Sr. Maintenance Manager

The company is driven by its values of caring for the people, animals, and planet it touches across its business. By providing nourishing products, implementing stringent care standards for animals, and stewarding efficient operations and responsible packaging,fairlife, LLC puts a focus each day on making a positive impact for all.

The construction offairlife'smanufacturing facility in Webster, NY is underway. Thisstate-of-the-art, 750k sq ft, greenfield plant is expected to be operational in late 2025 and will lay the foundation forfairlife'snext phase of growth as the leading dairy nutrition provider. While coupling the industry's latest technologies andfairlife'soperational excellence to build this world-class facility,fairlifeplans to hire 250 new employees and bring in approximately5 million lbs. of milk a day, with room to grow over the coming years.

job purpose: TheSr.Maintenance Managerfor the new Webster, NY plantis responsible foroverseeing the facility and equipment maintenance including all utilities, process and packaging equipment, parts procurement, planning, automation, and department budget.This critical leadership role has ownership over developing and managing the preventative maintenance program, plant overhaul program, and strategic approach to maintenance excellencefora state of the art, greenfield plant, currently under construction.The individual willpossessa strong technical background and proven history to lead a talented group of supervisors, mechanics, ICTs,planners,andpartsprocurement.

responsibilities

1.Maintenance Leadership & Team Development

• Lead, coach, and develop all maintenance staff and hourly personnel.

• Identifyskill gaps and create targeted training plans.

• Provide leadership and technical development for mechanics and ICTs to strengthen departmental capability.

• Set performance expectations and drive accountability across the team.

2.Maintenance Execution & Reliability Management

• Plan, schedule, and execute all maintenance activities: preventative, predictive, breakdown, and overhaul.

• Maintain and repair all production, process, packaging, building, and utilities equipment (boilers, chillers, cooling towers, HVAC, air compressors, wastewater systems, etc.).

• Develop andoptimizethe preventative maintenance program, including task details andtimetocompletestandards.

• Implement and manage a predictive maintenance program using tools such as vibration analysis, ultrasonic testing, thermal imaging, and tribology.

• Maintain calibration of critical regulatory instruments.

• Partner with engineering, OEMs, and suppliers for equipment redesigns, performance improvements, and expert maintenance input on new equipment specifications.

3.Systems, Documentation & Regulatory Compliance

• Own and manage all aspects of the plant's CMMS and calibration systems (tracking, documentation, planning).

• Ensure documentation of all schematics, diagrams, and PLC programming changes tomaintaincurrent plant records.

• Manage regulatory utility requirements: backflow prevention, boiler inspections, transformer oil sampling, steam trap audits, and chemical record retention.

• Perform risk assessments of critical spare parts andmaintainproper inventory levels.

4.Budgeting,Purchasing& Vendor Management

• Build and manage the department budget, using data analysis tooptimizespend (part turns, obsolete parts, min/max levels).

• Handlepurchasingand purchase order management; understand GL accounts and work closely with the Plant Controller/Finance.

• Source, negotiate with, and manage vendors for projects, tasks, and emergency repairs.

• Lead weekly CI/strategic campaign meetings to prioritize and execute critical tasks and improvement projects.

5.CrossFunctionalCollaboration & Continuous Improvement

• Work closely with other departments on RCA/CA activities, ensuring comprehensive documentation in the Quality Control system.

• Develop metrics, KPIs, and performance measures focused on equipment reliability, BDA, planned downtime, and maintenance cost performance.

• Collaborate with engineering and operations to support equipment improvements and capital planning.

• Drive a culture of continuous improvement through structuredproblemsolvinganddatadrivendecision making.

skills/qualifications required:

1.Education & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Engineeringorrelevantexperiencerequired.

• Minimum of10years of maintenance leadership experience or equivalent role directly aligned with the responsibilities of this position.

• Experience in dairy, brewing, pharmaceutical, or food manufacturing preferred.

• Aseptic processing and high-speed bottling experienceisa plus.

• Experience with developingmaintenance best practicesand standards.

• Demonstrated successestablishingandapplying TPMandreliability-basedprinciples to create both short- andlongtermvalue.

2.Technical & Operational Expertise

• Strong understanding of CMMS systems, work order execution, and preventative maintenance programs.

• Skilledin examining andtroubleshootingmechanical components to improve reliability.

• Working knowledge of controls, instrumentation, and industrial automation.

• Proven understanding of GMPs and ability to recognize and mitigate food safety risks.

• Knowledge of budgeting, cost estimating, and fiscal management practices.

3.Leadership & People Development

• Proven ability to lead teams with trust, accountability, and integrity.

• Ability to assess training and development needs and manage performance effectively.

• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to work with diverse teams across functions.

• Experience building high-performing maintenance teams in a fast-paced environment.

4.Communication, Decision-Making & Professional Skills

• Strong verbal and written communication skills.

• Ability to make sound administrative and procedural decisions, including handling confidential or sensitive matters.

• Comfortable navigating ambiguity and working in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial setting.

• Ability to collaborate cross functionally and influence without authority.

position location:Webster,NY

reportsto:Director of Engineering

travel requirements:Up to10%