---
title: 'Reliability and Maintenance Manager at J&J Snack Foods'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/reliability-and-maintenance-manager-j-j-snack-foods-hatfield-twp-q86vkjw2wpv4'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-09'
---

# Reliability and Maintenance Manager at J&J Snack Foods

- **Company:** J&J Snack Foods
- **Location:** Hatfield Twp, PA
- **Posted:** 2026-06-19
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-09
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/jjsnackfoods/jobs/5272075008

## Job description

As a leader and innovator in the snack food industry for over 50 years, J&J Snack Foods provides branded snack foods to foodservice and retail supermarket outlets across the U.S. Its products include such icons as SUPERPRETZEL, ICEE, and Dippin’ Dots along with other key brands like LUIGI’S Real Italian Ice, The Funnel Cake Factory Funnel Cakes, and Hola Churros. J&J also has a strong presence in bakery providing cakes, cookies, and pies to some of the largest grocery and convenience retailers in industry. Our company continues to deliver record sales led by a talented team and a commitment to “Fun Served Here”.

## POSITION SUMMARY:

Reporting to the Plant Manager, the Reliability and Maintenance Manager is responsible for leading the plant’s maintenance, engineering, and reliability functions to support safe, efficient, and consistent plant operations. In a snack food manufacturing environment, product quality, safety, cost, and service all depend on reliable equipment performance. This role ensures the plant’s assets are a competitive advantage, not a daily operational risk.

The Reliability and Maintenance Manager will lead maintenance technicians and maintenance team functions, with accountability for equipment uptime, asset health, spare parts readiness, and technical problem solving across the plant. This leader is responsible for developing and strengthening proactive, planned, and data-driven reliability programs through effective preventive maintenance, root cause analysis, spare parts management, and full utilization of Redzone and/or Upkeep.

This position partners closely with Operations and cross-functional teams to reduce downtime, improve equipment performance, and support overall plant productivity. In addition, the Reliability and Maintenance Manager will establish and maintain effective communication with Multi-Site Engineers within the company and collaborate with maintenance departments across affiliated sites, as appropriate, to support knowledge sharing and continuous improvement.

## ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

Reliability and Uptime Ownership

- Owns line uptime, Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF), Mean Time To Repair (MTTR), and overall equipment reliability for the plant.
- Leads the plant toward a more planned, proactive, and data-driven maintenance culture.
- Develops and maintains preventive and predictive maintenance programs that improve equipment performance and reduce downtime.
- Leads root cause analysis and corrective action for recurring equipment issues, chronic losses, and breakdowns.
- Partners with Production to address recurring downtime and improve day-to-day equipment performance.

Maintenance and Engineering Leadership

- Provides leadership and direction to maintenance technicians.
- Sets clear expectations for troubleshooting, work planning, and execution.
- Develops technical capability across the team in electrical, mechanical, controls, refrigeration, and related areas.
- Oversees contractor management and provides technical leadership for new equipment installations, line modifications, and capital projects.

Spare Parts and Asset Management

- Owns the plant’s spare parts strategy, including inventory accuracy, and critical spare availability.
- Improves spare parts controls to reduce stockouts, emergency purchases, and excess or obsolete inventory.
- Implements parts kitting and planning processes to better support scheduled maintenance work.
- Maintains accurate asset hierarchy, equipment documentation, and maintenance records.

Redzone and/or Upkeep and Data-Driven Execution

- Uses Redzone and/or Upkeep to support work order management, PM compliance, downtime data analysis, technician accountability, and maintenance visibility.
- Ensures Redzone and/or Upkeep data is accurate, timely, and used to identify trends, prioritize reliability work, and improve equipment performance.

Food Safety, Safety and Compliance

- Ensures maintenance work is completed in compliance with food safety, GMP, quality, safety, and regulatory requirements.
- Reinforces safe maintenance practices, including Lockout/Tagout (LOTO), contractor safety, and other required safety procedures.
- Supports ammonia/refrigeration compliance, documentation, inspections, and related maintenance requirements.
- Maintains audit-ready maintenance records, including PM documentation, work orders, regulatory records, and contractor documentation.

Financial and Performance Management

- Manages the maintenance labor and MRO budget with a focus on cost control, stronger planning, and reduced emergency spend.
- Supports capital planning, equipment upgrade recommendations, and ROI justification for performance improvement projects.
- Tracks and improves key maintenance performance metrics, including uptime, equipment-related OEE loss, PM compliance, MTBF, MTTR, planned versus emergency work, spare parts accuracy and availability, maintenance cost per pound/case, safety incidents, and audit findings.

