Maintenance Superintendent

Smurfit-Westrock; Cottonton (AL); On-site; USD 80,000 - 115,000; Full time

Job summary

Smurfit Westrock is seeking a Maintenance Superintendent in Cottonton, AL to lead safety‑driven maintenance programs, improve reliability, and manage costs. You will drive KPI monitoring, work management, shutdowns, and long‑term capital planning while mentoring staff.

The ideal candidate brings strong leadership, problem‑solving, and collaboration across functions to deliver measurable improvements in a manufacturing setting.

Qualifications

• Required: 5 years of experience in industrial maintenance.
• Preferred: 5+ years in maintenance management.
• Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering or equivalent.

Responsibilities

• Oversee safety, environmental quality, productivity and cost in maintenance.
• Monitor KPI and manage the Work Management Process.
• Lead 5-year maintenance and capital planning.
• Develop asset strategies to improve reliability.
• Coach maintenance staff on planning, scheduling and execution.
• Ensure Root Cause Failure Analysis for persistent issues.

Skills

Industrial maintenance

Maintenance management

Leadership

Safety & compliance

KPI monitoring

Root Cause Analysis

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering

Tools

JDE

PLC / DCS / CMMS

Microsoft Office

Job description

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) is the go-to leader and partner of choice in sustainable packaging. We are dedicated to creating efficient and scalable paper and packaging solutions to help solve complex packaging challenges. Guided by our values of safety, loyalty, integrity and respect, we are committed to delivering meaningful value for shareholders, customers, employees and the communities where we operate.

Position: Maintenance Superintendent

Job Code: MOMNM4 + Mgr II, Maintenance

Location: Cottonton, AL

The Opportunity:

The Maintenance Superintendent is responsible for the overall safety, environmental quality, productivity and cost management of the maintenance effort in their assigned area. Key areas of responsibility include KPI monitoring & management, management and adherence to the Work Management Process, management of shutdowns, maintenance cost analysis & improvement plans, 5-year major maintenance & capital planning, and overall maintenance and reliability improvement plans. This position reports to the maintenance manager.

How you will impact Smurfit Westrock:

Major Job Responsibilities:

Business Excellence

• Support and drive accident prevention and environmental excellence.
• Ensure all maintenance activities are conducted in a safe and environmentally sound manner while adhering to all company policies and procedures.
• Participate in and promote continuous improvement.
• Responsible for keeping maintenance personnel abreast of advancing technology in diagnostic techniques, repair procedures and preventative measures to assure optimum performance at minimum cost.
• Provide leadership and coaching where necessary regarding all planning, scheduling and execution of routine and shutdown maintenance work within the assigned work area.
• Provide leadership and support to drive development of detailed asset strategies for improved asset reliability.
• Ensure Root Cause Failure Analysis and/or troubleshooting procedures to solve repetitive equipment problems is being utilized.
• Drive improved productivity, quality of work, and cost control in area of responsibility.
• Monthly material and labor cost forecasting.
• Annual budgeting process, forecasting, and cost reporting functions.
• Participate and utilize various improvement or benchmarking projects as required.
• Ensure adherence to the established work management process.
• Support Maintenance Management with cost analysis & improvement plans
• Develop and maintain five (5) year maintenance and capital improvement plans.
• Assist with onboarding, training, and mentoring of new maintenance personnel on various maintenance systems.
• Communicate and review Maintenance performance metrics and KPI’s with Maintenance and Operational personnel on a regular basis to improve understanding and to drive improved productivity and efficiencies.
• Responsible for the appraisals of performance of all Maintenance personnel.
• Ensure adherence to maintenance standards and procedures.
• Hold maintenance and contractor team accountable for precision installations and precision alignments

People and Culture

• Ensure a safe work environment and adherence to all corporate, state and federal safety, health and environmental policies, procedures and regulations by all maintenance staff
• Foster a culture of care that promotes active participation and buy-in for safety and maintenance reliability from craftsmen
• Ensure maintenance staff is adequately trained and motivated to achieve departmental objectives in a safe, timely, and cost-effective manner

