Maintenance Manager

Independent Stave Company • Benton, KY

10d

About The Position

The Maintenance Manager provides hands-on leadership for the Benton stave mill maintenance function. The role drives equipment reliability, supports safe maintenance execution, and ensures mill assets are ready to meet production demands. The manager takes ownership of maintenance priorities, responds to operational issues, and works closely with production, quality, safety, engineering, and plant leadership to keep the facility running safely and efficiently. The role emphasizes safety, quality, and continuous improvement.

The position leads maintenance work across production equipment, utilities, buildings, grounds, and material-handling systems. It oversees preventive and predictive maintenance, work orders, troubleshooting, root-cause analysis, planned downtime, maintenance standards, and contractor coordination. It also provides visible floor leadership and develops maintenance supervisors, technicians, apprentices, and other assigned personnel.

Total compensation, including salary and bonus, ranges from $110,000 to $140,000 based on experience and skills. The role requires five or more years of progressive industrial maintenance or manufacturing experience, including at least two years leading maintenance employees, supervisors, projects, or contractors. A relevant bachelor’s degree is preferred, though relevant technical education, certifications, or equivalent experience will also be considered. The employee must be able to work in the United States without company sponsorship and be available to support off-shift or emergency maintenance needs based on production requirements.

Requirements

• Five or more years of progressive industrial maintenance or manufacturing experience, including at least two years leading maintenance employees, supervisors, projects, or contractors.
• Strong mechanical, electrical, controls, hydraulic, and pneumatic troubleshooting capability.
• Demonstrated knowledge of mechanical power transmission, industrial electrical systems, motors and drives, controls/PLCs, hydraulics, pneumatics, welding/fabrication, and equipment troubleshooting.
• Ability to work in the United States without company sponsorship.
• Ability to make timely decisions, set direction, and take ownership of maintenance priorities.
• Comfort working in a fast-moving manufacturing environment with changing operational demands.
• Practical problem-solving skills, including moving from immediate issue response to longer-term reliability improvement.
• Clear communication skills for cross-department coordination and aligning teams around maintenance priorities.
• Working knowledge of preventive maintenance systems, work order processes, maintenance documentation, spare-parts control, and maintenance budgeting.
• Ability to balance independent decision-making with cross-functional partnership.
• Ability to interpret electrical schematics, mechanical drawings, equipment manuals, and technical specifications.
• Knowledge of recognized industrial safety practices, including lockout/tagout, PPE, machine guarding, electrical safety, hot work, confined space, and fall protection.
• Ability to organize competing priorities and work effectively with hourly employees, supervisors, managers, contractors, and technical resources.
• Availability to support off-shift or emergency maintenance needs based on production requirements.

Nice To Haves

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, industrial technology, maintenance, manufacturing, or a related field; relevant technical education, certifications, or equivalent experience will also be considered.
• Experience in a stave mill, sawmill, wood-products operation, primary wood processing, or another heavy industrial manufacturing environment.
• Engineering or technical degree, or industrial maintenance, electrical, controls, reliability, or related technical credentials.
• Experience with Allen-Bradley or comparable PLC platforms, industrial networks, VFDs, sensors, safety circuits, and automated material-handling systems.
• Experience using reliability and problem-solving methods such as root-cause analysis, failure analysis, condition monitoring, precision maintenance, and preventive-maintenance optimization.

Responsibilities

• Lead maintenance activities across production equipment, utilities, buildings, grounds, and material-handling systems.
• Drive safe maintenance execution in alignment with company requirements and applicable OSHA and environmental standards.
• Oversee preventive and predictive maintenance programs, adjusting tasks and schedules based on equipment condition, failure history, and operational risk.
• Manage the work order process, including prioritization, planning, labor coordination, parts readiness, scheduling, completion tracking, and backlog control.
• Lead troubleshooting and root-cause analysis for repeat failures, downtime events, quality losses, and equipment constraints, and ensure corrective actions are effective.
• Coordinate planned downtime and shutdown work with production leadership to complete critical maintenance with minimal disruption.
• Establish and reinforce standards for lubrication, alignment, inspection, calibration, guarding, and safe return to service.
• Provide visible floor leadership, clarify daily priorities, and ensure accountability for work quality, documentation, and shift handoffs.
• Lead, coach, and develop maintenance supervisors, technicians, apprentices, and other assigned personnel.
• Coordinate contractors and technical vendors, confirming safety orientation, scope alignment, qualifications, permits, and work acceptance requirements.

Benefits

• Competitive pay
• Paid weekly
• Overtime available
• Continuing education opportunities
• 401(k) with employer match equal to 50% of eligible contributions
• Medical insurance (deductible: $750 for single, $1,500 for family)
• Insurance eligibility after 30 days
• Cafeteria plan including dental, vision, short-term and long-term disability, and life insurance
• Paid vacation after 30 days

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager