Senior Manager, Technical Operations

Fazer; Vantaa; On-site; EUR 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Fazer, The Food Experience Company, invites a Senior Manager, Technical Operations to lead factory maintenance and reliability across Vantaa and Lahti sites.

You will develop maintenance strategies, oversee budgets, and drive continuous improvements ensuring safe, efficient production aligned with Fazer’s standards. Excellent leadership and cross-functional collaboration are essential, with fluency in Finnish and English.

Qualifications

• Technical education and experience in maintenance, technical operations, or production engineering within an industrial environment.
• Proven leadership experience and a track record of developing teams and driving operational improvements.
• Strong understanding of maintenance, reliability, and asset lifecycle management.
• Excellent collaboration and stakeholder management skills.
• Fluent communication in Finnish and English.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop factory maintenance operations to support safe, efficient production.
• Drive equipment reliability and lifecycle management through preventive maintenance and improvements.
• Lead maintenance-related change and capability development with cross-functional stakeholders.
• Manage maintenance budgets, technical risks, and long-term asset planning.
• Deliver equipment upgrades, replacements and small investment projects with supplier coordination.

Skills

Leadership

Team development

Reliability

Continuous improvement

Stakeholder management

Finnish language

English language

Education

Engineering degree

Job description

Be part of our journey and join us as
Senior Manager, Technical Operations

We are looking for a Senior Manager, Technical Operations to develop factory maintenance, technical reliability and technical development initiatives within Fazer Confectionery Vantaa and Lahti sites. In this role, you will ensure that factory equipment, utilities and technical systems support safe, reliable, efficient and cost-effective production in line with our operational standards and business priorities.

Key responsibilities:

• Lead and develop factory maintenance operations, ensuring safe, efficient and high-performing asset management that supports business objectives.
• Drive equipment reliability, availability and lifecycle management through preventive maintenance, continuous improvement and technical development initiatives.
• Lead maintenance-related change and capability development, fostering strong collaboration across production, engineering, facility services and other key stakeholders.
• Manage maintenance budgets, technical risks, asset performance and long-term lifecycle planning, including equipment modernization and replacement needs.
• Deliver equipment upgrades, replacements and small investment projects, ensuring successful implementation, supplier coordination and benefit realization.

You will be reporting to the Technical Operations & Operational Excellence Lead and in matrix to Production Director. You will have close partnership with factory operations, while business-wide maintenance standards, technology development and major investment initiatives are led at Business Area level. You will be located at our Vantaa office where we work mainly on-site. In future you will be responsible also for technical operations in Lahti factory.

Why choose Fazer?

It starts with the people. You’ll be working in a supportive and welcoming environment, surrounded by colleagues who inspire you to do your best. As a Senior Manager, Technical Operations, you will have a meaningful opportunity to develop technical operations and maintenance excellence in a factory environment where safety, reliability and continuous improvement matter every day.

We at Fazer want to provide a culture of diversity and inclusiveness where all employees can experience an equal working community with a motivating, respectful and safe work environment.

What you bring to the team?

We are looking for a people-focused technical leader who is passionate about developing teams, enhancing reliability, and driving continuous improvement in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.

We expect you to have:

• Relevant technical education and experience in maintenance, technical operations, or production engineering within an industrial environment.
• Proven leadership experience and a track record of developing teams and driving operational improvements.
• Strong understanding of maintenance, reliability, and asset lifecycle management.
• Excellent collaboration and stakeholder management skills.
• Fluent communication skills in Finnish and English.

For more information about the position, please contact Mikael Palosaari, Technical Operations & Operational Excellence Lead tel. [phone], Wed 30.9. at 15-16 or Fri 2.10. at 14-16.

Fazer, The Food Experience Company, enables people to enjoy the best moments of their day. Our mission, Food with a purpose, builds on its strong more than 130-year heritage, consumer first approach and innovations to create the food experiences of the future. With our dedicated team of almost 6,000 professionals, we focus on fast-moving consumer goods and our direct-to-consumer business in Northern Europe and beyond, with exports to more than 40 countries. Fazer’s operations comply with its Code of Conduct that is based on the Group’s values and the UN Global Compact. In 2025, Fazer Group had net sales of 1.200 million euros.

Northern Magic. Made Real.