Maintenance Manager

About Umicore

Powering the cars of today and tomorrow. Reducing harmful emissions. Giving unique properties to high-end applications. Giving new life to used metals. As a global advanced materials and recycling group, we develop, produce, and recycle materials for a better life.

The Maintenance Manager is responsible for leading all maintenance, reliability, and utilities functions within a catalyst manufacturing facility. This role ensures safe, reliable, and cost-effective operation of production assets through preventive and predictive maintenance strategies, continuous improvement initiatives, and strong leadership of maintenance personnel and contractors. The Maintenance Manager partners closely with Operations, Engineering, EHS, and Quality teams to maximize equipment uptime, improve OEE, reduce maintenance costs, and support plant production goals while maintaining compliance with environmental and safety standards.

• Leadership & Team Management
  • Lead and develop maintenance supervisors, planners, technicians, and contractors.
  • Promote a strong safety-first culture and ensure compliance with all plant safety procedures and regulations.
  • Establish performance expectations, accountability, and employee development plans.
  • Drive workforce engagement, technical training, and continuous improvement culture.
• Maintenance & Reliability
  • Develop and execute preventive, predictive, and corrective maintenance programs.
  • Implement reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) strategies to improve asset performance.
  • Monitor and improve equipment uptime, MTBF, MTTR, and overall maintenance KPIs.
  • Manage troubleshooting and root cause failure analysis (RCFA) for recurring equipment failures.
  • Ensure effective planning and scheduling processes through CMMS utilization.
• Operations Support
  • Partner with production leadership to support throughput, quality, and operational targets.
  • Coordinate maintenance activities to minimize production downtime.
  • Support plant shutdowns, turnarounds, and capital project execution.
  • Provide technical guidance for process equipment and utility systems.
• Technical Oversight
  • Maintain and support critical plant systems including:
  • Reactors and chemical processing equipment
  • Mixers, dryers, mills, and powder handling systems
  • Pumps, piping systems, valves, and instrumentation
  • Dust collection and ventilation systems
  • PLCs, automation systems, and motor controls
  • Boilers, chillers, compressed air, and utility systems
• Continuous Improvement
  • Lead Lean Manufacturing and TPM initiatives within maintenance operations.
  • Identify and implement cost reduction and efficiency improvement projects.
  • Improve spare parts inventory management and critical parts strategies.
  • Utilize data analytics and maintenance metrics to drive decisions.
• Safety, Environmental & Compliance
  • Ensure compliance with OSHA, EPA, NFPA, and company safety standards.
  • Support Process Safety Management (PSM) requirements where applicable.
  • Lead maintenance safety audits, LOTO compliance, and contractor safety programs.
  • Participate in incident investigations and corrective action implementation.

• Education
  • Bachelor’s degree in engineering, Industrial Technology, Maintenance Management, or related field preferred.
  • Equivalent combination of education and industrial maintenance leadership experience considered.
• Experience
  • 7–10+ years of maintenance and reliability experience in chemical, catalyst, refinery, petrochemical, battery materials, or heavy industrial manufacturing environments.
  • 3–5+ years of leadership experience managing maintenance teams in a continuous process manufacturing facility.
  • Experience with CMMS systems such as SAP, Maximo, or similar platforms.
  • Strong understanding of predictive maintenance technologies and reliability methodologies.
• Preferred Skills
  • Knowledge of Lean Manufacturing, TPM, Six Sigma, and RCA methodologies.
  • Experience in hazardous chemical or powder-processing environments.
  • Strong knowledge of rotating equipment, automation, and utility systems.
  • Excellent leadership, communication, and organizational skills.
  • Ability to lead cross-functional teams in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.

We aim to lead the way. Not just for our customers, but for our employees too. That is why we strive to create a collaborative environment in which we can all succeed, and a culture through which we can all share ideas, develop our expertise and advance our careers. We engage in building an inclusive work culture that offers equal opportunities for all employees irrespective of their diverse backgrounds.

As you would expect from a world-leading organisation, we will also reward your contribution with a competitive salary and benefits. With all this and more, imagine what you could do?