Maintenance Manager

Position Summary

We are seeking an experienced, hands-on Maintenance Manager to lead maintenance and reliability activities at our food manufacturing facility in Rock City, Illinois.

This facility contains a significant amount of process equipment, pumps, motors, electrical systems, PLCs, VFDs, and homogenizers. Unlike many manufacturing plants, the operation is not heavily centered around conveyors or packaging equipment.

The ideal Maintenance Manager will be a strong technical troubleshooter who can lead a maintenance team, improve preventive maintenance execution, manage maintenance costs, and partner closely with the Reliability Engineer to maximize equipment uptime and plant performance.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, supervise, train, and develop the plant maintenance team.
• Direct daily maintenance activities, repairs, troubleshooting, and equipment improvements.
• Troubleshoot and support PLCs, VFDs, electrical systems, motors, pumps, and process equipment.
• Establish priorities and assign work based on equipment reliability and production needs.
• Develop, schedule, and ensure completion of preventive maintenance activities.
• Maintain accurate work orders, maintenance schedules, equipment records, and departmental reports.
• Coordinate maintenance activities with Production, Operations, Sanitation, Engineering, and other departments.
• Support equipment installations, plant improvements, and small capital projects.
• Manage maintenance expenses and an operating budget of approximately $1 million.
• Identify recurring equipment failures and implement long-term corrective actions.
• Maintain the facility and its assets in accordance with USDA, FDA, OSHA, and EPA requirements.
• Conduct safety training and enforce plant safety, sanitation, and food-safety procedures.
• Work closely with the Reliability Engineer to improve maintenance efficiency, equipment reliability, and plant uptime.
• Provide technical guidance for cleaning and sanitation procedures involving plant equipment and support systems.
• Provide after-hours, weekend, and on-call support when necessary.

Required Qualifications

• Associate degree or equivalent education from a two-year college or technical school.
• 6–8 years of industrial or manufacturing maintenance experience.
• Previous experience as a Maintenance Manager, Maintenance Supervisor, Maintenance Superintendent, Reliability Manager, or similar maintenance leadership professional.
• Strong knowledge of industrial maintenance, preventive maintenance, troubleshooting, repair, and equipment reliability.
• Strong understanding of PLCs, VFDs, industrial electrical systems, motors, pumps, controls, and mechanical equipment.
• Demonstrated experience leading and developing industrial maintenance technicians.
• Strong problem-solving and root-cause troubleshooting abilities.
• Experience managing maintenance priorities, labor, parts, outside contractors, and departmental expenses.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to remain organized and make sound decisions in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.
• Ability to work flexible hours and provide on-call support when needed.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Industrial Technology, Maintenance Management, or a related field.
• Maintenance leadership experience within food, beverage, dairy, ingredient, or process manufacturing.
• Experience working with homogenizers and other food-processing equipment.
• Strong knowledge of food safety, sanitation, GMP, and regulatory requirements.
• Experience with Ignition software, maintenance work-order systems, and Microsoft Office.
• Previous experience training and developing maintenance personnel.

Ideal Candidate

The strongest candidate will be a technically capable maintenance leader who is comfortable working directly with technicians and equipment. This person should be able to troubleshoot independently, provide clear technical direction, improve preventive maintenance performance, and build a dependable maintenance operation around safety, reliability, and accountability.