Senior Manager, Maintenance and Engineering

The Opportunity:

Avantor is looking for a Senior Manager, Maintenance & Engineering to be responsible for leading a large, multidisciplinary team of engineers and maintenance professionals in a complex manufacturing environment including Facility, Utility and Process Equipment Lifecyle management.

This role ensures the development and execution of engineering and maintenance strategies that enhance equipment performance, reduce downtime, and support continuous improvement. The position requires a strong focus on regulatory compliance, documentation, and cross-functional collaboration with production, quality, supply chain and finance departments.

This is a full-time position based out of our Paris, KY office.

How you will thrive and create an impact:

Leadership & Strategy

• Lead and manage a large team of process engineers, facility, utility and process maintenance technicians, and supervisors.
• Provide strategic direction for engineering and maintenance programs, including preventive (PM) and predictive (PdM) maintenance.
• Directly supervise and develop maintenance technicians, including performance appraisals, time approvals, and training.
• Assist in turnaround/outage preparation and provide weekly updates on long-duration jobs.

Engineering & Analysis

• Lead commission and qualification strategies for process as well as facility and utility equipment.
• Provide oversight of process engineering staffing including recruitment, resource planning, and succession planning.
• Provide process engineering work coordination and provide process engineering input to key functional groups and partners.
• Review and approve engineering related deviations and change controls.
• Review and approve engineering standard operating procedures (SOPs).
• Participate appropriately in site planning processes (capital and resource), representing the interests of the team but with a view to the overall site picture.
• Ensure technical review and approval for documents, including investigations, change controls, regulatory submissions, expert opinions, validations, annual product reviews, manufacturing tickets, procedures, process flow documents, personnel qualification strategies, control strategies, technical studies, etc.
• Interact with regulators, customers, or other outside stakeholders on business issues or in support of internal and external agency audits.
• Oversee failure analysis of products, components, and systems to improve reliability and reduce costs.
• Discover, evaluate, and recommend upgrades to mechanical, electrical, and control systems.
• Ensure appropriate statistical methods are used in reliability assessments.
• Participate in Root Cause Analysis (RCA) and incident investigations.
• Regulatory Compliance & Documentation.
• Ensure adherence to cGMP, DEA, DOT, EPA, FDA, ISO, OSHA, and all federal/local regulations.
• Experience in Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) and/or Level of Protection Analysis (LOPA).
• Write, review, and revise engineering and maintenance documentation to ensure compliance and streamline processes.
• Organize and maintain a documentation library to support audit readiness and troubleshooting.
• Write and revise Quality Work Instructions (QWIs) and forms to maintain accuracy and compliance.

Operations & Continuous Improvement

• Coordinate and supervise Engineering and maintenance work across facility, laboratory, production, and utility systems.
• Identify constraints and trends impacting schedules and recommend corrective actions.
• Maintain and report on engineering and maintenance metrics, including technician KPIs.
• Support internal and external audits and manage contracted maintenance activities.
• Define scope of work for contract services and produce cost estimates.
• Complete emergency repairs efficiently to minimize downtime.
• Maintain a safe, clean, and lean working environment.
• Administrative & Cross-Functional Support
• Attend and contribute to meetings (safety, planning, reliability, contractor management, production).
• Review and validate clarity of work requests and field-verify job locations.
• Provide general administrative support and perform other duties as assigned by senior leadership.

Supervisory Responsibilities

• Directly supervises Engineers and…