Automation Manager

Maas Energy Works, Inc•Redding, CA

1d•$80,000 - $130,000•Onsite

About The Position

Maas Energy Works (MEW) is seeking an Automation Team Manager to lead the people and workflow of its automation and programming team. This is a people-first leadership role focused on growing the careers of PLC and SCADA programmers, balancing workloads, and ensuring the timely completion of programming tickets and projects across a portfolio of digester and RNG facilities. The role requires sufficient technical depth to contribute to troubleshooting discussions but does not set the team's technical direction, which is the responsibility of the Technical Lead. The ideal candidate has experience developing technical staff, holds a team accountable without micromanaging, and excels at removing obstacles for engineers.

Requirements

3+ years managing or supervising technical staff (engineers, programmers, controls technicians, or comparable).
Demonstrated record of developing people: coaching, performance conversations, career growth, and retention.
Working technical background in industrial automation, controls, engineering, IT, or a closely related technical field.
Experience managing a work queue or project portfolio and driving it to completion.
Strong organizational skills with the ability to track many parallel workstreams.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, adaptable to different audiences.
Comfortable with task and project tracking systems (ClickUp or equivalent).
Sound judgment on decision-making, delegation, and escalation.
Proficient in English.

Nice To Haves

Hands-on experience with PLC programming (Allen-Bradley, Studio 5000) or SCADA/HMI platforms (Ignition, Aveva, Wonderware, C-more, Automation Direct).
Familiarity with industrial networking, VFDs, instrumentation, 4-20mA and 24V control, Modbus485, and Modbus TCP.
Experience in renewable energy, agriculture, manufacturing, utilities, or another field-service environment.
Background supporting geographically distributed sites and remote team members.
Working knowledge of electrical systems and safe work practices.

Responsibilities

Manage, coach, and develop a team of automation programmers, including conducting one-on-one meetings, building development plans, and writing performance reviews.
Foster a team culture aligned with MEW's values.
Assign programming tickets and project work based on skills, development goals, and capacity, and rebalance workloads as priorities shift.
Forecast team capacity against the project pipeline and communicate potential staffing gaps to the Director.
Coordinate with other departments (Project Management, Operations, Engineering, Construction) to align automation work with site schedules and commissioning dates.
Oversee the team's ticket queue in ClickUp, ensuring work is visible, current, and progressing.
Conduct stand-ups and work-review meetings to identify and resolve stalled tickets.
Track project milestones and communicate status, risks, and schedule changes to stakeholders.
Partner with the Technical Lead to ensure realistic scoping and sizing of work.
Escalate resource conflicts, scope changes, and schedule risks to the Director.
Report on team throughput, backlog, and delivery performance.
Review and approve timesheets, expenses, and PTO requests.
Manage team scheduling, including site travel and the on-call rotation.
Ensure the team maintains program backups and site documentation to standard.
Support process improvements for work intake, tracking, and closure.
Contribute to team budget planning and identify software, hardware, and licensing needs.
Participate in troubleshooting and problem-solving sessions, offering practical judgment and experience.
Perform automation and programming work as needed.
Understand the team's work sufficiently to size it, assess progress, and engage in credible technical conversations.
Translate technical information for non-technical stakeholders.
Defer to the Technical Lead on technical direction, standards, and final technical decisions.

Benefits

Three weeks of paid vacation
Paid sick time
Eight & a half paid holidays per year
Two paid flexible holidays per year
ICHRA Health Insurance Reimbursement
100% Employer Paid Dental & Vision Insurance
100% Employer Paid Life Insurance
100% Employer Paid Medical Clinic Membership or Cash Equivalent (for Field Staff) for employees and dependents
Additional paid vacation (accrues over 3-24 months)
401k with company matching (accrues over 3-24 months)
Quarterly profit share (accrues over 3-24 months)