEE culture by defining a consistent OEE methodology for automation systems, establishing a standard reporting cadence using existing data, and enabling sites to interpret losses and prioritize actions.
• Lead performance governance using KPIs (availability, throughput, utilization, OEE loss categories, MTBF/MTTR, and maintenance/automation backlog) to identify chronic losses, diagnose root causes, and drive corrective actions with site teams and suppliers.
• Cooker incident and problem management for automation systems, ensuring rapid restoration, disciplined follow-up (RCA/Corrective Action), and prevention of recurring failures.
• Owes lifecycle sustainment programs, including systemic replacement and standardization of high-cost mechanical components and controls hardware, obsolescence risk mitigation, and coordinated deployment planning to minimize operational disruption; partner with Maintenance to incorporate spare-part obsolescence signals into upgrade prioritization.
• Own the multi-million-dollar annual automation sustainment CapEx budget, including forecasting, prioritization, spend governance, and tracking outcomes against availability, utilization, and risk metrics.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in industrial engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, or a related field.
• Master's degree is a plus.
• 5 plus years of experience sustaining/operating warehouse automation systems (e.g., conveyor/sortation, AS/RS, shuttle, robotics; common platforms/integrators include Dematic, Witron, Symbotic, and KNAPP), with demonstrated impact on uptime and utilization.
• Strong knowledge of reliability and maintenance practices (PM/PdM, root cause analysis, MTBF/MTTR), and experience building standard work and governance routines.
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional problem solving with operations, maintenance, engineering/automation, and vendors to restore service and prevent recurrence.
• Experience managing vendor performance and support models, including service levels, support response, and contract/commercial discussions.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to translate technical system health and risks into clear operational actions for non-technical audiences.
• Strong analytical skills and comfort using data to prioritize work, quantify losses, and track sustainment outcomes.
• Demonstrated ability to drive standardization and disciplined execution in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.
• Travel will be required for the role ~ 40% (variable).