Reliability and Maintenance Manager

J&J Snack Foods; Vernon (CA); On-site; USD 130,000 - 145,000; Full time

Job summary

J&J Snack Foods in Vernon, CA, seeks a Reliability and Maintenance Manager to lead maintenance, engineering, and reliability functions ensuring safe, efficient, and consistent plant operations. The role focuses on uptime, asset health, and data-driven reliability programs.

The ideal candidate will oversee maintenance supervision, implement preventive/predictive maintenance, and manage spare parts while collaborating with Operations and cross-functional teams to reduce downtime and boost plant

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or related field.
• 5–7+ years of maintenance/engineering leadership experience in CPG or food manufacturing.
• Strong mechanical, electrical, and controls troubleshooting knowledge.
• Experience with CMMS / digital maintenance systems, Redzone preferred.

Responsibilities

• Owns plant uptime, MTBF, MTTR, and overall equipment reliability for the plant.
• Leads maintenance supervisors and technicians, setting expectations for planning and execution.
• Develops preventive and predictive maintenance programs to reduce downtime and improve performance.
• Manages spare parts strategy, inventory accuracy, and parts planning.
• Partners with Operations and Support Center Engineering on capital projects and process improvements.

Skills

Maintenance leadership

Reliability engineering

Root cause analysis

CMMS / Redzone

Electrical troubleshooting

Mechanical troubleshooting

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or related field

Tools

Redzone CMMS

Job description

POSITION SUMMARY:

Reporting to the Plant Manager, the Reliability and Maintenance Manageris responsible forleading the plant’s maintenance, engineering, and reliability functions to support safe, efficient, and consistent plant operations. In a snack food manufacturing environment, product quality, safety, cost, and service all depend on reliable equipment performance. This roleensuresthe plant’s assets are a competitive advantage, not a daily operational risk.

The Reliability and Maintenance Managerleadsmaintenance supervisors and maintenance team functions, with accountability for equipment uptime, asset health, spare parts readiness, and technical problem solving across the plant. This leaderis responsible fordeveloping and strengthening proactive, planned, and data-driven reliability programs through effective preventive maintenance, root cause analysis, spare parts management, and fullutilizationof Redzone.

This position partners closely with Operations and cross-functional teams to reduce downtime, improve equipment performance, and support overall plant productivity.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

Reliability and Uptime Ownership

• Owns line uptime, Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF), Mean TimeToRepair (MTTR), and overall equipment reliability for theplant.
• Leads the plant toward a more planned, proactive, and data-driven maintenanceculture.
• Develops andmaintainspreventive and predictive maintenance programs that improve equipment performance and reduce downtime.
• Leads rootcause analysis and corrective action for recurring equipment issues, chronic losses, and breakdowns.
• Partners with Production to address recurring downtime and improve day-to-day equipment performance.

MaintenanceandEngineering Leadership

• Provides leadership and direction to maintenance supervisorsand maintenance technicians.
• Sets clear expectations for troubleshooting, work planning,andexecution.
• Developstechnical capability across the team in electrical, mechanical, controls, refrigeration, and related areas.
• Oversees contractormanagementand provides technicalleadershipfor new equipment installations, linemodifications,andcapital projects.

Spare PartsandAsset Management

• Ownsthe plant’sspare parts strategy, including inventory accuracy,andcritical spare availability.
• Improves spare parts controls to reduce stockouts, emergency purchases, and excess or obsolete inventory.
• Implementsparts kitting and planning processes to better support scheduled maintenance work.
• Maintainsaccurateassethierarchy,equipmentdocumentation,andmaintenance records.
• Uses Redzone to support work order management, PM compliance, downtimedataanalysis, technician accountability, and maintenance visibility.
• Ensures Redzone data isaccurate,timely, and used toidentifytrends, prioritize reliability work, and improve equipment performance.
• Ensures maintenance work is completed in compliance with food safety, GMP, quality, safety, and regulatory requirements.
• Reinforces safe maintenance practices, including Lockout/Tagout (LOTO), contractor safety, and other required safety procedures.
• Supports ammonia/refrigeration compliance, documentation, inspections, and related maintenance requirements.
• Maintains audit-ready maintenance records, including PM documentation, work orders, regulatory records, and contractor documentation.

