Associate Director, Maintenance (Hiring Our Heroes Corporate Fellow)
Merck
August 18, 2026
On-site
Wilmington, DE
Operations
Role Overview
- The Associate Director, Maintenance provides operational leadership and technical oversight of maintenance activities for a sterile product manufacturing site.
- Ensures equipment reliability, safe work practices, and regulatory compliance while supporting production needs and continuous improvement.
Key Responsibilities
- Capital Projects & Equipment Lifecycle Support: Participate as maintenance representative in major capital project design, execution, and start-up, emphasizing start-up readiness (maintenance strategies, CMMS build-out, spare parts, diagnostics, SOPs, training, and systems turnover) prior to qualification/initial manufacturing; support future equipment installations and upgrades; coordinate contractors and internal resources.
- Participate in utility, facility, and process equipment Factory Acceptance Tests (FATs) to ensure maintainability/accessibility, optimized spare parts strategies, and alignment of standardization/diagnostics/serviceability; support equipment turnover (documentation review, CMMS asset setup, maintenance strategy).
- Maintenance Operations & Leadership: Oversee day-to-day maintenance (preventive, predictive, corrective); supervise/coach/develop maintenance staff and ensure OSHA/GMP adherence; coordinate with production/quality/engineering; ensure CMMS execution/documentation; track maintenance performance metrics and communicate with site leadership.
- Integrated Facilities Management (IFM) Support: Support IFM strategy development/execution; interface with IFM service providers; define scopes, service-level expectations, and performance metrics; monitor IFM performance and identify continuous improvement opportunities.
- Reliability & Continuous Improvement: Implement/sustain preventive and predictive maintenance; support troubleshooting and root-cause analysis; apply Lean to reduce downtime and improve efficiency; provide operational insights to improve reliability.
- Compliance & Regulatory Readiness: Ensure GMP, safety regulation, and site procedure compliance; maintain maintenance records/documentation for reviews and inspections; support inspection readiness.
Qualifications
Required:
- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Facilities Management, or related technical field.
- Seven (7) years of maintenance experience in pharmaceutical/biotech manufacturing (or equivalent military experience).
- At least three (3) years in a supervisory/team-lead role overseeing maintenance technicians/supervisors.
- Practical experience with CMMS, preventive maintenance, and predictive maintenance programs.
- Familiarity with GMP, safety regulations, and industry standards for sterile manufacturing.
- Proven experience troubleshooting process equipment and coordinating corrective actions cross-functionally.
- Working knowledge of Lean/continuous improvement.
- Strong communication and cross-functional collaboration.
Preferred:
- Experience with potent compound manufacturing.
- Experience interfacing with IFM organizations.
- Experience supporting FATs/SATs/equipment qualification.
- Predictive maintenance technology exposure (e.g., vibration analysis, ultrasound, thermography) or coordination with PdM providers.
- Demonstrated ability to develop/coach/retain maintenance technicians.
Eligibility Requirements
- Must be an active participant in the Hiring Our Heroes (HOH) Corporate Fellowship Program and meet HOH eligibility criteria.
- The Associate Director, Maintenance provides operational leadership and technical oversight of maintenance activities for a sterile product manufacturing site.
- Ensures equipment reliability, safe work practices, and regulatory compliance while supporting production needs and continuous improvement.
Key Responsibilities
- Capital Projects & Equipment Lifecycle Support: Participate as maintenance representative in major capital project design, execution, and start-up, emphasizing start-up readiness (maintenance strategies, CMMS build-out, spare parts, diagnostics, SOPs, training, and systems turnover) prior to qualification/initial manufacturing; support future equipment installations and upgrades; coordinate contractors and internal resources.
- Participate in utility, facility, and process equipment Factory Acceptance Tests (FATs) to ensure maintainability/accessibility, optimized spare parts strategies, and alignment of standardization/diagnostics/serviceability; support equipment turnover (documentation review, CMMS asset setup, maintenance strategy).
- Maintenance Operations & Leadership: Oversee day-to-day maintenance (preventive, predictive, corrective); supervise/coach/develop maintenance staff and ensure OSHA/GMP adherence; coordinate with production/quality/engineering; ensure CMMS execution/documentation; track maintenance performance metrics and communicate with site leadership.
- Integrated Facilities Management (IFM) Support: Support IFM strategy development/execution; interface with IFM service providers; define scopes, service-level expectations, and performance metrics; monitor IFM performance and identify continuous improvement opportunities.
- Reliability & Continuous Improvement: Implement/sustain preventive and predictive maintenance; support troubleshooting and root-cause analysis; apply Lean to reduce downtime and improve efficiency; provide operational insights to improve reliability.
- Compliance & Regulatory Readiness: Ensure GMP, safety regulation, and site procedure compliance; maintain maintenance records/documentation for reviews and inspections; support inspection readiness.
Qualifications
Required:
- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Facilities Management, or related technical field.
- Seven (7) years of maintenance experience in pharmaceutical/biotech manufacturing (or equivalent military experience).
- At least three (3) years in a supervisory/team-lead role overseeing maintenance technicians/supervisors.
- Practical experience with CMMS, preventive maintenance, and predictive maintenance programs.
- Familiarity with GMP, safety regulations, and industry standards for sterile manufacturing.
- Proven experience troubleshooting process equipment and coordinating corrective actions cross-functionally.
- Working knowledge of Lean/continuous improvement.
- Strong communication and cross-functional collaboration.
Preferred:
- Experience with potent compound manufacturing.
- Experience interfacing with IFM organizations.
- Experience supporting FATs/SATs/equipment qualification.
- Predictive maintenance technology exposure (e.g., vibration analysis, ultrasound, thermography) or coordination with PdM providers.
- Demonstrated ability to develop/coach/retain maintenance technicians.
Eligibility Requirements
- Must be an active participant in the Hiring Our Heroes (HOH) Corporate Fellowship Program and meet HOH eligibility criteria.