Maintenance & Facilities Manager

About the Role:

Dr. Squatch is scaling one of the largest in-house cold-process soap and deodorant manufacturing operations in the country. As we continue to grow our Brea manufacturing plant, we are looking for a high-caliber Maintenance & Facilities Manager who can lead equipment reliability, facilities readiness, maintenance execution, and continuous improvement across a fast-paced consumer products manufacturing environment.

This role is responsible for leading the maintenance and facilities function for a plant that manufactures deodorant and cold-process soap. The ideal candidate is a hands-on, resilient, systems-driven leader who can operate with urgency, build structure where needed, develop mechanics, improve uptime, and help create a world-class manufacturing environment.

This is not a role for someone who simply reacts to breakdowns. We are looking for a leader who can build a reliability culture, strengthen preventive maintenance systems, own UpKeep CMMS execution, improve spare parts discipline, and partner closely with Production, Engineering, Quality, and Safety to deliver strong operational performance.

This is a full-time role with company benefits based in Brea, CA. This role reports to the Plant Director.

The anticipated base compensation range for this role will be $120,000 to $145,000. Compensation will be commensurate with the candidate's experience and local market rates.

What You'll Do:

• Maintenance Leadership & Equipment Reliability
  • Lead the day-to-day maintenance function across production equipment, utilities, facilities, and supporting infrastructure.
  • Own equipment reliability strategy for deodorant and cold-process soap manufacturing operations.
  • Drive uptime, reduce unplanned downtime, and improve maintenance response time through strong planning, root cause analysis, and disciplined execution.
  • Establish, maintain, and continuously improve preventive maintenance and predictive maintenance programs.
  • Ensure maintenance work is completed safely, correctly, and with proper documentation.
  • Lead troubleshooting efforts for mechanical, electrical, pneumatic, hydraulic, utility, and facility-related issues.
  • Partner with Production leadership to prioritize work that supports schedule attainment, line efficiency, safety, and product quality.
  • Build a culture where breakdowns are investigated, root causes are addressed, and repeat failures are eliminated.
• UpKeep CMMS Ownership
  • Serve as the site owner for UpKeep CMMS.
  • Ensure all equipment assets, PMs, work orders, spare parts, and maintenance history are accurately maintained in UpKeep.
  • Use UpKeep to improve maintenance planning, scheduling, accountability, and reporting.
  • Develop and track KPIs such as PM completion, work order closure rate, downtime trends, mean time to repair, repeat failures, spare parts usage, and labor allocation.
  • Train mechanics and maintenance team members on proper CMMS usage and documentation expectations.
  • Use data from UpKeep to identify reliability gaps, recurring equipment issues, and continuous improvement opportunities.
  • Create a disciplined work order process that improves visibility, prioritization, follow-through, and communication with production stakeholders.
• Facilities, Utilities & Building Systems
  • Oversee the maintenance and reliability of plant facilities, building systems, utilities, and supporting infrastructure.
  • Ensure the site remains safe, clean, functional, audit-ready, and production-ready.
  • Manage facility-related projects, repairs, contractors, and service providers.
  • Support facility needs related to production expansion, equipment installation, layout changes, utilities, compressed air, HVAC, electrical, plumbing, docks, lighting, and general building upkeep.
  • Ensure facilities work is completed in compliance with applicable regulatory, safety, environmental, and building requirements.
  • Act as a key advisor on facility improvements, equipment upgrades, new installations, and operational readiness.
• Safety, Compliance & Risk Reduction
  • Lead maintenance and facilities work with a safety-first mindset.
  • Ensure maintenance activities comply with OSHA, GMP, FDA, SQF, HACCP, environmental, and site safety requirements as applicable.
  • Partner with EH&S, Quality, and Operations to ensure equipment and facility conditions support a safe and compliant manufacturing environment.
  • Ensure LOTO, hot work, confined space, contractor safety, machine guarding, electrical safety, and other critical safety programs are followed.
  • Identify and correct unsafe equipment conditions, facility hazards, and maintenance-related risks.
  • Support incident investigations, corrective actions, and sustainable risk-reduction initiatives.
  • Maintain high housekeeping standards within maintenance areas, shops, storage rooms, and utility spaces.
• Maintenance Planning, Budgeting & Storeroom Management
  • Estimate, schedule, and control maintenance labor, materials, contractor work, and project expenses.
  • Own spare parts strategy, inventory accuracy, critical spares, and storeroom organization.
  • Ensure parts are available for critical equipment while managing cost, turns, obsolete inventory, and purchasing discipline.
  • Partner with Plant Direct to manage vendors, service contracts, repair costs, and capital needs.
  • Support capital planning for equipment replacement, facility upgrades, reliability improvements, and capacity expansion.
  • Coordinate planned shutdowns, maintenance windows, and annual maintenance activities with minimal disruption to production.
• Team Leadership & Development
  • Lead, coach, and develop maintenance technicians, mechanics, leads, and support personnel.
  • Set clear expectations for safety, quality of work, urgency, communication, documentation, and ownership.
  • Build a high-accountability maintenance culture rooted in professionalism, pride, and follow-through.
  • Assess skill gaps and create training plans for mechanical, electrical, troubleshooting, fabrication, PM execution, CMMS usage, and safety compliance.
  • Develop team capability so the department becomes less reactive and more proactive over time.
  • Lead by example on the floor with humility, urgency, composure, and high standards.
  • Create strong relationships with Production, Quality, Engineering, Warehouse, and Safety teams.
• Continuous Improvement & Operational Excellence
  • Maintain an active continuous improvement roadmap for maintenance and facilities.
  • Use data, downtime analysis, operator feedback, and maintenance history to prioritize improvement work.
  • Support lean manufacturing, 5S, standard work, reliability-centered maintenance, and root cause problem solving.
  • Improve equipment standards, PM quality, changeover support, maintenance response processes, and escalation routines.
  • Assist with equipment installations, commissioning, startup support, and turnover documentation.
  • Help build maintenance systems that can scale as the plant grows.