FinancialandPerformance Management

• Manages the maintenance labor and MRO budget with a focus on cost control, stronger planning, and reduced emergencyspend.
• Supports capital planning, equipment upgrade recommendations, and ROI justification for performance improvement projects.
• Tracks and improves key maintenanceperformancemetrics, including uptime, equipment-related OEE loss, PM compliance, MTBF, MTTR, planned versus emergency work, spare parts accuracy and availability, maintenance cost per pound/case, safety incidents, and audit findings.

Partnership with Support Center Engineering

• Serves as the main site partnerand liaisonfor Support Center Engineering on capital projects, technical strategy, engineering standards, and enterprise initiatives.
• Partners with Support Center Engineering oncapitalproject planning, scoping, on-site execution, commissioningandstartupof new lines, and major equipment upgrades.
• Supports process engineering improvements that increase throughput, reduce waste, improve quality, and strengthen equipment performance.
• Supports theintegration ofnew technologies, automation, controls, and digital tools into theplant.
• Partners with enterprise technical resources to support complex technical problem solving, long-term asset strategy, infrastructure planning, equipment standards and specifications, and best practice sharing across plants.
• Ensures corporate initiatives are implemented effectively at the plant level andsharespractical site feedback to improve enterprise engineering solutions.
• Leads Maintenance Supervisors, Reliability/Engineering resources, and Maintenance Technicians.
• Builds a team culture focused on craftsmanship, urgency, accountability, and pride in equipment condition.
• Coachessupervisors and team members to plan work proactively instead of only reacting to problems.
• Develops bench strength, technical skill depth, and leadership capability within the maintenance organization.
• Performs otherduties asassigned byleadership.

COMPETENCIES:

To perform successfully in this role, theReliability and Maintenance Managermust be self-motivated, detail-oriented, and able to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment. Key competencies include:

• Strong maintenance, reliability, and engineering leadership skills.
• Ability to build a proactive, planned, and data-driven maintenance culture.
• Strong technical troubleshooting and root cause problem-solving skills.
• Ability to use data, metrics, and maintenance systems to improve equipment performance.
• Strong understanding of preventive maintenance, spare parts management, and asset reliability.
• Ability to partner effectively with Operations, Engineering, Quality, Safety, and other cross-functional teams.
• Strong communication, organization, planning, and follow-up skills.
• Ability to coach, develop, and build technical capability within maintenance teams.
• Strong commitment to food safety, GMPs, employee safety, compliance, and audit readiness.
• Ability to manage budgets, control costs, and support capital improvement recommendations.

EDUCATIONAND EXPERIENCE:

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineeringor a related technical field strongly preferred.
• Five to seven or more years of maintenance and/or engineering leadership experience in CPG or food manufacturing.
• Strong mechanical, electrical, andcontrolstroubleshooting knowledge.
• Experience leading maintenance teams in a fast-paced production environment.
• Experience with CMMS / digital maintenance systems.Redzoneexperiencepreferred.
• Knowledge of food safety, GMPs, and industrial refrigeration systems.
• Proven ability to buildand sustainreliability systems, not just fix equipment.

US Salary Pay Range

$130,000 - $145,000 USD

Disclaimer:This position description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the team member. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change, or new ones may be assigned at any time with or without notice.

EEO Statement:J&J Snack Foods Corp.is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discriminatory employment actions against, and treatment of, employees and applicants for employment based on actual or perceived Federal, State and local laws that prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, age, national origin, ethnicity, alienage, religion or creed, gender, gender identity, pregnancy, marital status, sexual orientation, citizenship, genetic disposition or characteristics, disability or veteran's status, sex offenses, prior record of arrest or conviction, genetic information or predisposing genetic characteristic, status as a victim or witness of domestic violence, sex offenses or stalking and unemployment status.