Senior Manager – Plant Engineering & Maintenance

Air Liquide•Newport, DE

5d•Onsite

About The Position

The Senior Manager – Plant Engineering & Maintenance provides strategic and operational leadership over process control systems, capital project implementation, and site asset reliability at Air Liquide’s Newport, Delaware manufacturing site. Reporting directly to the Senior Director, Manufacturing, this role leads a multidisciplinary engineering and maintenance team responsible for technical infrastructure, automation systems, and physical plant assets. The position supports a 24/7 operational environment and is accountable for high equipment availability, control-system stability, successful capital project delivery, and compliance with safety, quality, and regulatory standards. The role establishes and champions maintenance-management best practices for corrective and preventive maintenance, supporting organizational objectives for quality, delivery, and cost. It leads engineering operations across automation, control systems, and process instrumentation; oversees capital projects and technical documentation; directs maintenance planning and reliability improvement; and manages facilities, contractors, and maintenance costs.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
Valid U.S. employment authorization; must not require visa sponsorship now or in the future.
At least 8 years of engineering and maintenance leadership experience in industrial manufacturing or a chemical continuous-processing environment.
At least 5 years of direct management experience leading multidisciplinary technical teams, including engineers, project managers, and maintenance leaders.
Demonstrated record of leading capital project execution, process-control initiatives, and plant reliability strategy.
Knowledge of HVAC systems, air compressors, chillers, water coolers, boilers, steam and condensate piping systems, power distribution, nitrogen generators, DI water systems, and fire protection systems.
Knowledge of industrial codes and standards such as ASME, NBIC, OSHA, and NFPA.
Working knowledge of processing-facility equipment and its piping, mechanical, electrical (including PLCs), pneumatic, and hydraulic systems.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Nice To Haves

Knowledge of machinery vibration-analysis methods, thermography, and condition assessment via instrumentation, with field experience performing these or other NDT methods.
Understanding of the Work Management Process (WMP).
Experience with detailed work/job planning and work-hazard analysis.
Knowledge of failure-mode analysis and failure-analysis techniques.

Responsibilities

Lead site engineering operations across automation, control systems, and process instrumentation to support system integration, operational continuity, and technology modernization.
Provide strategic oversight for the design, maintenance, and upgrade of plant PLCs, HMIs, data acquisition networks, and control logic across continuous and batch processing systems.
Partner with manufacturing and process engineering teams to establish control philosophies, operating instructions, and automated solutions that improve process capability and throughput.
Ensure process-control architectures provide operational stability, network security, and instrumentation accuracy; remain accountable for the functionality and reliability of facilities servers.
Direct all phases of site capital projects, facility investments, and equipment installations in accordance with standard investment guidelines.
Oversee project scoping, cost estimation, risk assessments, bid evaluation, Management of Change processes, and commissioning.
Ensure accurate design and lifecycle maintenance of plant technical documentation, including P&IDs, process flow diagrams, electrical schematics, and as-built drawings.
Provide engineering oversight for site utility systems, including boilers, air compressors, chillers, power distribution, and HVAC.
Provide monthly status updates for all capital projects.
Direct and coordinate Maintenance Department activities, ensuring work is properly planned and safely completed on time to support plant reliability.
Use a Computerized Maintenance Management System to review KPIs, develop work-order plans, manage backlog, and optimize preventive and corrective maintenance.
Establish, monitor, analyze, and own KPIs; use data to identify, prioritize, and focus improvement efforts.
Identify reliability risks and vulnerabilities and mitigate them through capital plans, redundancies, or emergency plans.
Ensure work orders are scheduled and completed according to the weekly or bi-weekly maintenance schedule.
Oversee departmental staff training and development so technicians meet minimum qualifications and progress on schedule.
Perform root cause analysis for equipment and systems to improve reliability and performance.
Select, train, and manage new hires to maintain a motivated, diverse-skilled, cross-trained, and technically capable work group.
Control maintenance-function costs, including fixed-cost objectives, overtime, Process Safety Management compliance, and training compliance.
Serve as Process Owner for GP-09, Air Liquide’s Industrial Management System Group Procedure for Maintenance, and related Quality Management System elements.
Ensure compliance with regulatory, IMS, and quality-system requirements related to maintenance and utility design.
Set expectations for adherence to policies, procedures, and safety standards, and promote employee morale, ethics, and respectful conduct.
Manage emergency maintenance needs affecting utilities, buildings, and grounds, and oversee upkeep of buildings and grounds.
Stay current on recommendations from Boiler Condition Assessment Reports and vibration analysis.
Select contractors, manage contractor relationships, and oversee the cost and quality of contracted services.
Effectively manage daily maintenance work and shutdowns and manage the customer interface with Operations counterparts.