Automation Team Manager

Maas Energy Works, Inc•Redding, CA

91d•$80,000 - $130,000•Onsite

About The Position

Maas Energy Works is hiring an Automation Team Manager to lead the people and workflow of its automation and programming team. The role develops PLC and SCADA programmers, balances workloads, and keeps programming tickets and projects moving across a portfolio of digester and renewable natural gas facilities. It is a working leadership position that includes hands-on programming, troubleshooting, commissioning, project execution, and technical problem solving alongside team members. The Manager owns people development and performance management, hiring, work assignment and capacity planning, ticket and project throughput, scheduling and on-call rotation, timesheet and PTO approval, cross-department coordination, and escalation. The Manager works in partnership with the Technical Lead, who owns technical direction, architecture and platform decisions, programming standards, code and configuration review, and the technical approach for projects and tickets. The Manager contributes technical expertise and participates in technical decisions but does not unilaterally establish standards or override technical decisions. Conflicts between technical and delivery priorities are resolved jointly with the Technical Lead and escalated to the Director when necessary. The position is based at the Tech Hub in Redding, California. The schedule is Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., 40 hours per week, plus an on-call rotation. Occasional travel to project sites and regional offices is required. The role is largely sedentary and partially operates in a professional office environment, with some site visits that may involve uneven ground, outdoor conditions, and operating equipment.

Requirements

At least 5 years of hands-on experience in industrial automation, controls engineering, PLC programming, or SCADA development.
Demonstrated experience programming, troubleshooting, commissioning, and supporting industrial automation systems.
At least 3 years managing or supervising technical staff.
Demonstrated ability to develop people through coaching, performance management, and accountability.
Experience managing project workloads, priorities, ticket queues, and technical resources.
Strong organizational, communication, and leadership skills.
Proficiency in English.

Nice To Haves

Experience in renewable energy, RNG, biogas, agriculture, manufacturing, utilities, or similar industrial environments.
Experience supporting geographically distributed facilities and remote team members.
Working knowledge of industrial electrical systems and safe electrical work practices.

Responsibilities

Manage, coach, and develop automation programmers; hold regular one-on-one meetings focused on growth, obstacles, and career direction.
Create individual development plans and identify training, certification, and stretch-assignment opportunities.
Write and deliver performance reviews, set expectations, and address performance issues early and directly.
Build a team culture reflecting the company's values: trustworthy, effective, generous, fulfilled, and innovative.
Assign programming tickets and project work based on skill, development goals, and capacity; monitor and rebalance workloads as priorities change.
Forecast capacity against the incoming project pipeline and flag staffing gaps to the Director.
Coordinate with Project Management, Operations, Engineering, and Construction to sequence automation work against site schedules and commissioning dates.
Own the health of the team's ticket queue in ClickUp, keeping work visible, current, and moving.
Run recurring stand-ups and work-review meetings, identify stalled tickets, and clear blockers.
Track project milestones and communicate status, risks, and schedule changes to stakeholders.
Partner with the Technical Lead to ensure work is realistically scoped and sized before commitment.
Escalate resource conflicts, scope changes, and schedule risks to the Director early; 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.
Verify that the team maintains program backups and site documentation to standard.
Support process improvement in work intake, tracking, and closure; contribute to team budget planning and software, hardware, and licensing needs.
Participate hands-on in PLC programming, SCADA development, troubleshooting, commissioning, and automation support.
Serve as an experienced technical resource for team members and stakeholders across the company.
Maintain sufficient hands-on involvement to assess project scope, technical risk, workload, staffing needs, and delivery timelines.
Provide technical mentoring and collaborate with the Technical Lead to evaluate approaches, resolve complex issues, and maintain consistency across projects.
Understand team work well enough to assess progress, remove obstacles, and hold credible technical conversations with team members and stakeholders.

Benefits

Three weeks of paid vacation.
Paid sick time.
Eight and a half paid holidays per year.
Two paid flexible holidays per year.
ICHRA health insurance reimbursement.
100% employer-paid dental and 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 accruing over the first 3–24 months.
401(k) with company matching, accruing over the first 3–24 months.
Quarterly profit share, accruing over the first 3–24 months.