Technical Service Manager – Food, Dairy & Sanitary Processing Equipment
Full TimeJob Description
*Location:* Lakeland, Florida
*Territory:* Florida and the Southeastern United States
*Travel:* Approximately 50%
*Job Type:* Full-time
*Base Salary:* $130,000–$160,000, depending on experience, plus annual performance bonus
Build and Lead the Dobbins Services Division
Dobbins Company is seeking an accomplished food and dairy processing professional to lead and expand our technical services division.
This is a senior, highly technical position for someone who has spent a significant portion of their career inside food, beverage, or dairy processing plants and understands what it takes to keep production equipment operating safely, reliably, and efficiently.
The right person will be equally comfortable diagnosing a difficult equipment problem on the plant floor, advising a maintenance or plant manager, working directly with a customer, and developing the people and systems required to build a successful service organization.
This is not a desk-only management position. Initially, the Technical Service Manager will personally perform a significant amount of field service, troubleshooting, repair, equipment evaluation, and customer consulting. Over time, this person will help recruit, train, and lead additional service technicians while building a scalable and profitable services division.
The position will report directly to the President of Dobbins Company and will have significant autonomy and influence over the future of the division.
About Dobbins Company
Dobbins Company is a leading distributor and solutions provider serving the sanitary processing industry.
We supply pumps, valves, instrumentation, heat-transfer equipment, homogenizers, mixers, and complete process systems to customers in the food, beverage, dairy, personal care, and pharmaceutical markets.
Our reputation has been built on technical expertise, exceptional customer service, and long-term customer relationships. We are expanding our service capabilities to help customers improve equipment reliability, reduce downtime, solve difficult processing problems, and maintain critical production assets.
What You Will DoProvide Technical Field Service
* Diagnose, troubleshoot, repair, rebuild, and service sanitary processing equipment at customer facilities.
* Perform preventive maintenance, equipment inspections, health checks, and reliability evaluations.
* Identify the root causes of recurring mechanical and process-equipment problems.
* Lead our in-house pump repair center.
* Support planned shutdowns, emergency repairs, equipment rebuilds, installations, and startup activities.
* Advise customers on equipment condition, maintenance priorities, replacement needs, operating practices, and reliability improvements.
* Prepare clear service reports documenting findings, completed work, recommended repairs, and follow-up actions.
* Provide remote technical support to customers and Dobbins employees when appropriate.
Support Sanitary Processing Equipment
The successful candidate must have substantial hands-on experience with sanitary processing equipment, including several of the following:
* Homogenizers
* Centrifugal and positive-displacement pumps
* Sanitary valves and valve manifolds
* Plate and tubular heat exchangers
* Fillers and packaging equipment
* Mixers and agitators
* Separators and related dairy-processing equipment
* Sanitary piping and process systems
* Mechanical seals, gearboxes, bearings, and rotating equipment
Direct dairy-processing and homogenizer experience is strongly preferred.
Build the Services Program
* Help define the long-term strategy, service offerings, pricing, capabilities, and growth plan for the Dobbins Services Division.
* Establish consistent service procedures, documentation standards, safety practices, and quality expectations.
* Develop preventive-maintenance programs, service agreements, equipment health checks, shutdown support, and other recurring service offerings.
* Help develop service estimating, quoting, scheduling, dispatching, and job-costing processes.
* Establish appropriate tools, parts inventories, test equipment, and field-service resources.
* Create technical training and onboarding programs for future service technicians.
* Recruit, train, develop, and eventually lead a team of qualified service professionals.
* Coordinate with Dobbins sales, operations, purchasing, project, and branch personnel.
* Help evaluate subcontractors and specialty service partners when outside resources are required.
Serve as a Trusted Customer Advisor
* Build strong relationships with maintenance managers, plant managers, engineers, production leaders, and other customer personnel.
* Understand each customer’s plant, equipment, operating challenges, and maintenance priorities.
* Communicate technical findings in a practical and understandable manner.
* Identify opportunities where Dobbins can reduce downtime, improve reliability, extend equipment life, or solve production problems.
* Support the sales team with technical evaluations, project development, equipment recommendations, and customer presentations.
* Represent Dobbins professionally in customer plants throughout Florida and the Southeast.
