Job Description

Senior Manager, Automation & Maintenance

The Senior Automation Maintenance Manager is accountable for equipment availability, automation reliability, and long-term asset health in a highly automated distribution center. In an environment where equipment availability equals throughput, this role protects service, labor productivity, and revenue by owning the maintenance strategy—not just maintenance execution.

This role leads the transition from reactive maintenance to data-driven reliability, ensuring automation investments deliver sustained ROI while reducing downtime, vendor dependency, and recovery time risk.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

Technical Leadership & Org Development

· Lead a multi-layer maintenance organization including Maintenance Manager, Area Managers, Automation Shift Leads, Controls/PLC Engineers, Reliability/Asset Engineers, SCADA operators, and technicians.

· Build a multi-skilled technical workforce capable of responding quickly across mechanical, electrical, and controls disciplines

· Establish clear accountability between maintenance, operations, and engineering to eliminate gray ownership and recovery delays

Asset Reliability & Automation Availability

· Own end-to-end asset health strategy for all automated systems (conveyance, sortation, controls, robotics, print & apply, etc.), ensuring uptime supports volume, service, and labor plans.

· Translate automation performance data into engineering fixes and preventive actions, not just maintenance activity.

· Reduce mean time to repair (MTTR) and improve mean time between failures (MTBF) through structured root cause analysis and permanent countermeasures

Maintenance Strategy & Preventive Maintenance

· Design and execute a preventive and predictive maintenance strategy aligned to automation criticality, failure modes, and production risk.

· Ensure PM ownership remains internal, protecting reliability coverage and minimizing vendor-driven downtime risk. [

· Leverage CMMS data to prioritize work, forecast risk, and guide investment decisions

· Owns facilities and grounds keeping.

Data -Driven Decision Making

· Own maintenance KPIs tied to business outcomes, not activity (uptime, throughput impact, recovery time, labor cost avoidance).

· Use automation and equipment data to identify systemic risks before service is impacted.

· Eliminate “false confidence” by pairing data with analysis and action.

Cross-Functional Partnership

· Partner closely with Operations, Process Engineering, IT/OT, Procurement, and Automation vendors to align reliability with throughput and service commitments.

· Act as the primary bridge between the DC and system integrators, ensuring VF retains core system and automation ownership.

· Support capital planning by informing where investments will reduce downtime and long-term cost.

LEADERSHIP EXPECTATIONS

· Lead with a long-term reliability mindset, not short-term fixes.

· Establish disciplined execution while enabling innovation in how maintenance supports automation-driven operations.

· Build trust across functions by clearly connecting maintenance decisions to service, cost, and risk outcomes.

QUALIFICATIONS

· Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Technical, or related field preferred; equivalent experience in highly automated environments considered.

· 10+ years of progressive maintenance or technical leadership experience, including automation-heavy DC or manufacturing environments.

· Strong background in automation systems, controls, PLCs, CMMS, and reliability engineering concepts

· Proven ability to lead large technical teams through transformation and change

Hiring Range

$118,800.00 USD - $148,500.00 USD annually

Incentive Potential This position is eligible for additional compensation awards that may include an annual incentive plan, sales incentive, or commission potential. Specific details of the additional compensation eligibility for this position will be provided during the recruiting and interview process.

Benefits at VF Corporation You can review a general overview of each benefit program offered, including this year's medical plan rates on www.MyVFbenefits.com and by clicking Looking to Join VF? Detailed information on your benefits will be provided during the hiring process.

P lease note, our hiring ranges are determined and built from market pay data. In determining the specific compensation for this position, we comply with all local, state, and federal laws.

At VF, we value a diverse, inclusive workforce and we provide equal employment opportunity for all applicants and employees. All qualified applicants for employment will be considered without regard to an individual’s race, color, sex, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, national origin or ancestry, citizenship, physical or mental disability, medical condition, family care status, marital status, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, genetic information, military or veteran status, or any other basis protected by federal, state or local laws. If you require accommodations during the application process, please contact us at peopleservices@vfc.com VF will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals to the extent required by applicable law.

Pursuant to all applicable local Fair Chance Ordinance requirements, including but not limited to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, VF will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.