About the Company
The Senior Manager of Technical Systems & Facilities is a newly created position accountable for the reliability, performance, and continuous improvement of all technical infrastructure at the facility. This role leads two historically separate technical functions—Maintenance and Water Technology—with a focus on integrating them into a cohesive, aligned technical organization. A major focus of this position is developing a high‑performing, technically capable team, paired with a deliberate transition from reactive maintenance to predictive and preventive support. The Senior Manager leads technical systems performance and drives OEE improvement through strong leadership, labor and resource optimization, data‑driven decision‑making, and high‑quality processes that support sustainable site growth.
About the Role
This role is responsible for leading the technical systems performance and driving OEE improvement through various initiatives.
Responsibilities
Team Development & Capability
- Build a unified technical organization with collaboration and shared ownership between Maintenance and Water Technology teams.
- Coach and develop supervisors, leads and technicians, strengthening leadership, technical depth, and problem-solving capability.
- Promote cross-training, knowledge sharing, and career development to reduce single points of failure and build future leaders.
- Define clear roles, responsibilities, and expectations.
- Lead change initiatives, ensuring successful adoption of new processes, tools, and standards.
- Drive a high‑trust, high‑performance culture within the technical organization, ensuring accountability, clear communication, and strong alignment to site priorities.
- Foster effective collaboration with Operations, QA, and Production leadership to strengthen cross-functional execution, shared problem‑solving, and unified support for production goals.
Maintenance, Reliability & OEE Performance
- Lead the transition from reactive to preventive and predictive maintenance, improving uptime and asset utilization.
- Oversee reliability and performance of all critical production and infrastructure assets, including material handling equipment, support systems, forklifts, and all site utilities.
- Own the reliability and performance of utilities beyond water, including compressed air systems, power distribution, HVAC/temperature control, CO₂ delivery, emergency generators, and wastewater systems.
- Oversee all building and utilities infrastructure systems—including HVAC and temperature control, compressed air, electrical distribution, CO₂ delivery, emergency power systems, wastewater, life safety systems, fire suppression, building envelope, and other facility-related assets.
- Track KPIs and equipment performance data, using insights to drive reliability, OEE, and continuous improvement.
- Partner with Operations to align maintenance strategies with production needs and OEE improvement.
- Ensure technical systems are safe, compliant, and capable of meeting production and quality requirements.
Process & Project Excellence
- Standardize work processes, PM programs, documentation, and spare parts management.
- Lead root cause analysis and corrective actions for equipment failures.
- Identify and implement opportunities for automation, system optimization, and efficiency improvements.
- Provide technical input and leadership for capital equipment purchases, upgrades, and facility projects, ensuring reliability, maintainability, and OEE alignment.
- Ensure reliability-by-design for utilities infrastructure—compressed air, HVAC, electrical distribution, emergency power, CO₂ delivery, and wastewater—within CapEx and facility upgrades.
Safety, Compliance & Risk Management
- Champion a strong safety culture within the technical organization.
- Ensure compliance with OSHA, environmental, water, and other applicable regulatory requirements.
- Identify and mitigate technical and infrastructure risks that could impact safety, quality, or production.
- Maintain audit readiness for facilities and technical systems.
Budget & Financial Accountability
- Oversee the technical systems and facilities sections of the budget, including labor, R&M expenses, and site technical-related CapEx planning.
- Track and manage spending to ensure alignment with site priorities and financial objectives.
- Support the GM with capital planning by providing accurate cost estimates and technical input on maintenance and equipment projects.
- Identify opportunities to optimize costs while maintaining reliability, safety, and compliance standards.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Facilities Management, or a related technical field preferred (or equivalent experience).
- 8+ years of experience in maintenance, facilities, utilities, or technical operations in manufacturing, food, or controlled-environment agriculture.
- Demonstrated experience building technical capability and transitioning organizations from reactive to preventive/predictive maintenance.
- Strong background in reliability, PM systems, and root cause analysis.
- Experience leading multi-discipline technical teams without formal middle management layers.
- Strong working knowledge of mechanical, electrical, automation, utilities, and water systems.
- Experience supporting capital equipment installation and commissioning is strongly preferred.
Required Skills
- Strong leadership and team development skills.
- Ability to drive change and foster a high-performance culture.
- Expertise in maintenance strategies and reliability engineering.
- Proficient in data analysis and performance tracking.
