National Maintenance Manager

The Fountain Group; Illinois; Hybrid; USD 110,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

The Fountain Group is seeking a National Asset & Maintenance Manager to oversee lifecycle, performance, and maintenance of physical assets across the company’s facilities nationwide, including production equipment and infrastructure in a food-safety environment.

You will implement Fiix CMMS, standardize maintenance practices, manage an asset inventory, and collaborate with site teams; this role requires 10+ years in maintenance and 30–50% travel to sites across the country.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering or related field required; advanced degree or CPM/CMRP certification a plus.
• Minimum 10 years of progressive maintenance, reliability, or asset management experience.
• Experience in food manufacturing or perishable/high-sanitation environments preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead nationwide Fiix rollout and standardization of maintenance processes.
• Monitor asset performance metrics (OEE, MTBF, MTTR) across sites.
• Maintain centralized national asset register and develop disposition strategies for surplus equipment.
• Ensure OSHA, FDA, FSMA compliance and drive continuous improvement across facilities.

Skills

CMMS rollout

Asset management

Data analysis

Cross-site coordination

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering or related field

Tools

Fiix CMMS

Power BI

MS Office / Excel

Job description

Pay: $110K-130K salary

DIRECT HIRE

Job Title: National Assets & Maintenance Manager

Department: Operations / Engineering / Maintenance

Reports to: National Capital Projects Manager

Location: Can sit in either Philadelphia, PA, Hendersonville, NC or Dallas, TX, position will be remote with 30-50% travel to provide on-site support

Job Summary

The National Asset & Maintenance Manager is a strategic leadership role responsible for overseeing the lifecycle, performance, reliability and maintenance of all physical assets across the company's facilities nationwide. This includes production equipment (sorting lines, washing systems, cutting/packaging machinery, refrigeration, etc.), facility infrastructure and related assets in a food-safety-critical environment.

The role focuses on implementing and rolling out modern maintenance management software (Fiix), driving asset uptime, reducing unplanned downtime, standardizing best-in-class maintenance practices, maintaining accurate national asset inventory and fostering strong, proactive collaboration with local Maintenance Managers and teams at each site.

This position also plays a key role in supporting food safety (FSMA, HACCP, SQF/GFSI standards), operational efficiency, cost control and regulatory compliance in the fresh produce industry.

Key Responsibilities

Maintenance Software & Systems Implementation

• Lead the implementation and nationwide rollout of Fiix (cloud-based CMMS software to plan, track and optimize maintenance).
• Define standardized work processes, preventive maintenance schedules, spare parts management, work order workflows, and reporting within the system.
• Train local Maintenance Managers and teams; drive high user adoption and data quality across all locations.

Asset Performance & Reliability

• Monitor and analyze key performance metrics (OEE, MTBF, MTTR, asset utilization, downtime root causes) for critical production and facility assets across all locations.
• Identify trends, risks, and opportunities to improve asset reliability and extend equipment life in a high-humidity, wash-down, temperature-controlled fresh produce environment.

Assets Management

• Maintain an accurate, centralized national asset register/inventory database (including acquisition dates, location, condition, depreciation, maintenance history, and criticality ranking).
• Evaluate idle assets for condition, remaining useful life, repair feasibility, market value, and potential internal redeployment to other facilities or lines.
• Develop and execute disposition strategies: prioritize internal redeployment where possible; otherwise, coordinate the safe, compliant sale of surplus equipment through auctions, brokers, direct buyers, or industry marketplaces (e.g., food processing equipment specialists).

National Coordination & Communication

• Serve as the primary point of contact for maintenance strategy, best practices, and national standards.
• Establish regular, proactive communication channels (weekly calls, monthly reviews, etc.) with the local Maintenance Managers to share performance data, lessons learned, upcoming projects and support needs.
• Facilitate knowledge sharing, standardization of procedures, and cross-site troubleshooting for recurring issues.

Additional Responsibilities

• Help local team to develop the maintenance budget and partner with National Capital Project Manager to build capital planning for major repairs/replacements.
• Develop and implement a spare parts strategy, vendor management and national service contracts.
• Ensure all maintenance activities comply with OSHA, FDA, USDA, FSMA, and third-party food safety certification requirements.
• Lead or support root cause analysis (RCA), continuous improvement projects (Kaizen, Lean), and capital project execution related to asset upgrades.
• Provide leadership, coaching, and development to site-level maintenance teams indirectly through standards, training, and performance expectations.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Industrial, or related), Facilities Management, or equivalent field required; advanced degree or CMRP/CPMM certification a plus.
• Minimum 10 years of progressive maintenance, reliability, or asset management experience (experience in a multi-site or national oversight role is a plus).
• Strong experience in food manufacturing, fresh produce processing, agriculture/packing operations, or other perishable/high-sanitation manufacturing environments preferred.
• Proven track record implementing and rolling out CMMS systems
• Demonstrated ability to lead change management and drive adoption across decentralized teams.
• Experience with preventive/predictive maintenance programs, reliability engineering principles, and KPI dashboards.

Required Skills & Competencies

• Excellent analytical skills with ability to interpret performance data and turn insights into actionable plans.
• Strong project management and implementation skills for software/system rollouts.
• Exceptional communication and relationship-building skills — must build trust and influence without direct authority over site teams.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office (especially Excel for data analysis) and familiarity with Power BI or similar reporting tools.
• Knowledge of food safety regulations, GMPs, and sanitation requirements in fresh produce.
• Willingness to travel 30–50% to facilities across the US.