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JOB SUMMARY
The Maintenance Area Leader leads maintenance and reliability work processes for the Experimental Station (ESL), supporting safe, reliable, and cost-effective facilities and services across a multi-tenant campus of research laboratories, pilot-scale operations, offices, and supporting infrastructure.
The role establishes and executes the facility maintenance strategy, leads assigned maintenance personnel, and coordinates internal craft resources and contracted services. Working closely with site leadership, Engineering, Power Operations, Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS), Contract Administration, Procurement, and building and tenant representatives, the leader aligns maintenance priorities with site risk, research continuity, customer requirements, and available resources.
The leader is accountable for maintenance work management, service delivery, workforce development, budget performance, and continuous improvement within the assigned scope. Responsibilities include strengthening preventive and predictive maintenance, reducing recurring failures and unplanned interruptions, and supporting asset renewal and campus changes. Direct ownership and support responsibilities are aligned with the established accountabilities of Engineering, Power Operations, and other site functions.
Responsibilities:
- Lead the assigned maintenance organization and coordinate maintenance engineering, planning, scheduling, craft execution, and contracted support to deliver safe, reliable, and cost-effective services.
- Establish clear expectations for safety, work quality, productivity, customer service, and accountability. Reinforce compliance with applicable site procedures, work permits, job safety analyses, energy isolation requirements, and contractor work controls.
- Develop and execute an ESL maintenance strategy that addresses asset conditions, equipment criticality, research and tenant needs, infrastructure reliability, and long-term maintenance requirements.
- Coordinate maintenance support for building systems and assigned infrastructure, including HVAC and refrigeration, building automation systems, electrical and instrumentation systems, plumbing, building components, elevators, fire and life safety systems, and emergency power equipment.
- Align maintenance and Research Crafts Organization resources, within the assigned scope, to support laboratory and pilot-scale equipment, troubleshooting, fabrication, equipment installations, and research-driven modifications.
- Partner with Power Operations and Engineering to coordinate maintenance of utility equipment and distribution systems, with clear responsibility for work scope, technical requirements, operating interfaces, and return to service.
- Implement and sustain the applicable Global Maintenance Work Process, Maintain Facility Work Process, and maintenance work management subprocesses:
- Prioritize work based on safety, regulatory requirements, asset criticality, service commitments, and consequences of failure.
- Strengthen work identification, scope definition, planning, scheduling, material readiness, execution, closeout, and follow-up.
- Coordinate with building representatives and tenants to establish equipment access and outage windows while minimizing disruption to research and business activities.
- Maintain appropriate staffing and craft coverage, clarify interfaces with Contract Administration and service providers, and use continuous improvement resources to remove non-value-added work.
- Establish and maintain preventive and predictive maintenance strategies with Engineering and equipment owners. Review recurring failures and adjust maintenance tasks, intervals, and repair approaches based on asset performance and risk.
- Manage overdue maintenance and inspection work through documented prioritization, escalation, and applicable deviation processes. Coordinate required approvals with equipment owners, customers, and EHS rather than allowing work to be deferred without review.
- Coordinate building shutdowns, site utility shutdown support, and equipment outages with affected functions and tenants. Confirm maintenance scope, resource readiness, communications, and completion requirements.
- Establish and manage the maintenance budget in alignment with site needs. Monitor labor, materials, repair services, and contractor spending; explain variances and implement sustainable cost improvements.
- Work with Finance, Contract Administration, and tenant-facing teams to improve work-order cost accuracy, labor confirmations, and allocation of maintenance charges under applicable service arrangements.
- Maintain reliable computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) records, including equipment information, work scope, maintenance history, labor and material use, and completion documentation.
- Track and act on maintenance and reliability measures, including preventive maintenance compliance, overdue work, backlog age, planned versus reactive work, recurring failures, service delivery, and budget performance.
- Develop the technical and leadership capability of the maintenance team through coaching, training, qualification planning, cross-training, and succession planning.