Partnership with Support Center Engineering

- Serves as the main site partner and liaison for Support Center Engineering on capital projects, technical strategy, engineering standards, and enterprise initiatives.
- Partners with Support Center Engineering on capital project planning, scoping, on-site execution, commissioning and startup of new lines, and major equipment upgrades.
- Supports process engineering improvements that increase throughput, reduce waste, improve quality, and strengthen equipment performance.
- Supports the integration of new technologies, automation, controls, and digital tools into the plant.
- Partners with enterprise technical resources to support complex technical problem solving, long-term asset strategy, infrastructure planning, equipment standards and specifications, and best practice sharing across plants.
- Ensures corporate initiatives are implemented effectively at the plant level and shares practical site feedback to improve enterprise engineering solutions.

## Team Leadership

- Leads Maintenance technicians, Reliability/Engineering resources, and Maintenance Technicians.
- Builds a team culture focused on craftsmanship, urgency, accountability, and pride in equipment condition.
- Coaches team members to plan work proactively instead of only reacting to problems.
- Develops bench strength, technical skill depth, and leadership capability within the maintenance organization.
- Performs other duties as assigned by leadership.

## COMPETENCIES:

To perform successfully in this role, the Reliability and Maintenance Manager must be self-motivated, detail-oriented, and able to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment. Key competencies include:

- Strong maintenance, reliability, and engineering leadership skills.
- Ability to build a proactive, planned, and data-driven maintenance culture.
- Strong technical troubleshooting and root cause problem-solving skills.
- Ability to use data, metrics, and maintenance systems to improve equipment performance.
- Strong understanding of preventive maintenance, spare parts management, and asset reliability.
- Ability to partner effectively with Operations, Engineering, Quality, Safety, and other cross-functional teams.
- Strong communication, organization, planning, and follow-up skills.
- Ability to coach, develop, and build technical capability within maintenance teams.
- Strong commitment to food safety, GMPs, employee safety, compliance, and audit readiness.
- Ability to manage budgets, control costs, and support capital improvement recommendations.

## EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:

- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or a related technical field strongly preferred.
- Five to seven or more years of maintenance and/or engineering leadership experience in CPG or food manufacturing.
- Strong mechanical, electrical, and controls troubleshooting knowledge.
- Experience leading maintenance teams in a fast-paced production environment.
- Experience with CMMS / digital maintenance systems. Redzone and/or Upkeep experience preferred.
- Knowledge of food safety, GMPs, and industrial refrigeration systems.
- Proven ability to build and sustain reliability systems, not just fix equipment.
- Experience in operating material handling equipment (e.g., forklifts, scissor/high reach lifts, power jacks, etc.) or willingness to be trained on the aforementioned equipment.

Disclaimer: This position description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the team member. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change, or new ones may be assigned at any time with or without notice.

EEO Statement: J&J Snack Foods Corp.is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discriminatory employment actions against, and treatment of, employees and applicants for employment based on actual or perceived Federal, State and local laws that prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, age, national origin, ethnicity, alienage, religion or creed, gender, gender identity, pregnancy, marital status, sexual orientation, citizenship, genetic disposition or characteristics, disability or veteran's status, sex offenses, prior record of arrest or conviction, genetic information or predisposing genetic characteristic, status as a victim or witness of domestic violence, sex offenses or stalking and unemployment status.

## About J&J Snack Foods

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: J&J Snack Foods manufactures and distributes iconic branded snack foods, frozen novelties, and frozen beverages across foodservice and retail markets in the United States.
- **Entity Type**: Public (NASDAQ: JJSF)
- **Headquarters**: Mt. Laurel, New Jersey, USA
- **Founded**: 1971 (incorporated in New Jersey)
- **Founders**: Gerald B. Shreiber (purchased the ailing J&J Pretzel Company at a bankruptcy auction for $72,100)

## Core Business
- Primary industry/industries: Snack food manufacturing and distribution; frozen beverages
- Target customers: B2B primarily (foodservice operators), with a significant B2C presence via retail supermarkets. Key channels include stadiums, theme parks, movie theatres, convenience stores, schools, and warehouse clubs.
- Mission or purpose statement: "Good Fun, Good for the Planet" — dedicated to responsibly serving fun while reducing environmental impact.

