Manager, Maintenance

Saputo•Tulare, CA

About The Position

At Saputo, we bring good to the table by making high-quality products, investing in our people, and supporting communities around the world . As a top 10 global dairy processor, we value contributions that matter and strive to foster an inclusive, growth-driven work environment. Ready to bring your best? The Maintenance Manager is tasked with leading all maintenance activities within the dairy manufacturing facility, ensuring equipment reliability, food safety compliance, employee safety, and cost-effective operations. This role provides strong technical leadership, develops maintenance personnel, and drives a preventive and predictive maintenance culture to maximize uptime and asset performance in cheese and whey processing operations ensuring compliance within regulatory and company requirements. The Maintenance Manager is accountable for maintenance strategy execution, budget performance, workforce development, and continuous improvement while aligning with company-wide values and operational excellence standards.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in engineering, industrial mechanical or related discipline and a minimum of 5 years of progressive management experience
Demonstrate commitment to Safety First principles for employees, contractors, and visitors.
Minimum 5+ years of experience in a food manufacturing or processing environment.
Strong troubleshooting skills with the ability to systematically diagnose electrical and mechanical issues including knowledge of mechanical systems, electrical controls, PLC’s and Automation.
Working knowledge of cheese and whey plant maintenance operations.
Working knowledge of Ammonia Refrigeration Systems
Solid computer skills including hardware and software ability; SAP experience preferred.
Working ability with MS Outlook, MS Word, MS PowerPoint, MS Teams, MS Excel, MS SharePoint

Responsibilities

Provide direct leadership, coaching, and development to Maintenance Supervisors, Technicians, and support staff.
Establish clear performance expectations and hold team members accountable for safety, quality, productivity, and reliability.
Build a culture of ownership, accountability, and continuous improvement.
Promote succession planning and skills development across the maintenance department.
Preventative Maintenance Program, develop and maintain a structured PM program aligned with OEM recommendations.
Track Maintenance KPI’s (Downtime, PM Compliance, Mean Time Between Failures & Mean Time to Repair, Restore, or Recover)
Scheduling labor to support 24/7 operations as required.
Coordinate with Production, QA, Sanitation and Engineering Teams to ensure success.
Plan, coordinate, and oversee all maintenance activities including preventive, predictive, and corrective maintenance for all processing and packaging equipment including, but not limited to pasteurizers, cookers, curd handling systems, powder dryers, refrigeration, boilers, compressed air and CIP systems.
Ensure reliable operation of production equipment used in cheese and whey processing.
Ensure equipment meets food-grade, sanitary design requirements & coordinates installation, commissioning and validation of new equipment and processes.
Drive a strong preventive maintenance mindset, minimizing reactive repairs and unplanned downtime.
Analyze equipment failures and lead root cause analysis (RCA) efforts using technical problem-solving skills.
Ensure compliance with food safety, GMP, HACCP, and regulatory requirements (FDA/USDA/CDFA as applicable).
Support and take part in internal and external audits ensuring maintenance practices support product quality and ensure compliance.
Provide advanced troubleshooting support for complex electrical, mechanical, and automation issues.
Oversee maintenance of systems including, but not limited to: Pneumatic & Hydraulic systems, AC/DC power systems, PLCs & Automation systems, VFD drives, Process instrumentation,
Support capital projects, equipment installations, and system upgrades.
Develop and manage the maintenance budget, controlling costs while keeping equipment reliability.
Track KPIs such as downtime, maintenance costs, PM compliance, and asset performance.
Manage spare parts inventory and maintenance-related purchasing to support critical assets.
Leverage SAP and CMMS systems for work order management, asset tracking, and reporting.
Evaluate equipment lifecycle costs and capital improvement needs.
Improve energy efficiency and sustainability of operations by working with Sustainability Manager and Leadership team.
Shares and implements “best practices” within the Maintenance Department and partners with other departments to ensure plant operations are performing at acceptable performance standards.
Ensure compliance with all safety policies, lockout/tagout procedures, and environmental regulations.
Promote a zero-injury culture through training, audits, and continuous improvement.