Sr. Manager, Maintenance, Reliability, & Automation

Senior Manager, Maintenance, Reliability & Automation

Location: Lubbock, Texas

Business: Johnson Controls | Fire Solutions North America

About Us

Johnson Controls, a global leader in thermal management, mission-critical building systems, energy efficiency, and decarbonization, helps customers use energy more productively, reduce carbon emissions, and operate with the precision and resilience required in rapidly expanding industries such as data centers, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, advanced manufacturing, and higher education.

For more than 140 years, Johnson Controls has delivered performance where it really matters. Backed by advanced technology, lifecycle services and an industry-leading field organization, we elevate customer performance, turn goals into real-world results and help move society forward.

Position Overview

Johnson Controls is seeking an exceptional Senior Manager, Maintenance, Reliability & Automation to lead the transformation of our maintenance organization and serve as a key architect in the evolution of our Lubbock manufacturing facility toward an Industry 4.0-enabled future.

This is not a traditional maintenance leadership role.

The successful candidate will be responsible for building a world-class reliability organization that moves beyond reactive maintenance and supports the deployment of advanced automation, connected manufacturing technologies, predictive maintenance systems, and future autonomous manufacturing capabilities.

As a key member of the plant leadership team, this leader will partner closely with Manufacturing Engineering, Operations, Quality, Supply Chain, EHS, and external technology partners to develop the systems, infrastructure, talent, and reliability strategies required to support long-term growth and manufacturing modernization.

This role will play a critical leadership position in shaping the future manufacturing footprint by influencing equipment design, capital investment decisions, maintainability standards, workforce development strategies, and digital transformation initiatives.

What You Will Do

Reliability & Maintenance Excellence

• •Develop and execute a comprehensive reliability-centered maintenance strategy focused on improving uptime, equipment performance, and manufacturing throughput.
• •Transform the maintenance organization from reactive firefighting to a proactive, data-driven reliability model.
• •Lead deployment and sustainability of Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) across manufacturing operations.
• •Establish asset criticality models, reliability engineering practices, preventive maintenance programs, and predictive maintenance systems.
• •Implement advanced root cause problem-solving methodologies, including RCA, 5 Why, Pareto analysis, and failure mode analysis.
• •Drive measurable improvements in equipment availability, MTBF, MTTR, maintenance cost, and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).

Industry 4.0 & Digital Manufacturing

• •Lead the integration of connected factory technologies that provide real-time equipment performance visibility and predictive maintenance capabilities.
• •Evaluate and deploy IIoT, machine monitoring, condition-based monitoring, and AI-enabled maintenance solutions.
• •Develop digital maintenance roadmaps that support long-term automation objectives.
• •Implement systems that leverage equipment health data to improve planning, diagnostics, and resource utilization.
• •Serve as a champion for technology adoption and the modernization of maintenance systems.

Automation & Capital Strategy

• •Partner closely with Manufacturing Engineering to support automation initiatives and future manufacturing capabilities.
• •Influence equipment procurement standards with a focus on reliability, maintainability, lifecycle cost, and operational performance.
• •Support the development and execution of multi-year capital investment plans.
• •Lead commissioning, startup, and reliability readiness activities for new equipment and automation systems.
• •Develop long-term equipment lifecycle management strategies that proactively address obsolescence, capacity requirements, and operational risk.

Talent Development & Workforce Strategy

• •Build a high-performing maintenance organization capable of supporting increasingly complex manufacturing technologies.
• •Develop maintenance technicians, supervisors, planners, and reliability engineers through structured coaching and succession planning.
• •Establish partnerships with technical colleges, trade schools, and workforce development organizations to create a sustainable pipeline of skilled trades talent.
• •Champion apprenticeship programs, technical certifications, and workforce development initiatives.
• •Build a culture of ownership, accountability, urgency, and continuous improvement.

Facilities & Contractor Management

• •Provide leadership and oversight for facilities management activities and facility infrastructure systems.
• •Develop a localized contractor network capable of supporting specialized maintenance and emergency response requirements.
• •Manage external service providers and facility support partners.
• •Develop outsourcing strategies that allow internal resources to remain focused on reliability-critical activities.

Qualifications

Require d

• •Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Industrial Technology, Manufacturing, Maintenance Management, or related field.
• •10+ years of progressive manufacturing maintenance leadership experience.
• •5+ years leading maintenance organizations within a complex manufacturing environment.
• •Demonstrated experience implementing TPM, preventive maintenance, and predictive maintenance systems.
• •Proven success developing maintenance teams and technical talent.
• •Strong experience with root cause analysis, reliability improvement, and structured problem solving.
• •Experience managing capital projects, budgets, and external service providers.

Preferred

• •Experience in highly automated manufacturing environments.
• •Experience supporting robotics, PLC-controlled systems, automated assembly, conveyors, vision systems, or advanced manufacturing technologies.
• •Reliability engineering certification, CMRP, CRL, or equivalent.
• •Experience with Industry 4.0 technologies and connected factory systems.
• •Knowledge of CMMS platforms such as SAP PM, Maximo, Fiix, eMaint, or equivalent.
• •Experience implementing predictive analytics, condition monitoring, machine learning, or AI-enabled maintenance solutions.
• •Experience supporting large-scale manufacturing transformation initiatives.

Leadership Competencies

The successful candidate will demonstrate:

• •Strategic thinking balanced by operational execution.
• •Strong business acumen and manufacturing systems thinking.
• •Exceptional talent development and coaching capabilities.
• •Data-driven decision making.
• •High levels of accountability and ownership.
• •Cross-functional influence and change leadership.
• •Ability to lead through ambiguity and transformation.
• •Relentless focus on safety, quality, delivery, cost, and customer satisfaction.

Success in This Role

Within your first 12-24 months, you will:

• •Establish a reliability-centered maintenance culture.
• •Launch predictive maintenance and connected asset monitoring capabilities.
• •Build a sustainable skilled trades development pipeline.
• •Reduce unplanned downtime and improve equipment effectiveness.
• •Partner with Manufacturing Engineering to develop automation and equipment standards.
• •Create a multi-year maintenance, reliability, and capital roadmap aligned to the facility's Industry 4.0 strategy.
• •Position the Lubbock operation to support increasingly autonomous manufacturing technologies and future lights-out manufacturing capabilities.

Why This Opportunity?

This role offers a unique opportunity to shape the future of one of Johnson Controls' flagship manufacturing operations. The successful candidate will help define the maintenance, reliability, automation, and workf