The Director – Mechanical Maintenance (Boilers, Steam Systems) is responsible for leading the maintenance strategy, asset reliability, and operational availability of boilers, steam generation, and distribution systems across industrial or utility operations. This senior leadership role manages a multidisciplinary team to ensure safe, efficient, and compliant functioning of mechanical systems. The director plays a vital role in minimizing downtime, enhancing performance, and extending the life cycle of high-pressure equipment and auxiliary systems.
Strategic Maintenance Leadership:
Develop and execute comprehensive mechanical maintenance plans for boilers, heat exchangers, steam lines, valves, and pressure systems.
Lead asset management initiatives, including risk-based inspections, preventive maintenance, and predictive diagnostics.
Operational Oversight:
Ensure optimal performance, safety, and efficiency of all steam-generating systems, including fire-tube, water-tube, and HRSG boilers.
Manage critical spares, maintenance budgets, manpower allocation, and vendor coordination.
Shutdowns & Turnarounds:
Plan and oversee major shutdowns, overhauls, and outage activities with a focus on boiler retubing, refractory replacement, valve maintenance, and steam trap audits.
Ensure proper execution of inspection, cleaning, testing, and recommissioning procedures.
Reliability & Root Cause Analysis (RCA):
Drive continuous improvement by analyzing equipment failures and implementing corrective actions.
Introduce reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) practices and KPI tracking for performance improvement.
Compliance & Safety Management:
Ensure full compliance with ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, OSHA safety regulations, local boiler inspector requirements, and company HSE policies.
Conduct audits, risk assessments, and incident investigations to uphold safety standards.
Team Development & Leadership:
Lead, mentor, and develop maintenance engineers, supervisors, and technicians.
Foster a culture of ownership, technical excellence, and continuous learning.
Interdepartmental Collaboration:
Coordinate with operations, engineering, utilities, procurement, and safety teams to align maintenance priorities with production goals.
Boiler System Availability & Integrity:
Maximize operational uptime of steam generation equipment through proactive maintenance and long-term asset health strategies.
Maintenance Planning & Execution:
Implement structured maintenance frameworks (CMMS-based) for routine, preventive, and emergency work on boiler and steam systems.
Failure Prevention & Reliability Engineering:
Apply failure analysis and reliability tools (FMEA, RCA, MTBF) to reduce breakdowns and extend asset life.
Shutdown & Major Repair Oversight:
Lead large-scale maintenance shutdowns, including coordination with contractors and strict adherence to safety and quality standards.
Code Compliance & Inspection Readiness:
Ensure systems comply with relevant mechanical codes, regulatory inspections, and pressure system integrity requirements.
Steam System Efficiency & Loss Control:
Focus on steam trap audits, condensate recovery, insulation maintenance, and thermal loss minimization for energy savings.
Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Power Engineering, or a related field.
15+ years of mechanical maintenance experience, with at least 5 years in a senior leadership/director-level role focused on boilers and steam systems.
In-depth understanding of industrial steam systems, pressure vessels, boiler codes (ASME), and mechanical reliability programs.
Strong knowledge of CMMS, maintenance planning tools, thermodynamic principles, and mechanical design standards.
Proven ability to manage large teams, shutdowns, and high-value assets in continuous process environments.
Excellent leadership, communication, and problem-solving skills.