Manager- Divisional Maintenance Excellence

Sonoco • Hartsville, SC

6d • $138,320 - $180,810 • Hybrid

About The Position

The Division Maintenance Excellence & Reliability Leader is responsible for establishing, leading, and continuously improving maintenance and reliability strategies across a division representing approximately $2 billion in annual revenue and more than 50 manufacturing facilities. This role serves as the division's Maintenance Excellence Champion, providing strategic leadership, governance, and technical direction to improve asset reliability, maintenance productivity, equipment performance, and overall manufacturing effectiveness. Will develop and deploy standardized maintenance and reliability processes, drive continuous improvement initiatives, and build organizational capability across the maintenance and engineering functions. This position plays a critical role in developing current and future Reliability Engineers, Plant Engineers, and Maintenance Managers while partnering with mill leadership teams to improve operational performance and asset utilization. The role will manage multiple Reliability Engineers to be deployed as Plant Engineers/Maintenance Managers.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Chemical Engineering or a related technical field required.
• Progressive maintenance, reliability, engineering, or manufacturing leadership experience within heavy industry, pulp and paper, forest products, chemicals, metals, or similar asset-intensive environments.
• Demonstrated success leading multi-site maintenance and reliability improvement initiatives across large manufacturing organizations.
• Experience developing maintenance excellence systems, reliability programs, and organizational capability.
• Proven ability to influence and drive results through plant leadership teams and cross-functional stakeholders.
• Extensive knowledge of maintenance and reliability best practices, including preventive, predictive, and condition-based maintenance methodologies.
• Strong understanding of reliability engineering, asset management, root cause analysis, and failure elimination processes.
• Experience with CMMS platforms, maintenance planning and scheduling systems, and reliability analytics.
• Working knowledge of rotating equipment, power systems, process equipment, utilities, and manufacturing operations.
• Strategic thinker with the ability to translate business objectives into actionable reliability and maintenance strategies.
• Strong coaching, mentoring, and talent development capabilities.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills with the ability to work effectively across all organizational levels.
• Demonstrated ability to lead change, drive standardization, and achieve sustainable operational improvements.

Nice To Haves

• Advanced degree or professional certifications in Reliability Engineering, Maintenance Management, or Asset Management preferred.

Responsibilities

• Develop and lead the division-wide maintenance and reliability strategy to support business objectives, operational excellence, and long-term asset sustainability.
• Establish and maintain standardized maintenance excellence processes, systems, and best practices across all manufacturing facilities.
• Drive implementation of reliability-centered maintenance (RCM), predictive maintenance (PdM), preventive maintenance (PM), root cause analysis (RCA), and asset management programs.
• Champion a culture of reliability and continuous improvement throughout the division.
• Lead initiatives to improve equipment reliability, asset performance, uptime, and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) across the division.
• Analyze reliability performance metrics, identify improvement opportunities, and develop action plans to reduce failures and production losses.
• Partner with operations, engineering, and plant leadership teams to improve critical asset performance and eliminate systemic equipment issues.
• Ensure consistent application of reliability engineering principles and failure elimination methodologies.
• Establish division-wide maintenance KPIs, benchmarks, and performance expectations.
• Drive improvements in maintenance productivity, work execution, planning and scheduling effectiveness, wrench time, and maintenance cost performance.
• Lead optimization of maintenance work management processes, CMMS utilization, and workforce effectiveness.
• Support facilities in achieving operational reliability targets while balancing cost, risk, and asset life cycle considerations.
• Serve as the functional leader for Reliability Engineers, Plant Engineers, and Maintenance Managers across the division.
• Develop succession plans, competency models, career progression frameworks, and training programs for maintenance and reliability professionals.
• Coach, mentor, and develop technical leaders to strengthen division-wide maintenance and engineering capabilities.
• Establish communities of practice and knowledge-sharing forums to accelerate adoption of best practices.
• Collaborate with engineering and operational leadership to ensure reliability and maintainability are incorporated into capital projects and equipment design standards.
• Support long-range asset management planning and replacement strategies for critical equipment.
• Provide technical guidance on major equipment failures, outage planning, and reliability improvement investments.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and maintenance tools that enhance operational performance and asset reliability.
• Partner with plant and division leadership to improve financial performance through enhanced reliability, increased productivity, reduced downtime, and optimized maintenance spending.
• Develop business cases and prioritize reliability improvement opportunities to maximize return on investment.
• Monitor maintenance and reliability performance across the division and communicate results to senior leadership.
• Promote an uncompromising commitment to safety, environmental stewardship, and regulatory compliance.
• Ensure maintenance and reliability programs support safe operating conditions and effective risk management.
• Support implementation of maintenance standards that align with company safety and operational requirements.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision coverage for you and your dependents, including FSA and HSA options
• 401(k) retirement plan with company match
• Wellbeing tools and resources to support holistic health, including an Employee Assistance Program with a variety of services
• Paid time off and holidays to recreate, rejuvenate and care for the health of yourself and family
• Variety of company paid and voluntary employee-paid insurance plans including life, personal accident, and disability insurance
• Tuition reimbursement

What This Job Offers

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