Plant Engineering Manager

Our Elk River plant runs 24/7, and every point of unplanned downtime, every scrambled part order, and every missed handoff between maintenance, engineering, and production scheduling directly erodes the margin, quality, and case-fill commitments our 2026 goals depend on. The Maintenance and Engineering Manager exists to own that connective tissue — leading the maintenance, parts planning, and manufacturing engineering functions as one integrated system, not three separate teams.

This role is the single point of accountability for plant reliability: keeping equipment running, keeping parts spend disciplined, and keeping the plant’s technical plans tightly synced with production scheduling and the broader operating goals — all without ever losing sight of the people and food safety standards that make that uptime worth having.

This is also the direct technical leader for Jonny Pops’ plant engineering team — setting their priorities, reviewing their work, and building the bench strength the plant needs as it scales.

The Maintenance and Engineering Manager leads the day-to-day operations of plant reliability at our Elk River facility, directing a team of five — a Maintenance Lead Supervisor, a Maintenance Parts & Scheduling Planner, and three Manufacturing Engineers. This role owns equipment uptime, drives cost reduction across parts and maintenance spend, and ensures technical planning is fully connected to production scheduling and plant-wide goals.

As the direct leader of the plant’s Manufacturing Engineering function, this role sets technical direction for the engineering team, reviews their project work, and works hand-in-hand with them on the floor — not just managing from a distance. Human safety and food safety are built into every area this role touches, not treated as a separate function — this is a hands-on, “dirt under your fingernails” leadership role for someone who wants to build a disciplined, well‑run plant reliability operation from the ground up.

Own equipment uptime as the primary reliability metric for the Elk River plant, driving root-cause resolution on recurring downtime events.

Direct the preventative maintenance program across all production lines, packaging equipment, refrigeration systems, and critical facility assets.

Establish and track reliability KPIs (uptime, MTBF, MTTR) and report performance trends to plant and operations leadership.

Champion continuous improvement in maintenance practices, adopting proven tools and technologies (e.g., CMMS, vision systems, HTST equipment standards) to reduce unplanned downtime.

Lead, coach, and develop a team of five direct reports: the Maintenance Lead Supervisor, the Maintenance Parts & Scheduling Planner, and three Manufacturing Engineers.

Set clear role expectations, accountability standards, and performance goals for each function, ensuring role clarity across shifts.

Foster a collaborative, safety-first team culture that gets “dirt under its fingernails” — staying close to the equipment, the line, and the people running it.

Build bench strength and succession depth within the maintenance and engineering team as the plant scales.

Directly lead Jonny Pops’ Manufacturing Engineering function at Elk River, setting the team’s technical priorities, project queue, and standards of work.

Work hand-in-hand with the three Manufacturing Engineers on the floor — reviewing designs, capital project plans, and troubleshooting approaches, and stepping into hands‑on problem‑solving alongside them when it counts.

Review and approve engineering project scope, timelines, and technical approach…