Director of Technical Operations

Director of Technical Operations — Confidential Search TalentGate is partnering with a growing food packaging and manufacturing business to recruit a Director of Technical Operations . This is a newly created, high-impact leadership role for a hands-on, execution-oriented technical leader who can build and lead the company’s maintenance, reliability, and equipment-performance capability across a multi-site operation. The business is scaling rapidly, investing in automation, expanding customer capability, and professionalizing its operating model. As growth, complexity, and equipment intensity have increased, the company now requires a dedicated technical operations leader focused every day on uptime, line performance, equipment reliability, maintenance systems, technician leadership, and technical execution. This is not a desk-based maintenance role and not an engineering-design position. The successful candidate will be highly visible on the floor, credible with technicians, practical in approach, and capable of creating the right level of structure without slowing down a fast-moving, entrepreneurial environment. The Opportunity The Director of Technical Operations will lead maintenance, reliability, and equipment-performance activities across a dynamic, changeover-intensive food packaging environment. The company operates with a mix of legacy equipment, newer automation, and expanding production capability. The right leader will help improve uptime, strengthen preventive maintenance, build technician capability, improve parts and vendor management, and support the successful ramp-up and sustained performance of semi-automated and fully automated production lines. This role is both an operating necessity and a value-creation lever. The person who succeeds here will help the business reduce recurring downtime, improve technical responsiveness, strengthen maintenance discipline, and support a more scalable, automation-enabled operating model. Key Responsibilities The Director of Technical Operations will: Lead all maintenance and reliability activities across a multi-campus operation, improving uptime, line readiness, technical responsiveness, and equipment performance. Serve as the senior technical escalation point for equipment issues, breakdowns, startup challenges, chronic downtime, and complex troubleshooting events. Build stronger structure around preventive maintenance, maintenance scheduling, issue tracking, parts control, and equipment-support processes. Develop, lead, and strengthen the maintenance technician team, including deployment, coaching, accountability, capability building, and long-term bench development. Partner closely with operations and production leadership to ensure technicians are aligned to line needs and recurring issues are surfaced and solved quickly. Own parts strategy and ordering discipline, ensuring the right critical parts, vendor support, and technical resources are available to minimize downtime. Support the successful ramp-up and ongoing operation of newly installed semi-automated and fully automated lines. Operate effectively across multiple buildings and campuses, maintaining strong physical presence and flexibility based on operating priorities. Bring practical maintenance-system rigor to the business without imposing overly rigid large-company processes that do not fit the environment. Help the company continue its progression from a successful entrepreneurial operator into a more professionally managed, technically scalable platform. Ideal Candidate Profile The ideal candidate is a highly credible, hands-on technical leader who understands how to keep packaging and food-related operations running in a fast-moving, high-changeover environment. This person should be comfortable getting onto the floor, diagnosing issues, coaching technicians, and showing the team how work should be done when needed. At the same time, the company does not need a pure wrench-turner with no systems orientation. The winning candidate will strike the right balance: organized enough to build better structure, disciplined enough to drive follow-through, and practical enough to remain deeply connected to the work. Required Experience and Capabilities Food manufacturing or food packaging experience Experience in food packaging, food manufacturing, or a related food-oriented technical environment is required. Quality, sanitation, food-safety, and regulatory expectations are central to how equipment is maintained and operated. Hands-on technical troubleshooting depth Strong mechanical and technical problem-solving ability, with enough familiarity across electrical, pneumatic, automat