Head of Maintenance & Reliability

Georgia Nut Company; Skokie (IL); On-site; USD 155,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Georgia Nut Company in Skokie, IL seeks a Maintenance Director to lead the maintenance organization, driving reliability, safety, and continuous improvement. You will establish KPIs, mentor a leadership team, and partner with Operations, Quality, Safety, Engineering, and Finance to improve asset performance.

The role requires 7+ years of senior maintenance leadership in manufacturing, preferably in food processing, plus a bachelor's degree in a related field.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of progressive Maintenance Director or equivalent senior maintenance leadership experience.
• Experience leading a maintenance organization supporting a manufacturing workforce of 500+ employees.
• Strong experience within food manufacturing, food processing, or a similarly regulated manufacturing environment.
• Demonstrated success leading maintenance organizations through growth, transformation, organizational change, or significant operational improvement.
• Proven ability to lead through accountability and establish clear performance expectations.
• Demonstrated ability to influence cross-functionally and build alignment without relying solely on positional authority.
• Strong understanding of preventive and predictive maintenance, reliability, root-cause analysis, and asset management.
• Experience managing departmental budgets, capital expenditures, contractors, and maintenance resources.
• Strong understanding of manufacturing safety requirements and food manufacturing regulatory expectations.
• Demonstrated experience developing leaders and building high-performing maintenance teams.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, communication, and decision-making skills.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic and operational leadership for the Maintenance organization, establishing a culture of accountability, ownership, urgency, and continuous improvement.
• Set clear expectations for maintenance leaders and team members while holding the organization accountable for performance, execution, and results.
• Lead, coach, develop, and retain a strong maintenance leadership team capable of effectively managing day-to-day operations while building long-term capability.
• Establish performance expectations and meaningful KPIs for maintenance leadership and teams, including equipment reliability, downtime, PM compliance, work order completion, response time, backlog, cost, and safety.
• Address performance issues directly and consistently while maintaining a culture of respect, transparency, and development.
• Build organizational capability through succession planning, talent development, technical training, and leadership development.
• Create an environment where Maintenance is viewed as a strategic business partner rather than solely a reactive service function.

Skills

Leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Strategic thinking

Problem-solving

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Maintenance Management, Operations, Manufacturing, or a related field

Job description

Georgia Nut Company in Skokie, IL seeks a Maintenance Director to lead the maintenance organization, driving reliability, safety, and continuous improvement. You will establish KPIs, mentor a leadership team, and partner with Operations, Quality, Safety, Engineering, and Finance to improve asset performance.

The role requires 7+ years of senior maintenance leadership in manufacturing, preferably in food processing, plus a bachelor's degree in a related field.