Maintenance Manager

Austin Powder is seeking a hands-on, credible, and highly effective Maintenance Manager for its Midway, Tennessee manufacturing facility. The Midway site operates as a 24/7/365 chemical manufacturing complex supporting the production of anhydrous ammonia, nitric acid, ammonium nitrate solution, and ammonium nitrate emulsions.

The Maintenance Manager will report directly to the Plant Manager and will lead the site’s maintenance organization across mechanical, instrumentation and electrical, planning, reliability, and day-to-day maintenance execution. This is a critical leadership role in a high-hazard chemical manufacturing environment where equipment reliability, proactive maintenance planning, strong communication, and team credibility are essential to plant performance. The Maintenance Manager will play a central role in improving equipment reliability, reducing unplanned downtime, and supporting safe, consistent production across the facility. 

Austin Powder is seeking a strong people leader first and foremost: someone who can rebuild trust, improve morale, bring structure to the department, mentor supervisors, and create a more accountable, proactive maintenance culture. The successful candidate will be expected to assess the team, implement practical quick wins, establish meaningful KPIs, improve communication with Operations and Engineering, and move the department away from a reactive posture toward a more disciplined, planned, and performance-oriented maintenance function.

The current maintenance group is relatively small but important. The Maintenance Manager is expected to initially have four direct reports, including supervision across instrumentation and electrical, mechanical maintenance, and maintenance planning. The broader team includes approximately 14 indirect reports today, with expected growth to approximately 18 indirect reports as the department continues to build capability. There may also be a future opportunity to add another leadership layer, such as an Assistant Maintenance Manager, Maintenance Superintendent, or Maintenance Operations Manager, to support succession planning and reduce organizational gaps.

The ideal candidate will bring maintenance leadership experience in a chemical, process manufacturing, or similarly regulated industrial environment. Experience in ammonia, nitric acid, ammonium nitrate, emulsion, explosives, fertilizer, nitrogen chemicals, or other PSM-heavy process manufacturing environments would be especially attractive. Candidates from complex process manufacturing environments will be most aligned, given the plant’s equipment profile, safety expectations, and reliability requirements. 

EARLY AREAS OF FOCUS

During the first 90 days, the Maintenance Manager will be expected to:

• Assess the maintenance team, including supervisors, planners, mechanics, and instrumentation / electrical personnel.

• Build trust with the Plant Manager, maintenance team, operations leaders, engineering, safety, and other plant support functions.

• Evaluate morale, communication, accountability, technical capability, and gaps in the current maintenance organization.

• Identify and execute practical quick wins that show the team immediate progress and establish credibility.

• Determine which maintenance KPIs are most important for the facility and begin putting a simple, effective KPI structure in place.

• Improve communication between Maintenance and Operations, which has been identified as an important area of need.

• Begin shifting the department from a reactive maintenance posture toward a more proactive, planned, and goal-oriented function.

• Mentor newer or returning supervisors who may need support reestablishing themselves as effective leaders.

SUCCESS MEASURES

Success in 12 Months
The successful candidate will have:

• Earned the trust and confidence of the Plant Manager.

• Made a visible and meaningful contribution to the maintenance team.

• Improved department morale and helped reset the culture within Maintenance.

• Staffed key open roles, improved retention, and stabilized the team.

• Mentored two relatively new / returning supervisors and helped them become stronger leaders.

• Established better, more effective communication within Maintenance and between Maintenance and other departments, especially Operations and Engineering.

• Developed maintenance KPIs, begun tracking them consistently, and used them to drive accountability and improvement.

• Moved the department toward a more proactive maintenance model with clearer goals, better planning, and stronger ownership.

• Created a more professional, performance-oriented environment in which the team has clear expectations beyond simply completing assigned work.

Success in 24 Months
The successful candidate will have:

• Built a more mature, reliable, and proactive maintenance organization

• Established a stronger planning, scheduling, and KPI discipline across the function.

• Created better collaboration between Maintenance, Operations, Engineering, Safety, Purchasing, HR, and Accounting.

• Improved equipment reliability, responsiveness, and communication across the site.

• Developed leadership depth and succession coverage within the department.

• Positioned Maintenance as a trusted partner to Operations and a critical contributor to site performance.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Maintenance Leadership and Team Development

• Lead the site maintenance organization across mechanical, instrumentation and electrical, and planning functions.

• Manage and develop supervisors, planners, mechanics, and instrumentation / electrical team members.

• Build a strong, accountable, professional team culture rooted in trust, communication, integrity, and follow-through.

• Mentor newer or returning supervisors and help build leadership capability within the department.

• Support staffing, retention, succession planning, and talent development for the maintenance organization.

• Foster a team environment in which employees understand expectations, take ownership, and are challenged to grow.

Maintenance Strategy and Execution

• Develop and execute a more proactive maintenance strategy for the facility.

• Improve maintenance planning, scheduling, prioritization, and communication.

• Reduce reactive maintenance where possible by creating better systems, goals, and operating rhythms.

• Ensure maintenance resources are aligned with plant priorities, production needs, safety requirements, and reliability goals.

• Work closely with Operations and Engineering to address recurring issues, equipment needs, and plant performance opportunities.

• Support shutdowns, turnarounds, repairs, and improvement initiatives.

KPIs, Reliability, and Continuous Improvement

• Identify, develop, and implement practical maintenance KPIs appropriate for the facility.

• Track and report performance against KPIs and use data to drive better decision-making.

• Establish department goals that improve ownership, training, reliability, and performance.

