Director of Maintenance & Engineering

Stanislaus Food Products•Modesto, CA

3d•Onsite

About The Position

The Director of Maintenance & Engineering is responsible for the reliability, maintainability, and technical performance of the facility. Reporting to the SVP of Tomato Operations, this position provides leadership for maintenance, engineering, controls, technical development, procurement operations, utilities, and capital improvement efforts to support safe and efficient manufacturing operations. This role combines maintenance leadership, technical expertise, and analytical decision-making. The Director is expected to spend significant time understanding equipment performance, reviewing maintenance and reliability metrics, developing technical leaders, and driving improvements that increase equipment uptime and operational capability.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering or a related technical field.
7+ years of progressive maintenance and engineering leadership experience.
Minimum 3 years in engineering.
Minimum 3 years in manufacturing maintenance with at least 2 years in people management.
Experience leading managers and technical teams in food processing, canning, agricultural processing, or consumer packaged goods manufacturing.
Demonstrated knowledge of industrial maintenance, reliability systems, controls, utilities, capital projects, and maintenance analytics.
Demonstrated experience with CMMS systems, preventive maintenance programs, and reliability-centered maintenance practices.
Demonstrated ability to lead, mentor and influence teams and collaborate with other departments effectively.
Demonstrated ability to address challenges by implementing continuous improvement, processes, corrective actions.
Unrestricted visual and audio abilities are required for the safety of all employees.
The ability to lift up to 40 lbs. is required.

Nice To Haves

Union manufacturing experience preferred.

Responsibilities

Lead all maintenance and reliability activities to maximize equipment uptime and operational performance.
Ensure effective execution of preventive, predictive, and corrective maintenance programs.
Develop maintenance strategies that reduce downtime and improve equipment reliability.
Support operations in resolving critical equipment and process-related issues.
Support the maintenance managers to develop and implement maintenance schedules and programs to prevent equipment failures and extend asset lifespan.
Ensure accountability among their managers for urgency levels on maintenance requests to minimize operations disruptions.
Establish and maintain engineering standards across the facility.
Support process optimization and equipment improvement initiatives.
Partner with Production to improve manufacturing capabilities and performance.
Provide technical leadership for controls, automation, utilities, and infrastructure systems.
Analyze reliability metrics, downtime trends, efficiency rates, maintenance costs, and equipment performance data.
Utilize maintenance KPIs to prioritize resources and improvement efforts.
Develop action plans to improve reliability performance and reduce operating costs.
Develop workflow-policies to improve efficiency without compromising safety or quality.
Provide oversight and support for capital projects and facility improvements.
Partner with the Operations Continuous Improvement Manager to execute projects that improve safety, reliability, efficiency, and capacity.
Lead root cause analysis and corrective action efforts for chronic reliability issues.
Lead, develop and coach maintenance managers, engineers, planners, Operational Technology (OT) management, and procurement professionals.
Partner with their managers and People Operations to hire and train their team(s) as demand allows.
Support succession planning and technical capability development across all areas under this role.
Reinforce accountability, ownership, and effective troubleshooting throughout their organization.
Empowers their people to make decisions where problems are solved at the lowest level in their organization.
Build trust with the organization by allowing people to take ownership for their decisions but knows when and how to coach and guide on critical problems.
Oversee spare parts inventory management and Procurement Operations through the Procurement Manager.
Manage contractor relationships and external service providers.
Ensure maintenance resources are aligned with business needs and budget expectations.
Create and support collaboration processes for maintenance and procurement to improve processes and service.
Ensure compliance with OSHA, food safety, environmental, and company standards by creating accountability culture in their organization.
Create and promote safe maintenance practices and risk-reduction initiatives alongside their managers.
Partner with the EH&S teams for superior quality People Safety programs and practices in the Cannery.
Coach their managers regarding Collective Bargaining Agreement compliance, Handbook compliance, labor/employee relations, and disciplinary practices alongside People Operations.