Director of Maintenance

The Planet Group; Akron (OH); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

The Planet Group is seeking a Maintenance Director to provide strategic leadership and operational oversight of maintenance, reliability, facilities, and asset management across the manufacturing operation. You will develop and execute strategies that maximize equipment reliability, improve efficiency, and support world-class manufacturing performance.

You will lead maintenance managers and engineers, drive predictive maintenance programs, manage budgets, and champion a culture of safety,

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Engineering Technology, or related field.
• MBA or Master's degree preferred.
• 15+ years of progressive maintenance leadership experience in manufacturing.
• 7+ years leading maintenance managers, engineers, supervisors, and multi-site teams.
• Experience with preventive, predictive, and reliability-centered maintenance programs.
• Strong understanding of industrial automation, PLCs, robotics, electrical systems, hydraulics, pneumatics, and manufacturing equipment.
• Lean Manufacturing experience and executive leadership.
• Strategic planning and execution in maintenance and reliability management.
• Financial and budget management for capital projects.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute the maintenance and asset reliability strategy.
• Provide leadership to maintenance managers, engineers, planners, supervisors, and technical teams.
• Mentor and develop maintenance leadership and succession plans.
• Set departmental goals, performance expectations, and accountability.
• Foster safety, teamwork, continuous improvement, and associate engagement.
• Direct preventive, predictive, corrective, and reliability-centered maintenance programs.
• Ensure maximum equipment uptime and production reliability across assets.
• Lead emergency response and recovery for critical equipment failures.
• Standardize maintenance practices across departments and facilities.
• Develop long-term maintenance strategies to extend asset life and reduce costs.
• Drive predictive maintenance technologies and asset lifecycle management.
• Oversee RCFA and corrective actions for significant failures.
• Lead initiatives to improve planning, scheduling, spare parts optimization, and maintenance KPIs.
• Collaborate with Operations, Engineering, and CI for equipment design and improvements.
• Manage budget, resource allocation, and workforce planning.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic planning

Executive leadership

Change management

Cross-functional collaboration

Budget management

Communication

Problem solving

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering

MBA or Master's degree

Tools

Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs)

Robotics

Automation systems

Job description

The Maintenance Director is responsible for providing strategic leadership and operational oversight of all maintenance, reliability, facilities, and asset management functions across the manufacturing operation. This leadership role develops and executes maintenance strategies that maximize equipment reliability, improve operational efficiency, ensure regulatory compliance, and support world-class manufacturing performance.

Key Responsibilities

Leadership

• Develop and execute the company's maintenance and asset reliability strategy aligned with business objectives.
• Provide leadership and direction to maintenance managers, maintenance engineers, planners, supervisors, and technical teams.
• Build, mentor, and develop high-performing maintenance leadership and succession plans.
• Establish departmental goals, performance expectations, and accountability across all maintenance functions.
• Foster a culture of safety, teamwork, continuous improvement, innovation, and associate engagement.

Maintenance Operations

• Direct all preventive, predictive, corrective, and reliability-centered maintenance programs.
• Ensure maximum equipment uptime, production reliability, and operational efficiency across all manufacturing assets.
• Lead emergency response and recovery efforts for critical equipment failures.
• Standardize maintenance practices across all departments and facilities.
• Develop long-term maintenance strategies that extend equipment life while reducing maintenance costs.

Reliability & Asset Management

• Drive predictive maintenance technologies.
• Establish equipment lifecycle management strategies including replacement planning and asset optimization.
• Oversee root cause failure analysis (RCFA) and corrective action implementation for significant equipment failures.
• Implement best-in-class reliability practices
• Develop standardized maintenance processes, procedures, and workflows across the organization.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives that reduce downtime, improve productivity, and lower operating costs.
• Utilize data and analytics to improve maintenance planning, scheduling, and resource allocation.
• Lead initiatives to improve maintenance planning, preventive maintenance compliance, and spare parts optimization.
• Benchmark maintenance performance against industry standards and implement best practices.
• Lead, coach, mentor, and develop maintenance associates.
• Oversee workforce planning, hiring, onboarding, training, performance management, succession planning, and associate development.
• Promote associate engagement, accountability, and professional growth throughout the maintenance organization.

Manufacturing Support

• Partner closely with Operations to align maintenance activities with production schedules.
• Collaborate with Engineering and Continuous Improvement teams on equipment design improvements and new equipment installations.
• Support Quality initiatives to improve product consistency and manufacturing capability.
• Leadership and associate development
• Performance management and coaching
• Project and process management
• Maintenance planning and scheduling
• Resource allocation and workforce coordination
• Budget and cost management
• Conflict resolution and decision-making
• Cross-functional collaboration
• Continuous improvement leadership
• Strategic planning and operational execution
• Change management
• Strong organizational and communication skills

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Engineering Technology, or a related field.
• MBA or Master's degree preferred.
• 15+ years of progressive maintenance leadership experience within a manufacturing environment.
• Minimum of 7 years leading maintenance managers, engineers, supervisors, and multi-site maintenance organizations.
• Demonstrated success leading maintenance operations in a high-volume manufacturing environment.
• Extensive experience with preventive, predictive, and reliability-centered maintenance programs.
• Strong understanding of industrial automation, PLCs, robotics, electrical systems, hydraulics, pneumatics, and manufacturing equipment.
• Experience implementing Lean Manufacturing initiatives.
• Executive leadership
• Strategic planning and execution
• Maintenance and reliability management
• Financial and budget management
• Capital project management
• Process improvement and operational excellence
• Lean Manufacturing and Continuous Improvement
• Change management
• Associate coaching, development and succession planning