DIRECTOR MAINTENANCE & ENGINEERING

Job Summary

The Director of Engineering and Maintenance is responsible for providing the technical expertise and technical leadership to deliver results for the Everett, WA plant and the Engineering function across the company. The leader is responsible for and provides direction and accountability for the leaders and functions of maintenance, projects (capital and expense), MRO, facilities, and utilities functions. This person will provide critical leadership for major capital projects and maintenance excellence and ensure plant safety, operations, quality, and support members who have solutions needed to drive safety, quality, and performance plans. Key indicators include safety incidents, quality non-conformance, yield, and machine uptime, as well as labor cost/lb. and maintenance cost/lb.

Key Responsibilities

• Development of site strategic plan for technical staffing, capital investment, general competencies, and system/technology improvements.
• Coaching, mentoring, and development of plant technical resources.
• Develop and maintain cross-functional relationships with staff peers to meet the needs of the business.
• Accountability for management of external technical relationships with A/E firms, contractors, suppliers, and equipment vendors.
• Provide technical leadership and site compliance with USDA, FDA, EPA and OSHA requirements in concert with designated functional experts.
• Provide input and leadership to achieve optimization of assets as well as lead safety initiatives in technical areas.
• Champion or support design, improvements, and systems to support safety excellence.
• Develop and hold appropriate team members accountable for budgets for Maintenance, Support, ancillary functions, and capital projects to meet the needs of the business (operational, strategic, and business).
• Provide overviews and updates to the Leadership team on projects and maintenance excellence growth.
• Manage performance of all team members, model and support Kettle’s core values and safety culture, build collaborative teams, develop employees, and drive focus on quality and continuous improvement.

Maintenance & Reliability

• Coach and develop Maintenance and Facilities Manager to reduce and eliminate downtime and losses.
• Provide strategy and support for maintenance programs, development of tools and resources, personnel selection, training, and development.
• Ensure the proper selection, training, development, and motivation of leaders to maximize current and future performance.
• Lead and support plant continuous improvement initiatives.
• Contribute as an integral part of a senior plant leadership team to drive the plant strategy and culture.
• Provide engineering professional and technical support for Kettle Cuisine.
• Responsible for engineering, maintenance, facilities, grounds, continuous improvement support and capital project management.
• Provide technical leadership and guidance to the Kettle Cuisine Leadership team.
• Facilitate teams and projects in their mission to drive equipment reliability.
• Oversee preparation of equipment specifications, layouts, and direct the installation of capital equipment.
• Develop and manage the Capital Expenditure Plan for Kettle Cuisine. Interface with Department Managers to drive improvements in the operation of key production equipment.
• Identify and execute continuous improvement projects that deliver significant annual savings in direct labor, energy, and material waste.