Maintenance Manager for Food Service Production Company

Taher is seeking an experienced Maintenance Manager to provide comprehensive leadership and ownership of maintenance and facility operations for the Plymouth Culinary Center and Great Northern Baking Company.

The Maintenance Manager is accountable for the people, processes, resources, vendors, and maintenance activities required to keep both facilities operating safely and reliably. This position leads the maintenance team, manages staffing and schedules, determines when work should be completed internally or outsourced, and recommends equipment and capital improvements.

Unlike the Lead Maintenance Technician position, this is a true departmental leadership role. Lee Jacobs specifically described the position as owning all responsibilities associated with maintenance and facilities at both plants, including the associates assigned to those areas and outside vendors.

Essential Responsibilities

Maintenance & Facility Leadership

• Provide leadership and direction for maintenance and facilities operations at both locations.
• Develop maintenance priorities that support production, safety, food quality, and operational objectives.
• Establish preventive and corrective maintenance expectations.
• Prioritize maintenance resources according to equipment criticality and operational needs.
• Monitor recurring equipment issues and develop long-term corrective solutions.
• Establish standards for maintenance documentation, work orders, preventive maintenance, and equipment history.
• Promote continuous improvement in maintenance processes and equipment reliability.

People Leadership

The position is intended to have formal personnel responsibility. Lee Jacobs specifically identified hiring, coaching, discipline, terminations, and scheduling among the position's responsibilities.

• Recruit, interview, select, and onboard maintenance personnel.
• Train and develop maintenance employees.
• Establish clear expectations and provide ongoing coaching and feedback.
• Address employee performance and conduct issues.
• Administer disciplinary action when necessary.
• Make staffing and termination decisions in accordance with Taher policy and HR processes.
• Develop employee schedules to provide appropriate maintenance coverage.
• Evaluate staffing requirements and adjust resources to meet operational needs.

Labor & Schedule Management

• Develop maintenance work schedules.
• Coordinate staffing around production requirements, planned maintenance, and special projects.
• Adjust schedules to support weekend maintenance requirements.
• Manage maintenance overtime and identify opportunities to complete required work more efficiently.

This directly reflects Lee Jacobs' expectation that the manager would write team schedules and adjust staffing to reduce overtime when work must be performed over weekends.

Vendor & Contractor Management

• Determine whether maintenance and repair work should be completed internally or outsourced.
• Evaluate the technical capabilities of the internal maintenance team.
• Coordinate and oversee outside service providers.
• Evaluate contractor performance, cost, responsiveness, and quality.
• Ensure outside contractors comply with Taher's facility and safety requirements.

The decision between internal repair capability and outsourced maintenance was specifically identified as a responsibility of the Manager role.

Capital Planning & Equipment Strategy

• Assess equipment condition, reliability, and long-term maintenance requirements.
• Identify equipment and facility improvement opportunities.
• Recommend capital improvement projects for both facilities.
• Assist in developing the operational justification for major repairs, replacements, and capital investments.
• Participate in equipment selection, installation, commissioning, and transition planning.
• Balance repair costs, equipment reliability, useful life, and operational needs when making recommendations.

Capital improvement recommendations for both facilities were explicitly included in the management scope described by Lee Jacobs.

Safety & Compliance

• Establish and reinforce safe maintenance practices.
• Ensure compliance with applicable lockout/tagout, machine guarding, electrical safety, food safety, and sanitation requirements.
• Ensure maintenance employees and contractors follow site safety requirements.
• Identify and address facility and equipment hazards.
• Partner with plant leadership on corrective actions involving maintenance or facility systems.

Required Qualifications

• Significant industrial or manufacturing maintenance experience, preferably in food manufacturing, bakery, packaging, or a comparable production environment.
• Demonstrated experience leading maintenance employees.
• Previous responsibility for employee scheduling and workforce planning.
• Experience coaching employees and addressing performance issues.
• Strong knowledge of mechanical, electrical, controls, HVAC, plumbing, and facility systems.
• Demonstrated ability to determine whether work should be handled internally or by outside specialists.
• Experience managing vendors and contractors.
• Experience evaluating equipment reliability and maintenance requirements.
• Strong planning, organizational, communication, and problem-solving skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Leadership experience in a food-manufacturing or commercial-bakery environment.
• Experience developing preventive maintenance programs.
• Experience with CMMS platforms such as MaintainX.
• Experience supporting capital equipment installations or facility improvement projects.
• Experience managing maintenance expenses, parts inventories, and contractors.