Critical Skills / Capabilities:

• Leadership:Leadsand motivates a team of people to achieve performance excellence; ability to read people and situations and adjust approach accordingly; proactively leads and enforces initiatives that drive organizational effectiveness; teaches others how to build trust-based relationships
• Decision-Making:Uses strong problem-solving skills and supporting information to arrive at optimal decisions in an appropriate timeframe; knows when to decide and/or when to seek additional input, and drive for consensus
• Problem-Solving:Applies knowledge to frame, simplify and solve complex issues; focuses on identifying root causes to create solutions in a timely and decisive manner; reconciles conflicting and/or incomplete information to develop solutions
• Strategic Thinking:Develops short and long-term courses of action that support the organization's overall vision and mission; balances business, technical, and operational issues when determining a strategy; identifies problems with current strategies and suggests ways to resolve them; incorporates knowledge of Smurfit Westrock’s goals/strategy as well as competitive, customer, supplier, industry, or marketplace trends into strategic plans; capitalizes on opportunities and manages risks
• Communication:Creates and delivers engaging presentations to internal and external audiences; develops new communication strategies and approaches to communicate data, insights, and critical messages resulting in clear understanding
• Negotiation:Takes a lead role in negotiating issues with others in routine or non-complex situations; identifies and removes barriers to agreements; tries multiple strategies/actions to persuade others; discusses/considers alternatives, persuades others toward a specific course of action, and bargains for win-win solutions; provides input into future negotiation processes or strategies
• Conflict Resolution:Anticipates and takes steps to prevent counter-productive confrontations; manages and resolves conflicts and disagreements in a constructive manner

Technical Skills:

• Microsoft Office - Excel, Outlook, Productivity Suite
• JDE, PLC / DCS or similar CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management System)

Other Qualifications: To perform the duties of the job, this role requires:

• Occasionally ascending/descending stairs
• Occasionally reaching by extending fingers on one hand
• Occasionally reaching by extending one arm
• Occasionally using fingers to grasp with one hand
• Occasionally using fingers to type with one hand
• The spoken exchange of ideas to be performed loudly 25-50% of the time
• The spoken exchange of ideas to be performed quickly 25-50% of the time
• The safe and accurate preparation and analyzing of data and figures, monitoring of a computer terminal, or inspection of small defects or parts
• Frequently works indoors, in an environment that is climate controlled
• Frequently works outdoors in natural environmental conditions (both hot and cold)
• Frequently works indoors in an environment that is not climate controlled and has high temperatures
• Occasionally works indoors in an environment that is not climate controlled and has low temperatures
• The role is occasionally sedentary, which entails sitting or being stationary
• Frequently stands or walks for 1-2 hours at a time
• Occasionally stands or walks for 3-6 hours at a time
• Occasionally stands or walks for more than 6 hours at a time
• Noisy industrial work environment; maintain strict adherence to safety rules and regulations

What you need to succeed:

• Preferred: Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering with 5 years’ experience or 10 years Operations and/or Maintenance experience in manufacturing.
• Required: 5 years of experience in industrial maintenance
• Preferred: 5 + years of experience in maintenance management

What we offer:

• Corporate culture based on integrity, respect, accountability, and excellence.
• Comprehensive training with numerous learning and development opportunities.
• An attractive salary reflecting skills, competencies, and potential.
• Benefits package to include medical, dental, vision, life insurance, 401k with match, tuition reimbursement, employee discounts, employee referral bonus, and much more!
• A career with a global packaging company where Sustainability, Safety and Inclusion are business drivers and foundational elements of the daily work.

Candidates are required to undergo a drug screening after receiving a conditional job offer, but before starting employment.

Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, protected veteran status or other characteristics protected by state or federal law.