Job Description

Director, Engineering & Maintenance in Albuquerque, NM

Build your future at Curia, where our work has the power to save lives

Curia is a global contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) with over 30 years of experience partnering with pharmaceutical and biotech companies to provide life-saving treatments to patients. At Curia, we are on a mission to advance our customers’ therapies from curiosity to cure and ultimately to improve patients’ lives.

We proudly offer

• Generous benefit options (eligible first day of employment)
• Paid training, vacation and holidays (vacation accrual begins on first day of employment)
• Career advancement opportunities
• Education reimbursement
• 401K program with matching contributions
• Learning platform
• And more!

The Director of Engineering and Maintenance provides strategic leadership for all engineering, facilities, utilities, and maintenance functions within a sterile pharmaceutical manufacturing operation. This role is accountable for ensuring facility and equipment reliability, regulatory compliance, capital project execution, and continuous improvement initiatives that support aseptic manufacturing operations.

The Director serves as the site leader for engineering strategy, asset lifecycle management, utilities reliability (e.g., WFI, clean steam, HVAC, compressed gases), and facilities infrastructure. This individual ensures compliance with cGMP, FDA, OSHA, and other applicable regulatory requirements while driving operational excellence, cost control, and long-term site readiness.

The role is a key member of site leadership and serves as the primary engineering representative during regulatory inspections and customer audits.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Strategic and Technical Leadership:

• Develop and execute the site engineering strategy aligned with business and manufacturing objectives.
• Provide oversight of facilities, utilities, process equipment, and infrastructure supporting aseptic processing and sterile manufacturing.
• Ensure robust asset lifecycle management including design, specification, installation, qualification (IQ/OQ/PQ), maintenance, and decommissioning.
• Lead reliability engineering initiatives to improve uptime and system performance.

Regulatory and Compliance Oversight:

• Ensure full compliance with cGMP, FDA, OSHA, EPA, and other applicable regulations.
• Maintain inspection readiness at all times for FDA and other regulatory agencies.
• Serve as engineering lead during regulatory inspections and audit responses.
• Ensure engineering documentation, change control, deviations, CAPAs, and validation activities meet regulatory expectations.

Maintenance and Reliability:

• Oversee preventive, predictive, and corrective maintenance programs.
• Drive implementation and optimization of CMMS and maintenance systems (downtime tracking, PM optimization, spare parts management).
• Establish and monitor KPIs related to equipment reliability, maintenance effectiveness, and compliance metrics.
• Lead root cause investigations for critical equipment failures.

Capital Projects and Budget Management:

• Develop and manage the annual operating and capital budgets.
• Lead capital project planning and execution, ensuring projects are delivered safely, on time, within scope, and within budget.
• Provide technical and financial justification for capital expenditures.
• Manage contractors, vendors, and engineering service providers.

Environmental, Health and Safety:

• Partner with EHS to ensure safe design and operation of facilities and utilities.
• Champion a proactive safety culture across engineering and maintenance teams.
• Ensure compliance with OSHA and environmental regulations.

Education and/or Experience:

• Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related engineering discipline with a minimum of 10 years of progressive engineering experience in pharmaceutical, biologics, or other highly regulated manufacturing environments and a minimum of 5 years of leadership experience managing engineering, maintenance, or technical teams, preferred.

OR

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related engineering discipline with a minimum of 8 years of progressive engineering experience in pharmaceutical, biologics, or other highly regulated manufacturing environments and a minimum of 5 years of leadership experience managing engineering, maintenance, or technical teams.

OR

• High school diploma with relevant military engineering, facilities, or technical leadership experience in regulated, mission-critical environments with a minimum of 14 years of progressive engineering experience in pharmaceutical, biologics, or other highly regulated manufacturing environments and a minimum of 5 years of leadership experience managing engineering, maintenance, or technical teams.
• Knowledge and understanding of sterile manufacturing risks and contamination control
• Minimum 5+ years of direct experience supporting aseptic/sterile processing environments.
• Strong working knowledge of:
  • Cleanroom systems and classified environments
  • WFI, clean steam, HVAC, and critical utilities
  • Equipment qualification and validation
  • CMMS systems and reliability-centered maintenance
  • cGMP and FDA regulatory expectations

Supervisory Responsibility:

Direct oversight of engineering, facilities, utilities, and maintenance personnel, including managers, engineers, technicians, and contractors.

