Director of Maintenance & Engineering

Northern U.S. | Large, Capital-Intensive Manufacturing Operation

An established, multi-site manufacturer with a century-long operating legacy is seeking a hands-on leader to unify Maintenance and Engineering under one clear direction. This is not a desk-only role. The right person is comfortable in steel-toe boots, guiding teams on the floor, and then stepping into strategy conversations about reliability, investment, and long-term asset health.

You will inherit capable supervisors and experienced tradespeople. The mandate is alignment, accountability, and fewer surprises.

What You’ll Own

• Lead maintenance and engineering teams across a 24/7 operation
• Improve uptime through preventive, predictive, and reliability-based practices
• Coordinate outages, repairs, and priorities with Operations leadership
• Drive capital projects from scope and ROI justification through startup
• Manage contractors, vendors, budgets, and long-term asset planning
• Strengthen safety culture and labor relationships
• Serve as the technical voice in plant-wide decision making

What Makes This Role Interesting

• Significant equipment and infrastructure footprint with ongoing investment
• Leadership influence across operations, finance, and safety
• Blend of tactical problem solving and strategic planning
• Opportunity to leave a visible reliability legacy rather than just maintain the status quo

Background That Translates Well

• 10+ years in maintenance and/or engineering leadership in heavy manufacturing
• Experience supporting continuous operations and planned outages
• Capital project leadership and budget ownership
• Mechanical, electrical, and process systems familiarity
• Comfort leading experienced hourly teams

Paper, pulp, metals, chemicals, power generation, or similarly asset-intensive environments tend to adapt quickly here. This is best suited for a leader who believes reliability is built daily, not during crises, and who enjoys turning “we’ve always done it this way” into measurable improvement.