Director of Plant Maintenance

McGill Environmental Systems Corporation•Cary, NC

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Director of Plant Maintenance provides strategic and operational leadership for plant maintenance across multiple McGill locations. This role establishes consistent maintenance standards, strengthens preventive maintenance and repair programs, develops the maintenance organization, and improves equipment reliability while controlling costs and supporting safe, dependable plant operations. The Director builds a maintenance function that anticipates and addresses problems, balances enterprise standards with plant-specific needs, and provides maintenance employees with the necessary direction, systems, resources, and coaching. Through disciplined planning, sound financial modeling, and continuous improvement, the role aims to reduce avoidable downtime and enhance the safety, reliability, and efficiency of plant operations.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in engineering, industrial maintenance, operations, business, or a related field; or an equivalent combination of technical education and relevant experience.
8 or more years of progressively responsible industrial, manufacturing, processing, heavy-equipment, or plant maintenance experience, including multi-site or regional responsibility.
5 or more years of leadership experience with responsibility for maintenance employees, budgets, planning, and performance improvement.
Demonstrated experience building or improving preventive maintenance and reliability programs.
Strong knowledge of mechanical, hydraulic, electrical, welding, conveying, screening, and production-equipment systems.
Experience with computerized maintenance management systems, work orders, asset histories, parts inventories, and preventive maintenance scheduling.
Ability to develop budgets, analyze maintenance costs, model repair and replacement options, and communicate recommendations to senior leaders.
Proven ability to lead through influence and work effectively within a matrixed structure involving local Plant Managers and enterprise leadership.
Strong communication, coaching, prioritization, problem-solving, and change-management skills.
Valid driver’s license and ability to travel frequently among assigned facilities.

Nice To Haves

Frequent presence in active composting, soil-production, and maintenance environments, including outdoor work in varying weather conditions.
Ability to walk plant grounds, climb stairs or ladders, navigate uneven surfaces, bend, stoop, kneel, and inspect equipment in confined or elevated areas as permitted by training and site requirements.
Ability to wear required personal protective equipment and safely work around heavy equipment, noise, dust, odors, and moving machinery.
Ability to occasionally lift and move up to 50 pounds and to travel by vehicle or air as business needs require.
Availability to respond to urgent plant maintenance issues outside normal business hours when necessary.

Responsibilities

Lead the plant maintenance function across assigned McGill facilities and establish clear priorities, service expectations, and accountability.
Direct, coach, and develop site-based maintenance employees while partnering with plant managers on daily scheduling, operating priorities, and site needs.
Create a consistent operating model across locations while allowing appropriate flexibility for differences in equipment, plant design, production demands, and local conditions.
Maintain a regular on-site presence and deploy maintenance resources across plants based on risk, urgency, and business need.
Develop, document, implement, and continuously improve companywide protocols and programs for preventive maintenance, inspections, planned repairs, emergency repairs, and maintenance recordkeeping.
Establish asset-specific maintenance schedules and standards for production equipment, including screens, conveyors, motors, hydraulics, electrical components, processing equipment, and mobile equipment used in plant operations.
Use the company’s computerized maintenance management system to improve scheduling, work-order discipline, parts tracking, maintenance history, and visibility to overdue work.
Lead root-cause reviews of recurring failures and major breakdowns, then implement corrective actions that prevent repeat issues.
Coordinate major repairs, shutdown work, outside contractors, and vendor support in partnership with site and Operations leadership.
Develop maintenance budgets, repair-versus-replace analyses, and financial models that support sound operating and capital decisions.
Monitor maintenance spending, contractor costs, parts usage, emergency repair costs, and other key cost drivers; identify and address unfavorable trends.
Create practical business cases for equipment upgrades, replacements, critical spares, tooling, and reliability improvements.
Implement cost-control and purchasing practices that improve value without compromising safety, quality, or equipment reliability.
Evaluate maintenance staffing levels, skill coverage, shift support, and regional resource needs; recommend an effective structure for current and future operations.
Clarify roles, work assignments, escalation paths, and decision rights between the Director, maintenance employees, plant managers, and other operating leaders.
Assess technical skill gaps and establish training, cross-training, mentoring, and progression plans for maintenance employees.
Participate in recruiting and selection for maintenance positions and help build a strong pipeline of qualified technical talent.
Define and report maintenance performance measures such as preventive maintenance completion, planned versus emergency work, downtime, repeat failures, backlog, repair cost, and schedule compliance.
Lead improvement initiatives that increase uptime, reliability, planning effectiveness, productivity, and consistency across sites.
Ensure maintenance work follows company safety requirements, lockout/tagout practices, environmental expectations, manufacturer guidance, and applicable regulations.
Promote strong housekeeping, tool control, parts organization, work documentation, and quality workmanship.
Perform other duties as assigned.