• Use root cause analysis and practical continuous improvement tools to solve recurring problems.

• Identify quick wins and longer-term improvement opportunities across the department.

• Build a maintenance culture that is more proactive, measurable, and accountable.

Safety and Compliance

• Champion safe work practices and ensure maintenance activities are completed in accordance with company safety standards and regulatory requirements.

• Support safe execution of maintenance work in a high-hazard chemical manufacturing environment.

• Ensure maintenance personnel understand and follow applicable procedures, permits, lockout / tagout requirements, and related safety practices.

• Partner with Safety, Operations, and Engineering to ensure maintenance work supports safe, reliable plant operations.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Serve as a key partner to Operations, Engineering, Safety, HR, Purchasing, Accounting, and other plant and corporate support functions.

• Improve communication between Maintenance and Operations, including expectations, work prioritization, schedule alignment, and issue resolution.

• Work closely with Engineering on equipment needs, reliability issues, and improvement projects.

• Partner with Purchasing and Accounting on maintenance-related spend, parts, vendors, budgeting, and cost control.

• Communicate clearly, professionally, and consistently across departments.

Budgeting and Business Management

• Manage or support the maintenance budget, including labor, parts, vendors, equipment, and project-related spending.

• Bring financial awareness to maintenance planning, prioritization, and resource allocation.

• Use financial analysis and business judgment to support decisions about maintenance priorities, staffing, equipment needs, and improvement investments.

• Develop a strategic view of what the maintenance department needs, where it should go, and how to get there.

Austin Powder has been making explosives for over 190 years and takes great pride in improving the world we live in. In 1833, the Austin family created the company to produce black powder that would help break the rock, mine the minerals, and build the canals and railroads to develop the frontier. Initially, along the banks of the Cuyahoga River near Akron, Ohio, Austin Powder grew as the country grew.

Today, Austin Powder is a world leader in the industrial explosives industry with a passionate commitment towards safety, a relentless customer focus, a family culture work environment, and a demonstration of respect towards all. The Company manufactures, distributes, and applies industrial explosives for quarrying, surface mining, underground mining, oil and gas, seismic, and construction markets. They provide a broad range of highly engineered solutions, all of which are developed to advance the safety, reliability, and efficiency of breaking rock.

The Company’s success has been based on its core values and this has proven to be universally true around the globe as the company has expanded to be one of the leading providers of industrial explosives and blasting services in the world. 

At a Glance

• One of the oldest manufacturers of explosives in the world.

• A global industrial explosives and blasting services company with operations across the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

• A long history of developing safer, more reliable blasting products, manufacturing processes, and innovative technologies.

• A mission-driven organization committed to improving the world through the safe and responsible use of explosives.

Compelling Differentiators 

• Strong manufacturing culture with a focus on quality, reliability, safety, and innovation.

• Highly engineered solutions across products, equipment, service delivery, technical service, and blast optimization.

• Vertical integration and internal manufacturing capabilities that support control of critical feedstocks, energetic materials, and finished products.

• A differentiated culture rooted in safety, customer focus, the power of family, and respect.

• Long-term ownership philosophy and stable business profile, combined with ongoing growth and transformation.

Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree preferred; equivalent maintenance leadership experience in a relevant industrial or chemical manufacturing environment will be considered.

• Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Industrial Technology, or a related technical degree preferred.

• Chemical Engineering is attractive, but Mechanical Engineering is expected to be more common and highly relevant for this role.

• Significant maintenance leadership experience in a chemical, process manufacturing, or similarly regulated industrial environment.

• Experience leading maintenance teams that include mechanical and instrumentation / electrical capabilities.

• Experience with maintenance planning, supervision, budgeting, KPIs, reliability improvement, and cross-functional plant support.

Preferred Industry Background

Strongest target backgrounds include:

• Chemical manufacturing

• Ammonia / anhydrous ammonia production

• Nitric acid production

• Ammonium nitrate / AN solution

• Emulsion manufacturing

• Industrial explosives and blasting products

• Fertilizer / nitrogen chemical production

• Regulated, hazardous, or PSM-heavy process manufacturing

• Process manufacturing environments with complex equipment, safety requirements, and reliability needs

Technical and Functional

• Strong understanding of maintenance practices in a process manufacturing environment.

• Familiarity with mechanical, instrumentation, electrical, and planning functions.

• Ability to develop and manage maintenance KPIs.

• Experience moving a maintenance organization from reactive to proactive.

• Budgeting, financial analysis, and cost management experience preferred.

• Experience improving communication between Maintenance, Operations, Engineering, and support functions.

• Ability to operate effectively in a high-hazard chemical manufacturing environment.

Leadership

• Strong leadership skills and demonstrated ability to foster a healthy team culture.

• High integrity, credibility, and professionalism.

• Ability to build trust quickly, bring stability to, and establish credibility with, the team.

• Strong communicator who can improve department-level and cross-functional communication.

• Organized, strategic, and able to create structure without overcomplicating the work.

• Practical, hands-on, and comfortable in a plant-floor environment.

• Able to mentor supervisors and develop leadership depth within the department.

• Comfortable making decisions, setting goals, and holding people accountable.

• Highest standards of personal and professional integrity.

Relocation is required, and Austin Powder is prepared to support relocation for the right candidate.

Travel is expected to be limited, approximately 5%. 

Compensation will be market-based and competitive. The anticipated base salary is up to approximately $135,000, with a performance-based bonus target expected to be at least 10%. Final compensation will depend on experience, qualifications, and overall fit.