Director of Maintenance & Reliability

Rise Baking Company, LLC•River Falls, WI

About The Position

Build and lead a company-wide maintenance reliability organization that enables consistent, high-performing asset management across all manufacturing sites. Act as a strategic partner to Operations, Supply Chain, and Capital Planning, ensuring reliability efforts translate into sustained productivity, lower maintenance and capital spend, and improved operational resilience across the network.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, industrial engineering, or a related technical discipline; equivalent experience considered
Minimum 10+ years of progressive experience in maintenance, reliability, or engineering leadership within manufacturing environments
Demonstrated success leading multi-site reliability programs or enterprise asset management initiatives
Strong understanding of manufacturing performance metrics and maintenance cost drivers
Deep expertise in maintenance and reliability methodologies, including RCM, TPM, precision maintenance, root cause analysis, and predictive maintenance
Strong working knowledge of CMMS systems, asset hierarchies, maintenance planning and scheduling, and spare parts strategies
Proven ability to develop and execute equipment rebuild and life cycle strategies at scale
Proven ability to build organizations and systems from the ground up
Strong enterprise-level influence skills with the ability to lead through matrixed relationships rather than direct authority
Strategic thinker with strong analytical skills and a bias for action and results
Effective communicator capable of engaging frontline maintenance teams, plant leadership, and executive stakeholders
Comfortable operating in a fast-paced, evolving manufacturing environment with competing priorities

Nice To Haves

Experience in food manufacturing or regulated manufacturing environments preferred

Responsibilities

Stand up and lead a new enterprise Maintenance Reliability organization, defining its mission, structure, governance, and operating cadence
Establish and deploy a standardized reliability operating model that supports Maintenance Managers with consistent tools, processes, and expectations across all sites
Develop and govern enterprise asset strategies for critical and common equipment, including preventive, predictive, and condition-based maintenance standards
Define and implement enterprise rebuild and life cycle strategies for high-value assets to optimize total cost of ownership, reduce unplanned downtime, and defer capital replacement
Partner with site Maintenance Managers to improve maintenance planning, scheduling, and execution discipline, including work management, shutdown planning, and backlog control
Own enterprise CMMS strategy and standards, ensuring data integrity, consistent asset hierarchies, and effective use of maintenance data to drive decisions
Lead the development and deployment of maintenance and reliability KPIs (e.g., uptime, OEE losses, PM compliance, maintenance cost, rebuild effectiveness) and use them to prioritize improvement efforts
Provide reliability leadership and technical oversight for capital projects, equipment rebuilds, and major overhauls, ensuring effective early management and rapid stabilization
Build enterprise capability through training, coaching, and mentoring of Maintenance Managers, planners, and reliability resources
Serve as the enterprise subject matter leader for precision maintenance, root cause failure analysis, and reliability-centered maintenance practice
Partner with Operations, Finance, and Supply Chain to ensure reliability initiatives deliver measurable cost reduction, improved throughput, and capital efficiency
Ensure all maintenance reliability practices support food safety, quality, environmental, and workplace safety requirements
Stay current on emerging reliability technologies, predictive maintenance methods, and asset management best practices, selectively integrating those that deliver business value
Support food safety program, quality standards, and legality of manufactured products
Perform other job-related duties as assigned