Required Qualifications
* At least 10 years of relevant experience in production, maintenance, engineering, reliability, or technical service within a food, beverage, or dairy processing environment.
* Significant hands-on experience troubleshooting, repairing, rebuilding, and maintaining sanitary processing equipment.
* Strong understanding of plant maintenance, production demands, sanitation requirements, equipment reliability, and the operational consequences of downtime.
* Demonstrated ability to diagnose complex mechanical and processing-equipment problems.
* Ability and willingness to personally perform field service and hands-on technical work.
* Strong customer-service, communication, and interpersonal skills.
* Ability to communicate effectively with maintenance technicians, plant leadership, engineers, production personnel, vendors, and company executives.
* Strong organizational skills and the ability to independently manage multiple customers, service projects, priorities, and deadlines.
* Ability to document work clearly and produce professional service reports and recommendations.
* Willingness and ability to travel approximately 50% of the time, primarily throughout Florida with additional travel across the Southeast.
* Valid driver’s license and an acceptable driving record.
* Ability to work safely in active food and beverage processing facilities and meet applicable customer safety and sanitation requirements.
Preferred Qualifications
* Extensive dairy-processing experience.
* Direct experience repairing and rebuilding homogenizers.
* Experience with multiple manufacturers and equipment brands.
* Previous responsibility for leading maintenance technicians, service technicians, contractors, or skilled tradespeople.
* Experience building or expanding a field-service, maintenance, or reliability program.
* Experience developing preventive-maintenance programs or service agreements.
* Familiarity with CMMS, ERP, field-service-management, or service-documentation systems.
* Experience estimating service work, developing scopes of work, or supporting technical quotations.
* Knowledge of sanitary design principles, clean-in-place systems, and food-processing plant utilities.
* Technical degree, trade-school education, military technical training, or relevant manufacturer certifications are beneficial but not required when supported by extensive applicable experience.
What Success Looks Like
During the first year, the Technical Service Manager will be expected to:
* Develop a strong understanding of Dobbins customers, equipment lines, and existing service capabilities.
* Establish credibility with key customers as a trusted technical and plant-reliability resource.
* Personally execute high-quality field-service, troubleshooting, repair, and consulting work.
* Define and document the core service offerings of the Dobbins Services Division.
* Implement repeatable processes for evaluating, quoting, scheduling, executing, and documenting service work.
* Develop recurring preventive-maintenance, equipment-health, and service-agreement opportunities.
* Create a plan for recruiting and developing additional service personnel.
* Help build a profitable, scalable, and highly respected technical services business.
Who Will Succeed in This Role
You may be a strong fit if you:
* Have spent much of your career inside food or dairy plants and understand how they operate.
* Are highly technical but can communicate comfortably with customers and company leadership.
* Enjoy solving difficult equipment and reliability problems.
* Are willing to remain hands-on rather than managing exclusively from an office.
* Take ownership of results without requiring constant direction.
* Are organized, responsive, dependable, and professional.
* Want the opportunity to build something rather than inherit a mature corporate service department.
* Are motivated by the chance to shape a new division and build a team around high standards.
What We Offer
* Base salary of $130,000–$160,000, depending on experience
* Annual performance-based bonus opportunity
* Company-paid business travel
* Health insurance
* 401(k) with company match
* Paid vacation and company holidays
* Relocation assistance for an exceptional candidate
* Direct access to company leadership
* Significant autonomy and responsibility
* Opportunity to build and lead a growing technical services division
Qualified candidates are encouraged to apply with a résumé detailing their food, beverage, or dairy plant experience and the specific processing equipment they have personally serviced, repaired, or rebuilt.
Pay: $130,000.00 – $160,000.00 per year
Benefits:
* 401(k) matching
* Dental insurance
* Health insurance
* Life insurance
* Paid time off
* Relocation assistance
* Vision insurance
Application Question(s):
* Do you have at least 10 years of hands-on maintenance, production, reliability, engineering, or technical service experience in a food, beverage, or dairy processing plant?
* Which types of sanitary processing equipment have you personally diagnosed, repaired, or rebuilt? Please identify the equipment and describe the work you performed.
Work Location: In person
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*Job was aggregated from Indeed.com*
How to Apply
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