## Products & Services
- **SUPERPRETZEL**: The leading soft pretzel brand in the U.S., sold to both foodservice and retail. (Manufactured product)
- **ICEE**: A market-leading frozen carbonated beverage brand sold in c-stores, theatres, and stadiums. (Manufactured product & beverage system)
- **DIPPIN' DOTS**: Nationally known flash-frozen ice cream beads, acquired in 2022. (Manufactured product)
- **LUIGI’S Real Italian Ice**: Popular frozen novelty sold in retail supermarkets. (Manufactured product)
- **SLUSH PUPPIE**: Non-carbonated frozen beverage brand. (Manufactured product & beverage system)
- **Other Brands**: WHOLE FRUIT, DOGSTERS, ¡HOLA! Churros, THE FUNNEL CAKE FACTORY, MARY B’s Biscuits, COUNTRY HOME Bakers, READI-BAKE, and more. (Manufactured products)
- **Contract Manufacturing**: The company also produces products for private label and contract packing, leveraging its extensive manufacturing network. (Service)

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not provided directly, but as of July 2026, JJSF is a publicly traded mid-cap company.
- **Key Metric (Annual Revenue)**: $1,574,755,000 (Fiscal Year 2024) — a record year for sales. Net income was $117.5M.
- **Operating Income**: $117,545,000 (Fiscal Year 2024).
- **Financial Health**: The company ended FY2024 with zero debt and $210+ million available on its revolving credit facility [jjsnack.com](https://www.jjsnack.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Website-PDF_-EBookV1_368051_Annaul.pdf).
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Public shareholders. Key strategic partners are major QSR chains, theme parks (e.g., Six Flags, Disney), movie theatre chains, and national retailers (Walmart, Costco).
- **Growth Signals**: Record sales in FY2024 despite consumer spending pressure. Growth driven by core product placements, innovation, and new customer wins. Operates in 43 states with ~4,700 employees.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Brand Powerhouse**: Owns a portfolio of iconic, highly recognizable brands (SUPERPRETZEL, ICEE, DIPPIN' DOTS) that are often the #1 or only choice in their respective categories.
- **Unmatched Distribution**: Products are sold everywhere consumers gather for fun: stadiums, theme parks, movie theatres, schools, and major retailers, creating high barriers to entry via deep channel relationships.
- **Vertical Integration of Beverage Systems**: For ICEE and SLUSH PUPPIE, they provide not just the syrup but the equipment and maintenance service, creating a sticky, recurring revenue model.
- **Strong Balance Sheet & Cash Flow**: Zero net debt and a strong free cash flow profile allow for continued acquisition of new brands (e.g., Dippin' Dots, Funnel Cake Factory) and internal investment.

## Strategic Focus
- **5 Core Strategies (as of FY2024)**: 1) Grow and Protect Brands, 2) Dominate Core Categories, 3) Cross-Sell the Portfolio (putting more brands into existing channels), 4) Invest in the Future (manufacturing, systems, distribution), and 5) Embrace the Culture.
- **Expansion**: Building on the Dippin' Dots acquisition, expanding into the frozen ice cream category and leveraging the brand's existing retail and foodservice presence.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: The company describes itself as having a "family" culture that shies away from the corporate world, emphasizing long tenures (many employees with 10+ years, some over 20). [jjsnack.com](https://www.jjsnack.com/careers/)
- **Environment**: Locations in 43 states, from corporate offices in Mt. Laurel, NJ, to manufacturing facilities across the country. A mix of corporate and blue-collar manufacturing roles.
- **Benefits**: Comprehensive package including medical/dental/vision, 401k with match, Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP), tuition reimbursement (Nathan Shreiber Scholarship Fund), paid holidays and vacation, wellness discounts, and an Employee Assistance Program. [jjsnack.com](https://www.jjsnack.com/careers/)
- **Notable Perks**: "The Nathan Shreiber Scholarship Fund" provides tuition reimbursement for employees, and the ESPP allows employees to buy company stock at a discount.
- **Remote/Hybrid/Office**: Not explicitly stated, but the corporate headquarters in Mt. Laurel, NJ, and multiple regional facilities suggest a primarily on-site or hybrid model depending on role.

## Sources
1. [jjsnack.com (Overview)](https://www.jjsnack.com/)
2. [jjsnack.com (Careers)](https://www.jjsnack.com/careers/)
3. [jjsnack.com (About Page)](https://www.jjsnack.com/about/)
4. [jjsnack.com (FY2024 Annual Report)](https://www.jjsnack.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Website-PDF_-EBookV1_368051_Annaul.pdf)
5. [Greenhouse (Job Board)](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/jjsnackfoods)

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