Maintenance Manager

Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy•Council Bluffs, IA

15d•$130,000 - $150,000•Onsite

About The Position

The Maintenance Manager leads the maintenance department and is accountable for the ethanol plant’s mechanical reliability, uptime, safe operation, financial performance, and maintenance costs. This is a management role rather than a hands-on maintenance position. The manager leads through supervisors, planners, and contractors; uses data to make decisions; and works closely with Operations, Engineering, and plant leadership to plan outages and projects. The role oversees maintenance teams, budgets, preventive and predictive maintenance programs, the CMMS, shutdowns and outages, the storeroom, critical spares, plant inspections, vendors, contractors, and maintenance KPIs. The manager supports capital projects by reviewing designs for maintainability, assisting with commissioning, and planning handover into the preventive maintenance program. The position is full-time, salaried, and exempt, and is onsite in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The salary range is $130,000–$150,000 per year. Availability for call-outs, nights, weekends, and holidays is required as plant needs require.

Requirements

Proven ability to lead, motivate, and develop a team.
Proficiency using a CMMS and Microsoft Office.
Strong verbal and written communication skills and ability to work well across departments.
Valid driver’s license.
Availability for call-outs, nights, weekends, and holidays as plant needs require.
High school diploma or GED.
At least 5 years of industrial maintenance experience, including at least 2 years in a supervisory role.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree in engineering or a related technical field.
Experience in ethanol, renewable fuels, or other plants.
Shutdown or turnaround planning experience.

Responsibilities

Lead, schedule, train, and develop the mechanical, electrical/I&E/utility, and storeroom maintenance teams; manage outside contract labor as needed.
Own the annual maintenance budget for labor, contract services, parts and materials, rentals, and outage spending; build the budget, forecast monthly, and explain variances to plant leadership.
Own preventive and predictive maintenance programs, including vibration analysis, oil analysis, thermography, and ultrasonic testing, to reduce unplanned downtime.
Manage the CMMS; review, prioritize, and assign work orders daily and ensure work is planned, scheduled, closed out, and documented.
Plan and run scheduled shutdowns and outages, including scope, contractors, parts, schedule, and budget.
Analyze spending by area, equipment, vendor, and failure type to identify and eliminate waste and repeat costs.
Maintain the reliability of critical plant equipment and utility systems, including grinding and hammermills, cook and liquefaction, fermentation, distillation, molecular sieves, evaporation, centrifuges, dryers/DDGS, boilers and steam, cooling towers, compressed air, CO2, and electrical distribution.
Set the maintenance strategy and focus preventive and predictive programs on equipment most important to production and cost.
Track maintenance spending and identify ways to lower maintenance cost per gallon.
Oversee the storeroom, critical spares, inventory control, and plant tools and equipment.
Coordinate regular inspections of plant assets, including pressure vessels, tanks, piping, rotating equipment, and fire protection.
Work with Engineering and the Project Manager on capital projects; review designs for maintainability, support commissioning, and plan handover into the PM program.
Track and report maintenance KPIs, including uptime, PM compliance, backlog, planned versus reactive work, MTBF, and spending.
Manage relationships with key vendors and contractors.
Exemplify SIRE’s core values: Curious Grower, Optimistic Honesty, Hardworking, and Organized.
Perform other duties as assigned.

Benefits

Up to $2,500 in new-employee sign-on bonuses.
Family medical, dental, and vision benefits, including a 100% company-paid medical premium option and $0-copay telehealth.
HSA and FSA options, with up to $1,000 annual company match.
Quarterly bonuses up to 15%.
Paid time off accrual starting on day one, up to 3 weeks in year one.
10 paid holidays.
401(k) fund contributions up to 6%.
Short- and long-term disability and life insurance.
Paid parental and bereavement leave.
Training, skill-based pay increases, and career development.
Company events, appreciation, and SIRE merchandise.
Opportunities for long-term career growth.