Regional Manufacturing Maintenance Manager

Smurfit Westrock; Nashville (TN); On-site; USD 110,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Smurfit Westrock is seeking a Regional Manufacturing Maintenance Manager to lead maintenance and reliability across recycling plant operations. You will mentor teams, drive preventive maintenance, and coordinate with vendors to minimize downtime and improve asset performance.

The role emphasizes hands-on leadership, safety, and practical problem-solving in a multi-site environment. Candidates should bring 10+ years in industrial maintenance and 5+ years of leadership experience.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in industrial maintenance, reliability, or project management.
• 5+ years leading maintenance teams and cross-functional projects.
• Experience diagnosing complex equipment issues and implementing corrective actions.

Responsibilities

• Lead maintenance and reliability improvements across multiple recycling plant operations.
• Coach and mentor maintenance teams to strengthen troubleshooting and asset ownership.
• Develop preventive maintenance and reliability programs to reduce downtime.
• Analyze downtime trends and performance metrics to prioritize fixes.
• Coordinate with vendors, contractors, and operations for safe, effective repairs.
• Support capital projects from scope to startup and follow-up.
• Promote safety, lean practices, and continuous improvement across sites.
• Create practical maintenance tools, guides, and checklists for field use.

Skills

Maintenance leadership

Industrial maintenance

Troubleshooting

Root cause analysis

Lean

Six Sigma

Project leadership

Safety leadership

Equipment reliability

Vendor coordination

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or related field

Tools

CMMS systems

Power BI

Job description

Description & Requirements

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.

The Opportunity

The Regional Manufacturing Maintenance Manager is a senior technical leadership role for an experienced maintenance and reliability leader who understands industrial operations from the plant floor up to lead hands‑on support for maintenance, reliability, equipment optimization, and operational performance across assigned recycle plant operations. This role works directly with plant maintenance teams, skilled trades, operators, vendors, and site leaders to solve equipment issues, reduce downtime, strengthen preventive maintenance practices, and improve the reliability of critical plant assets. The ideal candidate is a practical, respected technical leader who can troubleshoot complex issues, coach others, support field teams, and translate hands‑on experience into lasting improvements across multiple sites.

What You’ll Do

• Serve as a trusted technical resource for plant maintenance teams, skilled trades, operators, and site leaders across assigned recycle plant operations.
• Demonstrate visible safety leadership by setting clear expectations, reinforcing safe work practices, and promoting a culture where safety is the number one priority for this business.
• Promote a culture where safety, respect for skilled trades, accountability, teamwork, and continuous improvement are part of how work gets done.
• Strengthen preventive maintenance programs, inspection routines, troubleshooting standards, spare parts strategies, and equipment care practices.
• Use downtime trends, maintenance history, operator feedback, and performance metrics to focus resources on the issues that create the biggest operational impact.
• Help plants solve equipment issues that matter every day, including downtime, repeat failures, unsafe conditions, poor performance, difficult troubleshooting, and reliability gaps.
• Provide advanced hands‑on support for balers, conveyors, sort systems, hydraulic systems, pneumatic systems, electrical controls, safety circuits, machine guarding, and related recycling equipment.
• Support urgent technical issues and emergency response needs, including remote support and on‑site travel, to help restore safe and reliable operations.
• Partner with mechanics, electricians, technicians, supervisors, vendors, and operations teams to identify root causes and implement practical fixes that last.
• Support capital projects, major repairs, rebuilds, installations, commissioning, and equipment upgrades from scope development through startup and follow‑up.
• Work with vendors, contractors, engineering partners, safety teams, and procurement resources to ensure technical work is completed safely, correctly, and with strong follow‑through.
• Build and share practical tools such as troubleshooting guides, maintenance standards, inspection checklists, lessons learned, and best practices that help plants work smarter.
• Lead improvement efforts using practical problem‑solving, Lean, Six Sigma, DMAIC, Kaizen, and reliability methods without losing sight of what works in a real production environment.
• Coach and mentor maintenance leaders, mechanics, electricians, technicians, and operators to build stronger troubleshooting skills, equipment ownership, and confidence on the plant floor.

What You Need

• 10 or more years of progressive experience in industrial maintenance, manufacturing operations, reliability, technical services, skilled trades leadership, or project management.
• 5 or more years of leadership experience guiding maintenance teams, mechanics, electricians, technicians, vendors, contractors, or cross‑functional project teams.
• Strong hands‑on knowledge of hydraulics, pneumatics, mechanical power transmission, conveyors, balers, electrical systems, controls, proximity switches, safety circuits, and machine guarding principles.
• Ability to read and interpret mechanical drawings, electrical schematics, hydraulic schematics, equipment manuals, layouts, and technical documentation.
• Demonstrated ability to diagnose complex equipment issues, lead root cause analysis, and implement practical corrective actions that hold up in production.
• Experience developing preventive maintenance programs, reliability routines, equipment standards, troubleshooting processes, and measurable performance improvement plans.
• Strong project leadership skills, including planning, prioritization, vendor coordination, budgeting support, schedule management, and communication with plant and regional leadership.
• Comfortable working in industrial environments and engaging directly with teams on the plant floor to understand issues, support solutions, and verify results.
• Excellent communication, coaching, and relationship‑building skills with the ability to earn trust with skilled trades teams and influence across multiple facilities.
• Demonstrated commitment to safety, environmental responsibility, quality, compliance, and ethical business practices.
• Ability to travel, sometimes on short notice, approximately 50% to 75% of the time depending on business needs.
• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Industrial Technology, Maintenance Management, Operations Management, or a related field preferred; equivalent technical training, apprenticeship, military technical experience, journeyman‑level experience, or relevant hands‑on experience will be considered.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting recycling, paper, packaging, heavy industrial, material handling, or similar manufacturing environments.
• Background as a maintenance manager, reliability leader, industrial mechanic, electrician, millwright, controls technician, field service technician, or skilled trades leader.
• Hands‑on experience with industrial welding, fabrication, rigging, alignment, installation, rebuild, startup, or commissioning activities.
• Experience with Lean, Six Sigma, Kaizen, DMAIC, reliability‑centered maintenance, or other continuous improvement methods.
• Familiarity with CMMS systems, work order processes, Power BI, production reporting, downtime analytics, and other performance reporting tools.
• Experience leading multi‑site initiatives and supporting geographically dispersed teams.

Why Skilled Leaders Join Us

• Your hands‑on maintenance experience is valued, not treated as secondary to a degree.
• You will work on meaningful equipment and reliability challenges that directly affect plant performance.
• You will have the opportunity to influence standards, coach teams, and help shape how maintenance is performed across multiple sites.
• You will be part of a company that depends on skilled technical talent to keep essential manufacturing operations running safely and reliably.

What We Offer

We offer a culture grounded in safety, integrity, respect, accountability, excellence, sustainability, inclusion, and the practical expertise of skilled maintenance professionals.

The opportunity to make a visible impact by helping plants reduce downtime, improve equipment reliability, strengthen maintenance capability, and solve problems that directly affect daily production.

We offer career growth, leadership development, technical learning opportunities, and the ability to build on years of hands‑on experience in a senior‑level role.

A collaborative environment where experienced technical leaders can share what they know, support plant teams, develop future maintenance talent, and help move fiber‑based packaging forward.

The opportunity to support a broad recycling network within a global packaging company, helping standardize maintenance practices, improve reliability, and strengthen operational capability across multiple facilities.

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.