Senior Critical Infrastructure Lead: Reliability & Continuity

R.W. Mercer Co.; Milwaukee (WI); Hybrid; USD 130,000 - 175,000; Full time

Job summary

R.W. Mercer Co. is seeking a highly experienced Critical Infrastructure Manager to oversee performance, reliability, and strategic management of mission-critical facilities and systems.

This full-time contract role demands leadership across engineering, facilities, security, and operations to ensure safe, available, and resilient infrastructure. The successful candidate will drive risk reduction, capacity planning, disaster recovery, and continuous improvement while coordinating internal teams

Qualifications

• 5+ years of progressive experience managing critical infrastructure, mission-critical facilities, data centers, industrial operations, utilities, or similar environments.
• Bachelor's degree in engineering or related field.
• Experience overseeing infrastructure maintenance, reliability, operational readiness, and risk management.
• Strong leadership and team management skills.
• Ability to communicate clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Familiarity with business continuity planning, disaster recovery, and operational risk management.
• Experience with infrastructure monitoring, maintenance management, asset tracking, or facilities management systems is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead day-to-day management of mission-critical infrastructure operations.
• Develop strategies to improve infrastructure availability, reliability, resilience, and efficiency.
• Manage preventive and corrective maintenance programs for critical equipment and systems.
• Oversee capacity planning and modernization initiatives.
• Coordinate maintenance activities with internal teams and external vendors.
• Establish procedures, standards, escalation protocols, and performance expectations.
• Monitor infrastructure performance and respond to incidents.
• Lead incident investigations and corrective actions.
• Develop and maintain business continuity and disaster recovery plans.
• Identify operational risks and mitigate disruptions.
• Manage relationships with contractors and suppliers.
• Support infrastructure budgets and capital projects.
• Track KPIs and report on availability and risks.
• Ensure compliance with safety and regulatory requirements.
• Maintain documentation of assets and procedures.
• Mentor infrastructure personnel and promote safety culture.
• Collaborate with engineering, facilities, security, and leadership.

Skills

Leadership

Team management

Analytical skills

Problem solving

Communication

Decision making

Prioritization

Business continuity

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering or related field

Tools

Facilities management systems

Job description

R.W. Mercer Co. is seeking a highly experienced Critical Infrastructure Manager to oversee performance, reliability, and strategic management of mission-critical facilities and systems.

This full-time contract role demands leadership across engineering, facilities, security, and operations to ensure safe, available, and resilient infrastructure. The successful candidate will drive risk reduction, capacity planning, disaster recovery, and continuous improvement while coordinating internal teams