Maintenance Superintendent (Protein)

The Maintenance Superintendent is responsible for leading all maintenance operations within a high-volume pork processing facility, including slaughter, fabrication, and packaging. This role ensures maximum equipment reliability, plant uptime, and compliance with USDA, food safety, and workplace safety standards.

A critical component of this role is overseeing the maintenance and performance of Cryovac packaging systems and associated automation, ensuring optimal efficiency and minimal downtime.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and manage all plant maintenance activities across slaughter, cut floor, and packaging departments
• Supervise and develop a team of maintenance supervisors, technicians, and contractors
• Drive preventive and predictive maintenance programs to reduce downtime and extend equipment life
• Oversee troubleshooting and repair of complex mechanical, electrical, pneumatic, and hydraulic systems
• Ensure optimal performance and uptime of Cryovac equipment, including vacuum packaging, shrink tunnels, sealing systems, and related automation
• Coordinate closely with production to support throughput targets and minimize disruptions
• Manage maintenance budgets, spare parts inventory, and capital projects
• Implement and sustain CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management System) best practices
• Ensure compliance with USDA, OSHA, and food safety (HACCP) regulations
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives (Lean, TPM, root cause analysis)
• Support installation, commissioning, and optimization of new equipment and technologies

Required Qualifications

• 7-10+ years of maintenance leadership experience in food processing, meatpacking, or a similar industrial environment
• Proven experience in pork or protein processing, ideally including slaughter operations
• Strong hands-on experience with Cryovac packaging systems (or equivalent vacuum packaging technologies)
• Demonstrated leadership of maintenance teams in a high-speed, 24/7 production environment
• Strong knowledge of mechanical systems, industrial electricity, PLCs, and automation
• Experience with preventive/predictive maintenance systems and CMMS platforms
• Working knowledge of USDA, OSHA, and HACCP requirements

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Maintenance Management, or related field (or equivalent experience)
• Experience in large-scale pork plants (e.g., 5,000+ head/day operations)
• Familiarity with rendering systems, refrigeration (ammonia), and utilities
• Lean Manufacturing / Six Sigma experience
• Bilingual (English/Spanish) is a plus

Key Competencies

• Strong leadership and team development
• Problem-solving and root cause analysis
• Ability to perform under pressure in a fast-paced production environment
• Cross-functional collaboration with operations, QA, and engineering
• Results-driven with a focus on uptime, efficiency, and safety

Working Conditions

• Industrial environment (slaughter, processing, and cold storage areas)
• Exposure to noise, temperature variations, and wet conditions
• On-call availability for plant emergencies