- Provide maintenance input and appropriate resources for expense and capital projects. Partner with Engineering on asset condition assessments, repair-versus-replace decisions, maintainability, commissioning support, and transition of new or modified assets into maintenance programs.
- Support site consolidation, building shutdown, renovation, and decommissioning activities by adjusting maintenance scope and resources to the approved campus strategy.
- Use root cause analysis, work process reviews, audits, and continuous improvement methods to reduce repeat failures, improve execution, and strengthen service quality.
- Apply applicable Management of Change requirements to equipment, system, and maintenance changes. Coordinate technical and EHS reviews with the responsible site functions.
- Participate in site maintenance and leadership forums, communicate risks and resource needs, and coordinate response to significant equipment failures and service interruptions.
- Ensure delivery of agreed maintenance services to DuPont businesses and third-party tenants within the assigned scope, with clear priorities, timely communication, and effective resolution of service issues.
Capabilities Required for this Role (Knowledge, Skills & Abilities):
- Influential leadership and stakeholder management in complex matrix hierarchies
- Technical understanding of maintenance in a research, laboratory, pilot-scale, facilities, or similarly complex operating environment.
- Working knowledge of building systems, HVAC and refrigeration, building automation, electrical and instrumentation systems, plumbing, utility distribution, and equipment reliability, with the ability to engage appropriate technical specialists.
- Understanding of the distinct maintenance needs of shared campus infrastructure, tenant spaces, and research equipment.
- Knowledge of applicable engineering standards, site procedures, safe work practices, environmental requirements, and maintenance-related inspection and documentation requirements.
- Proven understanding of maintenance work management, including work prioritization, planning, scheduling, backlog management, preventive and predictive maintenance, and work closeout.
- Budget development, cost control, forecasting, and analysis skills, including management of internal labor and contracted maintenance services.
- Ability to coordinate work across Engineering, Power Operations, EHS, Contract Administration, Procurement, building representatives, and tenants without assuming ownership of those functions.
- Strong interpersonal, conflict resolution, and influencing skills, with a customer-focused approach to balancing competing priorities.
- Effective risk assessment, escalation, and mitigation skills, including management of deferred maintenance and service interruption risks.
- Strong written and verbal communication, planning, organization, and time management skills.
- Root cause analysis, troubleshooting, auditing, and continuous improvement skills.
- Leadership capability in coaching, mentoring, workforce development, and change management.
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
Behaviors Required for this Role:
- Safety ownership: Makes safe work a prerequisite for execution, encourages concerns to be raised, and addresses hazards and procedural gaps promptly.
- Organizational effectiveness: Uses site systems, procedures, and relationships to resolve issues, clarify ownership, and deliver practical improvements.
- Collaboration and service: Builds productive partnerships with research teams, tenants, site functions, and service providers. Communicates priorities, constraints, and service expectations clearly.
- Respect and inclusion: Seeks different perspectives, treats people with dignity, and creates an environment where team members can contribute their knowledge and ideas.
- Accountability: Takes responsibility for commitments, communicates transparently, escalates risks early, and follows through corrective actions.
- Technical discipline: Uses qualified resources, sound maintenance practices, accurate records, and applicable change controls to support reliable outcomes.
- Business judgment: Balances safety, reliability, customer needs, asset life, and total cost when recommending maintenance and investment priorities.
- Continuous improvement and development: Simplifies work processes, uses data to address recurring problems, and develops the team’s capability to meet changing site needs.
Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in engineering discipline or equivalent relevant experience required.
- Seven to ten years of maintenance, reliability, facilities, manufacturing, research operations, or related experience required.
- Experience leading maintenance personnel or coordinating multidisciplinary craft and technical resources.
- Experience applying maintenance work management processes, managing budgets, and coordinating contracted services.
- Experience supporting a multi-building research campus, laboratory facilities, pilot-scale operations, or a multi-tenant technical environment preferred.
- Experience with building systems, utility infrastructure, and coordination of maintenance outages preferred.
- For responsibilities involving High Hazard Process (HHP) areas, Process Safety Management (PSM) experience required.
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