Language Skills:

The ideal candidate should have the ability to read and interpret various documents. These documents include safety instructions, standard operating procedures, technical procedures, and governmental regulations. Additionally, the candidate should possess strong written and verbal communication skills. They should also possess effective presentation skills, enabling them to successfully present information and respond to questions from groups of managers, clients, customers, and the general public.

Mathematical Skills:

Proficient in executing arithmetic operations including addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division across various units of measurement, employing whole numbers, fractions, decimals, and percentages. Candidates must possess a strong grasp of algebraic and geometric principles.

Reasoning Ability:

Ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions. Ability to interpret an extensive variety of technical instructions in mathematical or diagram form and deal with several abstract and concrete variables.

Computer Skills:

The ideal candidate will possess a strong technical foundation and proven capability in effectively utilizing diverse software tools to streamline the organization's daily functions. Essential skills encompass adeptness in manufacturing and internet software, alongside proficiency in Microsoft Office tools including PowerPoint, Excel, Word, and Outlook.

Other Skills and Abilities:

• Demonstrates strategic thinking with strong business acumen
• Champions change
• Promotes a safe and healthy work environment by actively identifying and addressing potential hazards, following established safety protocols, participating in safety training programs, and fostering a culture of awareness and responsibility among team members.
• Demonstrates strong attention to detail
• Ability to lead through change and drive continuous improvement
• High level of integrity, accountability, and regulatory mindset
• People Leadership:
• Build, develop, and retain a high-performing engineering and maintenance team.
• Provide coaching, mentorship, and succession planning.
• Establish clear performance expectations aligned with site objectives.
• Optimize organizational structure and resource allocation to support business needs.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration:
• Partner closely with Operations, Quality, Validation, Supply Chain, and Technical Operations to support production goals.
• Support new product introductions, scale-ups, and technology transfers.
• Participate in site leadership planning and long-term capacity strategy.
• Technical and Computer Skills:
• Experience with CMMS/CCMS platforms and maintenance management systems
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Outlook)
• Familiarity with manufacturing systems and automation platforms
• Strong data analysis capability to drive performance improvements

Other Qualifications:

• Must pass a background check
• Must pass a drug screen
• May be required to pass Occupational Health Screening
• May be required to obtain and maintain gowning certification
• May be required to obtain and maintain media qualification
• May be required to wear a respirator

Physical Demands:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

The essential physical demands will vary for each Curia position.

All positions may require regular or occasional lifting, pushing and pulling up to 10 pounds, frequently; up to 25 pounds occasionally; and up to 50 pounds infrequently. Additionally, all positions entail regular sitting, standing and reaching, with some roles requiring prolonged periods of time for each activity. Visual acuity, both close and distant, along with depth perception is necessary in each role, with or without corrective lenses. Please note that employees are prohibited from wearing contact lenses in work areas with exposure to cleaning agents.Hand and finger dexterity are integral to all positions, with specific activities varying from typing to manipulating maintenance tools or operating keypads, switches, and buttons. Occasional stooping, kneeling, twisting, crouching, crawling and balancing are also part of each position’s physical requirements. Certain roles may involve climbing and working at elevated heights as well.

Work Environment:

The work environment characteristics, described below, are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

The working environments will vary for each Curia position. The employee may be required to work in an office, manufacturing, or warehouse environment.

The office environment is designed for comfort and productivity, with room temperature settings maintained for optimal working conditions. It is common to hear conversational noise in the background.

The pharmaceutical manufacturing environment is sterile. Therefore, aseptic gowning is required. Personal protective equipment (nitrile gloves, clean room socks, face-shields, safety glasses, aprons, steel-toed shoes and powered air purifying respirators) is necessary, depending upon the task at hand. The employee may be exposed to wet and/or humid conditions, confined areas, and refrigerator or freezer temperatures when working in a sterile environment.

The warehouse environment is typically set at a controlled temperature but the employee may be exposed to refrigerator or freezer temperatures when retrieving materials.

Some positions may occasionally be exposed to moving mechanical parts, elevated heights, airborne particles, electrical activities and vibration. In addition, some positions may work with or be exposed to, compressed gases and must wear ear protection.

All environments may be subject to working with or being exposed to cleaning agents.

All interested applicants must apply online. Please be aware of scammers. Curia will only send offer letters and requests for sensitive personal information from a curiaglobal.com email address. Curia is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability. Curia is an E-Verify employer.