Maintenance Superintendent - Poultry

We are partnering with a leading protein manufacturer to identify an experienced Maintenance Superintendent to provide hands-on leadership across the maintenance function within a high-volume manufacturing facility.

This is a key leadership position responsible for ensuring the reliability, availability, and performance of critical production equipment and facility infrastructure. The successful candidate will lead maintenance teams, drive preventative and predictive maintenance programs, reduce unplanned downtime, and partner closely with Production, Engineering, FSQA, and Operations to maximize plant performance.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the day-to-day maintenance operation across the manufacturing facility, ensuring equipment and infrastructure are safe, reliable, and available for production.
• Supervise and develop Maintenance Supervisors, Technicians, and skilled trades personnel.
• Establish clear maintenance priorities based on production requirements, equipment criticality, safety, and business objectives.
• Develop, implement, and continuously improve preventative and predictive maintenance programs.
• Drive reductions in unplanned downtime, equipment failures, maintenance costs, and production interruptions.
• Partner closely with Production and Operations leadership to identify recurring equipment issues and develop sustainable corrective actions.
• Oversee troubleshooting, repair, installation, and maintenance of processing, packaging, refrigeration, electrical, mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, and utility systems.
• Monitor maintenance KPIs including downtime, PM compliance, MTBF, MTTR, work order completion, labor utilization, and maintenance spend.
• Lead root-cause analysis and reliability improvement initiatives for critical equipment and recurring failures.
• Ensure maintenance activities comply with OSHA, USDA, food safety, environmental, and company safety requirements.
• Maintain high standards of housekeeping, safety, sanitation, and GMP within maintenance areas and throughout the facility.
• Manage maintenance labor, parts, tools, contractors, and operating expenses within established budgets.
• Support the planning and execution of CAPEX projects, equipment installations, facility upgrades, and plant expansions.
• Work closely with Engineering on equipment specifications, commissioning, automation, controls, and reliability improvements.
• Coordinate external contractors and service providers while ensuring work is completed safely, efficiently, and to specification.
• Ensure accurate maintenance records, work orders, equipment histories, and spare-parts inventories are maintained.
• Identify opportunities to improve asset reliability, energy efficiency, equipment life, and overall plant productivity.
• Develop and implement training programs to improve the technical capability of the maintenance team.
• Promote a culture of safety, accountability, preventative maintenance, continuous improvement, and operational excellence.

Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate will be an experienced maintenance leader with a strong background within protein, meat, poultry, RTE, food processing, or another high-volume manufacturing environment.

You will ideally bring:

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Maintenance Management, Industrial Technology, or a related discipline is preferred; equivalent technical experience will be considered.
• 7+ years of progressive maintenance experience, with significant leadership responsibility within a manufacturing environment.
• Proven experience leading maintenance teams in a high-volume processing or manufacturing facility.
• Strong mechanical and electrical troubleshooting capabilities, with experience across complex production equipment and facility systems.
• Experience with preventative/predictive maintenance, reliability engineering, CMMS, root-cause analysis, and continuous improvement.
• Strong knowledge of industrial electrical systems, PLCs/controls, hydraulics, pneumatics, refrigeration, conveyors, pumps, motors, and processing/packaging equipment.
• Experience working within a USDA-regulated food or protein manufacturing environment is highly advantageous.
• Strong understanding of OSHA, GMP, food safety, and environmental requirements.
• Demonstrated success reducing downtime and improving equipment reliability, PM compliance, MTBF, and production uptime.
• Experience managing maintenance budgets, spare parts, contractors, and external service providers.
• Proven ability to coach, develop, and motivate maintenance technicians and frontline leaders.
• Strong analytical, organizational, communication, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, 24/7 manufacturing environment, including flexibility to support off-shift operations when required.