Maintenance Manager

Emmi Desserts; Kenilworth (NJ); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

A food manufacturing company located in Kenilworth, NJ, is seeking a Maintenance Manager to lead maintenance operations across multiple facilities. This role involves hands-on leadership and strategic oversight to ensure safety, efficiency, and compliance with industry standards. Candidates should have extensive experience in maintenance within the food sector and strong technical and leadership skills.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of progressive maintenance experience in food, beverage, or light industrial manufacturing.
• 5+ years in a leadership role managing teams across multiple facilities.
• Proven ability to balance hands-on technical engagement with strategic planning.

Responsibilities

• Provide strong hands-on leadership to Supervisors and technicians.
• Implement and oversee a robust preventive and predictive maintenance program.
• Ensure compliance with OSHA, FDA, USDA, and local requirements.

Skills

Hands-on leadership

Strategic thinking

Cross-functional collaboration

Data-driven decision-making

Continuous improvement mindset

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Industrial Technology, Facilities Management, or related field

Advanced certifications (CPMM, Six Sigma, TPM, CMRP)

Tools

CMMS

BMS

Microsoft Office Suite

Job description

Join to apply for the Maintenance Manager role at Emmi Desserts.

The Senior Manager of Maintenance provides both strategic and hands‑on leadership for maintenance operations across four small to mid‑sized food manufacturing facilities. This individual will lead a multi‑site team of supervisors and skilled technicians responsible for maintaining critical plant systems including HVAC, refrigeration, electrical, boilers, compressed air, and food production equipment.

This role requires a leader who can balance on‑floor engagement with strategic oversight—someone equally comfortable working alongside technicians troubleshooting a production line issue as they are developing long‑term maintenance strategies, budgets, and performance metrics.

The Senior Manager ensures maintenance activities are executed safely, efficiently, and in compliance with all food safety and regulatory standards while driving uptime, cost control, and continuous improvement across all facilities.

Responsibilities

Leadership & Team Development

• Provide strong, hands‑on leadership to Supervisors, fostering accountability, teamwork, and operational discipline.
• Develop technicians’ technical depth and troubleshooting capability through mentoring, training, and certification programs.
• Balance daily operational engagement with long‑term planning and resource optimization across all four facilities.
• Champion a proactive, safety‑first culture where maintenance supports and enhances production performance.

Preventive & Predictive Maintenance

• Implement and oversee a robust preventive and predictive maintenance program through effective use of a CMMS.
• Personally engage in troubleshooting chronic or high‑impact equipment issues when needed.
• Collaborate with Operations, Safety, Sanitation and Food Safety to schedule and execute planned shutdowns, equipment installations, and upgrades.
• Utilize root‑cause analysis (RCA) and reliability‑centered maintenance (RCM) practices to drive equipment reliability improvements.

Compliance & Safety

• Ensure full compliance with OSHA, FDA, USDA, EPA, and local authority requirements across all plants.
• Maintain and track all required licenses and certificates of fitness as needed (S95, S12, S13, G92, F60, F01, Q99, B27).
• Lead routine facility audits and develop corrective action plans to mitigate risk and maintain a culture of continuous safety improvement.
• Lead vendor selection, contract negotiations, and performance management to ensure value and reliability.
• Oversee external contractors for specialized maintenance, ensuring adherence to scope, cost, and safety requirements.
• Balance internal versus outsourced maintenance work to optimize cost and responsiveness.

Facilities & Systems Oversight

• Ensure reliability of HVAC, refrigeration, boilers, air compressors, and mechanical systems critical to food manufacturing.
• Provide technical direction for troubleshooting and system optimization across multiple plants.
• Support capital project execution and new equipment commissioning through collaboration with engineering.

Budget, Cost, and Inventory Management

• Develop and manage maintenance budgets including labor, spare parts, and service contracts.
• Track expenditures and identify savings opportunities through energy efficiency, supplier negotiations, and preventive strategies.
• Oversee spare parts inventory and ensure critical components are available without overstocking.
• Manage and optimize use of CMMS and Building Management Systems (BMS) to drive data‑based decision‑making.
• Monitor KPIs including equipment uptime, PM compliance, maintenance cost per unit, and technician productivity.
• Use data insights to guide continuous improvement initiatives and capital planning.

Technology & Data Management

• Manage and optimize use of CMMS and Building Management Systems (BMS) to drive data‑based decision‑making.
• Monitor KPIs including equipment uptime, PM compliance, maintenance cost per unit, and technician productivity.
• Use data insights to guide continuous improvement initiatives and capital planning.

Cross‑Functional Collaboration

• Serve as the primary link between Maintenance, Operations, Safety, Quality, and Sanitation teams.
• Participate in daily operations meetings to align maintenance priorities with production goals.
• Support automation, process improvement, and facility upgrade initiatives to improve efficiency and reliability.

Qualifications

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Industrial Technology, Facilities Management, or related technical field.
• Advanced certifications (CPMM, Six Sigma, TPM, CMRP) preferred.

Experience

• 8+ years of progressive maintenance experience in food, beverage, or light industrial manufacturing.
• 5+ years in a leadership role managing teams across multiple facilities or complex operations.
• Proven ability to balance hands‑on technical engagement with high‑level strategic planning.
• Strong working knowledge of electrical systems, refrigeration, boilers, compressed air, HVAC, and mechanical systems.
• Proficiency in CMMS, BMS, Microsoft Office Suite, and data‑driven maintenance analysis tools.
• Familiarity with food safety standards (BRC, SQF, FDA) and audit compliance processes.
• Hands‑on leadership with a strong technical foundation.
• Strategic thinking and operational foresight.
• Cross‑functional collaboration and communication.
• Continuous improvement and reliability mindset.
• Strong financial and vendor management acumen.

Technical Competencies

• Strong working knowledge of electrical systems, refrigeration, boilers, compressed air, HVAC, and mechanical systems.
• Proficiency in CMMS, BMS, Microsoft Office Suite, and data‑driven maintenance analysis tools.
• Familiarity with food safety standards (BRC, SQF, FDA) and audit compliance processes.

Key Competencies

• Hands‑on leadership with a strong technical foundation.
• Strategic thinking and operational foresight.
• Cross‑functional collaboration and communication.
• Data‑driven decision‑making.
• Continuous improvement and reliability mindset.
• Strong financial and vendor management acumen.

Seniority Level

• Mid‑Senior level

Employment Type

• Full‑time

Job Function

• Manufacturing

Industries

• Manufacturing and Industrial Machinery Manufacturing