Maintenance Manager - Pet Food

Maintenance Manager – Pet Food

At Pilgrim’s, Safety Is A Condition, which means the safety of our team members comes first - always.

Directs and manages a team of maintenance personnel in a pet food facility, including a maintenance supervisor, parts room attendant and wastewater supervisor as well as mechanics, rendering and steam generation operation. Leads and supervises capital expenditures, projects and facility expansions while maintaining production efficiencies within budgetary parameters. Drives continuous improvement within the maintenance organization.

• Successfully executes all site projects using expertise to manage projects and/or programs within desired budget, timelines, and quality parameters.
• Communicates and promotes the business strategy and clarifies the actions needed to implement it within the area of responsibility; motivates and ensures the team’s commitment to achieving the organization's business goals.
• Understands and is knowledgeable of all local, state, and federal laws and regulations, including OSHA, FSIS, and EPA to ensure environmental, health, and safety processes are executed and in compliance.
• Acts as the business unit expert to analyze data trends to help guide decision‑making at a senior level.
• Estimates the labor required to perform maintenance tasks, define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions.
• Acts as the business unit’s expert to interpret an extensive variety of technical instructions in mathematical, diagram, written and/or verbal form and work with several abstract and concrete variables.
• Collaborates with senior management, contractors, vendors, and suppliers to support maintenance and engineering projects.
• Propose, design and introduce new equipment needed to automate processes within the facility to maximize production and labor efficiencies while improving product quality.

• Plans and prioritizes work to meet commitments aligned with organizational and production goals.
• Optimizes work processes: knows the most effective and efficient processes to get things done, focusing on continuous improvement for the operation.
• Strategic mindset: sees ahead to future possibilities and translates them into breakthrough strategies.
• Financial acumen: interprets and applies key financial indicators to make better business decisions.
• Manages complexity: makes sense of complex, high‑quantity, and sometimes contradictory information to effectively solve problems.

• Bachelor's degree in mechanical or electrical engineering preferred or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Minimum of 5 to 10 years of maintenance and engineering experience or similar position in a fresh protein harvest facility.
• Wide and deep management experience providing expert competence over 5 years with demonstrated leadership and people development skills.
• Experience interpreting strategy and policy in order to set and deliver objectives within medium to long time frames.
• Strong electrical background (PLC, instrumentation, industrial electrical experience) preferred.
• Demonstrated history of work primarily disciplined in the rendering and animal food sector.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to move around the facility. The employee must regularly lift and/or move up to 10 pounds, frequently lift and/or move up to 25 pounds, and occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, color vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly exposed to hot, cold and/or humid conditions. The employee frequently works near moving mechanical parts. The employee is occasionally exposed to fumes or airborne particles, risk of electrical shock, and vibration may exist. The noise level in the work environment is usually loud requiring hearing protection in all protection areas.

The hours and days of work are established by departmental needs and at the discretion of management.