As a Maintenance Manager you will provide strategic and day-to-day leadership for the Maintenance Department to ensure the safe, reliable, and cost-effective performance of plant assets and systems. Leads maintenance and reliability programs, develops people and work processes, coordinates priorities across Operations, Grains, Engineering, Safety, and other support functions, and drives continuous improvement to maximize equipment availability, production capability, product quality, and asset life while supporting company policies, goals, and objectives.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS AND BASIC DUTIES
• Partner with plant leadership to establish maintenance and reliability objectives, asset strategies, annual priorities, and performance targets aligned with production, quality, safety, and cost goals.
• Develop, implement, and continuously improve a plant-wide reliability program using preventive, predictive, condition-based, and precision maintenance practices to increase equipment availability and reduce unplanned downtime.
• Own the maintenance work-management process, including work identification, approval, planning, scheduling, coordination, execution, closeout, and review; ensure labor, materials, permits, tools, and technical information are ready before work begins.
• Lead daily and weekly coordination with Operations, Grains, Engineering, Safety, Procurement, and other departments to prioritize work, manage equipment availability, and execute planned outages and repairs with minimal production disruption.
• Administer and optimize the computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) as the system of record for asset hierarchy, work orders, preventive maintenance, labor, materials, failure codes, equipment history, and maintenance costs.
• Use maintenance and reliability data to identify bad actors, recurring failures, backlog risks, and improvement opportunities; establish action plans and communicate priorities and results to plant leadership.
• Lead root cause analysis for significant or repeat failures and ensure corrective and preventive actions are assigned, completed, documented, and verified for effectiveness.
• Track and improve key performance indicators such as asset availability, overall equipment effectiveness, mean time between failures, mean time to repair, planned-work percentage, preventive-maintenance compliance, schedule compliance, backlog health, and maintenance cost.
• Manage critical spare-parts strategy, storeroom practices, maintenance supplies, repairable components, and vendor support to balance equipment risk, service levels, inventory investment, and cost.
• Direct, coach, and develop maintenance technicians, the maintenance planner, and material coordination resources; set clear expectations, assign accountability, monitor performance, and build technical and leadership capability through training and development plans.
• Maintain consistent two-way communication through shift handoffs, daily direction, team meetings, one-on-one coaching, and cross-functional planning meetings.
• Support workforce planning, recruiting, onboarding, qualification, succession planning, performance reviews, recognition, corrective action, and resolution of employee concerns in partnership with plant leadership and Human Resources.
• Build an engaged, accountable, service-oriented maintenance culture focused on safety, reliability, quality workmanship, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Maintain current maintenance procedures, job plans, equipment files, technical documentation, training materials, and operating standards; ensure personnel are trained and qualified on applicable procedures.
• Provide technical leadership for troubleshooting process equipment and systems, coordinating internal experts, contractors, manufacturers, and suppliers when specialized support is required.
• Plan and execute maintenance-related capital projects, equipment upgrades, reliability improvements, and lifecycle replacements, including scope development, budgeting, contractor coordination, commissioning, and turnover to operations.
• Develop and manage the maintenance operating and capital budgets; forecast expenditures, control costs, evaluate repair-versus-replace decisions, and communicate financial risks and priorities.
• Direct and enforce maintenance safety programs and safe-work practices, including lockout/tagout, confined space, hot work, line breaking, fall protection, contractor safety, and permit requirements; review incidents and leading indicators to strengthen prevention.
• Coordinate planned shutdowns and major outages across departments, developing integrated scopes, schedules, staffing plans, risk controls, progress reporting, and post-outage reviews.
• Maintain plant and maintenance-shop standards for safety, organization, cleanliness, tool control, and equipment care, and perform other duties or lead special projects as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS

EDUCATION/CERTIFICATION:
• Associate degree from two-year college in a related technical field or certificate or diploma from trade school in related field or at least five years' experience in the maintenance and/or operation of a process manufacturing facility or equivalent combination of education and experience.

REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE & EXPERIENCE:
• Demonstrated experience leading maintenance and reliability in an ethanol plant, chemical plant, refinery, food or agricultural processing facility, or comparable continuous-process manufacturing environment preferred.
• Progressive experience supervising maintenance personnel and coordinating work across operations, engineering, safety, procurement, contractors, and other plant functions.
• Working knowledge of reliability-centered maintenance principles, preventive and predictive maintenance, condition monitoring, root cause analysis, precision maintenance, outage management, and continuous improvement.
• Experience administering and improving a CMMS, including asset hierarchy, work management, preventive-maintenance development, failure coding, equipment history, inventory, reporting, and data quality.
• Strong knowledge of industrial process equipment, including rotating equipment, material handling, mechanical power transmission, piping, valves, instrumentation, electrical systems, and related utilities.
• Experience managing maintenance budgets, critical spare parts, contractors, capital projects, and equipment lifecycle decisions preferred.
• Strong knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite and the ability to analyze performance data, prepare reports, and communicate recommendations.
• Valid Driver's License required.

SKILLS/ABILITIES:
• Ability to use CMMS effectively, maintain data discipline, translate asset history into decisions, and train others on work-management standards and system use.

Ability to establish priorities, delegate effectively, hold others accountable, and coordinate people and resources across departments, shifts, contractors, and competing production needs.
• Excellent written, verbal, listening, facilitation, and presentation skills.
• Strong planning, scheduling, organizational, and change-management skills.
• Ability to coach, motivate, develop, and retain employees while building trust, accountability, and an inclusive team culture.
• Ability to build productive relationships with internal customers, vendors, contractors, and technical partners and to resolve conflicts with tact and professionalism.
• Strong analytical, troubleshooting, root cause, risk-assessment, negotiation, and decision-making skills.
• Ability to interpret reliability and maintenance KPIs, identify trends, communicate business impact, and convert findings into sustained corrective action.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities with urgency, efficiency, and accuracy in a continuous-operation environment.
• Ability to anticipate resource, spare-parts, contractor, and outage needs and complete necessary preparation before work execution.
• Demonstrated commitment to safety, reliability, continuous improvement, honesty, and integrity.

PHYSICAL STRENGTH: This job may require lifting of up to 50 pounds regularly.

Interested candidates should submit a resume and cover letter detailing their qualifications and experience.

At the time of posting, the salary for this position ranges from $105,000 - $145,000. Compensation will be determined based on a variety of factors, including but not limited to relevant skills, experience, and qualifications. In addition, Guardian Energy Janesville offers a comprehensive benefits package that includes:
• Competitive wages, paid holidays, bonus eligibility and generous time off
• Low-cost medical, dental, and pharmacy plans
• Healthcare and dependent care flexible spending accounts
• Guardian HSA contributions
• Disability and employer-paid life insurance
• Excellent retirement plans with employer contribution
• Employee Assistance Program with no cost to employees
• Continuous learning opportunities supported by a tuition reimbursement program