About this Role: We're looking for a Facilities & Maintenance Manager to lead the maintenance, reliability, and continuous improvement of our 100,000-square-foot food manufacturing facility in Chicago. This role is responsible for ensuring our building, equipment, and critical systems operate safely, efficiently, and reliably, helping us deliver fresh, high-quality food to customers every day.
You'll lead our preventative maintenance strategy, oversee maintenance technicians and third-party vendors, manage facility budgets, and partner closely with Operations, Quality, Food Safety, and IT to keep our facility running at its best. This is a highly visible leadership role for someone who enjoys solving complex operational challenges, building scalable processes, and leading through both strategy and execution.
What You'll Do...
- Own the preventative maintenance strategy for our production facility, ensuring equipment and building systems operate safely, reliably, and efficiently.
- Lead, coach, and develop the maintenance team while managing external contractors and vendors to deliver high-quality work on time and within budget.
- Build and continuously improve preventative maintenance programs, inspection routines, and documentation to minimize downtime and extend equipment life.
- Oversee maintenance and repair of facility infrastructure and manufacturing equipment, including refrigeration systems, conveyors, processing equipment, automated assembly equipment, and building utilities.
- Partner closely with Quality Assurance and Food Safety to ensure all maintenance activities meet regulatory and food safety requirements.
- Manage the facility maintenance budget, balancing cost efficiency with operational reliability and long-term capital planning.
- Develop meaningful performance metrics and use data to identify opportunities for continuous improvement.
- Administer the facility's on-call program and provide leadership during after-hours maintenance issues and operational emergencies.
- Collaborate cross-functionally with Operations, IT, Engineering, and plant leadership to support business continuity and facility improvement initiatives.
Who You Are...
- 5+ years of facilities or maintenance leadership experience within a food manufacturing or similarly regulated production environment.
- Proven experience managing maintenance operations in refrigerated or temperature-controlled facilities.
- Expert-level knowledge of preventative maintenance programs, CMMS systems, and equipment reliability best practices.
- Strong technical knowledge of industrial manufacturing equipment, refrigeration systems, conveyors, utilities, and facility infrastructure.
- Ability to balance competing priorities while keeping safety, food quality, and operational uptime at the center of every decision.
- Collaborative leader who builds strong relationships across Operations, Quality, Food Safety, IT, and external vendors.
- Proven experience managing budgets, analyzing performance metrics, and identifying opportunities to improve efficiency and reduce costs.
- A bachelor's degree in Engineering, Facilities Management, or a related field is preferred.
The base salary range for this role is $100,000 - 113,000. The base pay offered will be determined by factors such as experience, skills, training, certifications, education, and any applicable minimum wage requirements.
In addition to base salary, this position is eligible for company performance-based bonuses and equity.
We provide a comprehensive benefits package, including:
- Medical, dental, and vision insurance (multiple plans available)
- 401(k) with immediate employer match vesting
- Paid time off (including vacation, sick leave, and holidays)
- Paid sabbatical after 5 years of service
- Employee discounts
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
