The role:
provide strategic leadership for the comprehensive transformation of the maintenance function across assigned sites, evolving the organization from a reactive, execution-focused model into a mature, reliable, digital, and value-driven maintenance and asset management system.
the role is accountable for defining, deploying, governing, and sustaining the maintenance and reliability strategy to ensure asset availability, reliability, safety, regulatory compliance, and optimized total cost of ownership, fully aligned with the company’s operational, financial, and sustainability objectives.
acts as a change leader for maintenance organizations, enabling technical and management capabilities, developing talent, standardizing processes, and positioning maintenance as a strategic business partner that delivers sustainable short-, mid-, and long-term results.
what you’ll do:
* define, lead, and govern the maintenance transformation roadmap, including vision, maturity stages, strategic priorities, and execution milestones.
* periodically assess maintenance and reliability maturity through structured diagnostics to identify gaps, risks, and improvement opportunities across all system pillars.
* prioritize initiatives, resources, and investments based on asset criticality, operational risk, and business value.
* ensure operational continuity through effective governance of critical assets, reducing unplanned failures and stabilizing key equipment performance.
* design and continuously evolve the maintenance organizational structure, clearly defining roles and accountabilities across execution, planning, reliability, automation, and facilities.
* develop technical and leadership capabilities across the organization, ensuring succession for critical roles and long-term sustainability of the maintenance model.
* define and govern the smart internalization model, strategically balancing in-house activities and outsourcing to optimize cost, quality, response time, and technical expertise.
* integrate maintenance management for primary assets, secondary assets, and facilities under a standardized and unified maintenance system.
* govern maintenance planning, scheduling, and execution discipline, reducing reactive work and ensuring compliance with approved plans.
* lead maintenance digitalization and systematization efforts, ensuring effective cmms implementation, adoption, data governance, and reporting standardization.
* define, monitor, and analyze key performance indicators to support data-driven decision-making at operational and executive levels.
* act as the technical and strategic reference for maintenance, aligning operations, ehs, engineering, finance, corporate, and strategic suppliers under a common reliability and asset management vision.
* institutionalize the maintenance system by governing technical knowledge, best practice transfer, lifecycle decision-making, and sustainable integration with operations.
what success looks like:
* a mature, disciplined, and standardized maintenance system operating consistently across sites.
* significant reduction in reactive maintenance and unplanned downtime of critical assets.
* measurable improvements in asset availability, reliability, and total lifecycle cost.
* effective adoption of cmms and digital tools with reliable data, actionable insights, and transparent performance reporting.
* strong maintenance leadership pipeline with developed technical and managerial capabilities.
* maintenance recognized as a strategic value generator and trusted business partner.
core competencies:
* strategic leadership and organizational transformation
* asset management and maintenance reliability governance
* change management and cultural transformation
* data-driven decision-making and performance management
* cross-functional influence and stakeholder alignment
* financial acumen and lifecycle cost optimization
* talent development and leadership capability building
what you’ll bring:
* 12–15 years of progressive experience in industrial maintenance and/or reliability engineering, preferably in continuous-process, heavy manufacturing, mining, metals, chemical, energy, or other high-risk industries.
* 5–8 years in senior leadership roles such as maintenance manager, reliability manager, maintenance transformation leader, or regional / multisite maintenance leader.
* proven experience leading maintenance transformation initiatives, evolving organizations from reactive to preventive and predictive models.
* demonstrated success implementing and standardizing cmms/eam systems at plant or multisite level, including process redesign, data governance, and change management.
* strong track record managing multidisciplinary teams, developing managers, engineers, supervisors, and technical talent.
education:
required:
* bachelor’s degree in mechanical, electromechanical, electrical, mechatronics, industrial engineering, or related field.
* advanced english proficiency (mandatory).
preferred / complementary:
* graduate degree, diploma, or specialization in one or more of the following areas:
o maintenance and reliability management
o reliability engineering (rcm, rca, fmea/fmeca, ram)
o asset management (iso 55000 / pas 55 aligned)
o project management (pmi, agile, or equivalent)
o organizational change management
o operational excellence / continuous improvement
o predictive maintenance and condition monitoring
o maintenance digitalization / cmms / information systems
technical knowledge & skills:
* advanced knowledge of preventive, predictive, and planned corrective maintenance strategies and governance.
* strong command of reliability engineering methodologies: rcm, rca, fmea/fmeca, criticality analysis, and ram approaches.
* expertise in condition-based maintenance technologies, including vibration analysis, oil analysis and precision lubrication, thermography, ultrasound, and electrical monitoring.
* ability to integrate process variables (pressure, flow, temperature, performance) into advanced diagnostics and asset health assessment.
* deep understanding of cmms / eam systems, including data models, work order standardization, technical catalogs, kpis, and reporting (sap pm, ibm maximo, infor, or similar).
* solid experience in maintenance planning, scheduling, backlog management, shutdowns, and resource optimization.
* technical governance-level knowledge of rotating and static equipment, industrial electrical systems, and utilities (compressed air, hvac, water, cooling towers, steam, energy).
additional requirements:
* experience in multisite and/or regional maintenance leadership environments.
* exposure to industry 4.0 and digitalization initiatives, including online condition monitoring, data architectures, and performance dashboards (e.g., power bi).
* strong opex and capex budget management, including lifecycle cost analysis (lcc) and risk-based investment prioritization.
* experience leading major maintenance events such as shutdowns, turnarounds, and critical asset renewals.
* proven experience in highly regulated environments, including audits and compliance with stps, noms, nfpa, fm global, iso 45001, and iso 14001.
* effective contractor and oem management, ensuring safety, technical compliance, quality, and contractual performance.