About You:

Required Qualifications

• High school diploma or equivalent required.
• Minimum of 3 years of maintenance leadership experience in a manufacturing environment.
• Experience leading maintenance technicians, mechanics, contractors, or facilities support teams.
• Strong working knowledge of mechanical, electrical, pneumatic, hydraulic, and utility systems.
• Ability to read and interpret mechanical drawings, electrical schematics, hydraulic diagrams, pneumatic diagrams, equipment manuals, and technical documentation.
• Experience managing preventive maintenance programs and maintenance work order systems.
• Experience using a CMMS, preferably UpKeep.
• Strong troubleshooting, prioritization, and problem-solving skills.
• Experience managing maintenance budgets, contractor work, repair costs, and spare parts.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to influence across departments.
• Ability to operate with urgency in a fast-paced, high-growth manufacturing environment.
• Strong commitment to safety, GMPs, housekeeping, and regulatory compliance.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree, technical degree, trade certification, or equivalent experience in engineering, maintenance, facilities, industrial technology, or a related field.
• Experience in consumer products, personal care, food, beverage, cosmetics, or regulated manufacturing environments.
• Experience with FDA, GMP, SQF, HACCP, OSHA, environmental, and local regulatory standards.
• Experience with cold-process soap, deodorant, packaging, batching, filling, utilities, or high-volume manufacturing equipment.
• Experience leading maintenance in a startup, scale-up, or rapidly growing manufacturing environment.
• Familiarity with Los Angeles County or Southern California industrial building requirements, permitting, contractor management, and facility compliance.
• Bilingual English and Spanish strongly preferred.
• Lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, reliability, or maintenance planning experience preferred.

Leadership Characteristics We Value

• Resilient under pressure and steady during operational challenges.
• High ownership and accountability.
• Strong sense of urgency without sacrificing safety or quality.
• Practical, resourceful, and solutions oriented.
• Builder mindset with the ability to create structure in a growing operation.
• Clear communicator who can align maintenance, production, and leadership.
• Hands-on leader who earns trust on the floor.
• Data-driven, but not afraid to act.
• Positive, team-oriented, and willing to help outside of a narrow job description.
• High standards for equipment, facilities, people, and results.

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