Position Title: Maintenance Engineer – High-Volume Milk Processing

Location: Platteville, CO

Shift: 2nd Shift | Wednesday–Sunday, 2:30 PM – 10:30 PM

Relocation Assistance: $5,000–$10,000 (Flat Rate)

Reports To: Maintenance Manager and Plant Manager

Position Overview:

We are seeking a technically driven Maintenance Engineer with a strong background in food and beverage manufacturing to lead strategic equipment reliability initiatives and drive engineering improvements in a high-volume, continuous milk processing and packaging environment. This role will focus on optimizing mechanical and automation systems, ensuring regulatory compliance (HACCP, SQF), supporting capital projects, and implementing data-driven reliability strategies that enhance Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE).

This role is ideal for an engineer who thrives in fast-paced production environments and has a proactive mindset for process improvement, systems design, and operational excellence.

Key Engineering Responsibilities:

• Reliability Engineering & Performance Optimization:
• Lead efforts to improve equipment reliability, uptime, and throughput by analyzing asset performance, identifying chronic issues, and deploying root cause analysis and condition monitoring techniques.
• Process & Equipment Engineering:
• Collaborate on the design, modification, and integration of processing, packaging, and support systems to ensure alignment with operational and food safety goals. Contribute technical expertise to new equipment installations and upgrades.
• Preventive & Predictive Maintenance Strategy:
• Own and evolve the plant’s maintenance strategy by enhancing PM/PdM systems using engineering methodologies and data analytics. Integrate learnings into long-term asset management planning.
• Continuous Improvement & Capital Projects:
• Support and/or lead continuous improvement projects and capital engineering initiatives, including equipment selection, vendor evaluation, commissioning, and process validation.
• Automation & Controls Support:
• Collaborate with automation teams to troubleshoot, calibrate, and improve control systems including PLCs, HMIs, sensors, and field instrumentation. Ability to interpret logic but not necessarily program.
• Compliance & Regulatory Engineering:
• Ensure that all engineering and maintenance activities meet internal quality standards and external regulations (FDA, USDA, SQF, OSHA, etc.). Lead compliance audits and contribute to documentation protocols.

Leadership and Cross-Functional Collaboration:

• Serve as an engineering liaison between maintenance, operations, quality, and safety teams to align asset performance with production goals.
• Provide technical coaching and support to technicians and operators to build equipment understanding and drive first-level maintenance ownership.
• Lead and develop training programs on equipment and process systems to build plant-wide technical capability.

Qualifications:

Education & Credentials:

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Industrial, or Manufacturing Engineering or closely related technical field preferred. Vocational/Technical training accepted with proven engineering experience.
• 5+ years of experience in food or beverage manufacturing, preferably dairy, with a focus on fluid processing systems, pasteurization, CIP systems, and aseptic or ESL lines.

Technical Competencies:

• Strong knowledge of mechanical systems, fluid dynamics, heat transfer, and thermodynamics in a regulated production environment.
• Working knowledge of ammonia refrigeration, high-pressure steam, sanitary piping, and CIP validation.
• Familiarity with preventive/predictive maintenance software, reliability metrics (MTBF, MTTR), and root cause methodologies (5-Why, FMEA, RCA).
• PLC navigation and electrical troubleshooting; programming knowledge is a plus.
• Understanding of engineering drawings, P&IDs, control schematics, and OEE tools.

Soft Skills:

• Strong leadership, project coordination, and technical writing skills.
• Comfortable working in a unionized, fast-paced, 24/7 production environment.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement abilities.

Work Environment & Physical Requirements:

• Regular exposure to high-humidity, cold, hot, and wet processing areas with high mechanical noise.
• Ability to lift up to 50 lbs., access equipment at heights, and navigate tight or confined areas.
• Occasional off-shift support may be required for troubleshooting or capital installations.

Compensation & Benefits:

• Base Salary Range: Competitive based on experience
• Relocation Assistance: $5K–$10K
• Comprehensive benefits package: health, dental, vision, disability, life insurance, 401(k) match, PTO