Director of Automation & Controls
Red Kite Recruiting
Windom, United States · Posted September 4, 2026
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AI use among electro-mechanical and mechatronics technologists and technicians is little observed so far. Measured exposure for electro-mechanical and mechatronics technologists and technicians: 0% (little observed).
Share of this job’s tasks that AI is already used for at work, from real usage. It is not a forecast of job loss, and a low number means no use seen yet. Source: Anthropic Economic Index.
About the job
We are partnering confidentially with a well-established, privately held food and agriculture company to identify a Director of Maintenance & Automation to lead maintenance strategy, reliability and technical capability across three food processing facilities in Iowa and Minnesota. This is not a role focused on keeping one plant running. It’s an opportunity to build a stronger maintenance and automation organization across multiple facilities.
The Opportunity
Each plant already has maintenance leadership in place. Your job is to bring those teams together, identify opportunities across locations, build consistency and elevate the technical capabilities of the organization.
The company has invested significantly in modern processing and packaging technology and now wants to build more of the technical expertise needed to support that equipment internally rather than relying heavily on OEMs and outside technicians.
You’ll be responsible for:
Leading and developing maintenance leaders across three facilities
Building a consistent maintenance and reliability strategy
Improving uptime, reliability and equipment performance
Strengthening preventive and predictive maintenance programs
Building internal expertise around controls, automation and troubleshooting
Developing technicians and transferring technical knowledge
Partnering with OEMs and holding vendors accountable
Supporting capital projects, equipment upgrades and future automation initiatives
What We’re Looking For
We’re looking for a maintenance, engineering or automation leader who combines strong technical depth with the ability to lead people and build systems.
Experience in food, beverage, meat, protein or another highly automated manufacturing environment is strongly preferred. Multi-site leadership experience is highly valued.
You should have strong working knowledge of PLCs, controls, automated equipment, preventive/predictive maintenance and complex troubleshooting.
You don't need to personally program every PLC, but you need enough technical depth to lead the people who do.
Why This One?
The plants exist. The equipment investment has been made. The teams are in place. What hasn't been fully built yet is the larger maintenance, automation and reliability strategy. That gives the right leader an opportunity to put their fingerprints on how multiple facilities approach maintenance, controls, technical training, vendor relationships and equipment performance for years to come.