Assistant Plant Manager

Title: Assistant Plant Manager
Position Type: Direct Hire
Location: California
Status: Exempt

Key Project Requirements:

• Proven experience supporting both operations and maintenance at a solid-fuel power plant, with strong ownership of maintenance strategy, CMMS, and outage planning/execution.
• Demonstrated ability to lead in a lean plant environment, providing coaching-oriented leadership to supervisors and craft while driving safety, compliance, and continuous improvement.
• Strong planning, scheduling, and budget management experience, with the ability to optimize scope, schedule, and cost for planned outages and day-to-day maintenance activities.

Job Summary:
The Assistant Plant Manager provides leadership to both Operations and Maintenance teams to ensure safe, reliable, and efficient daily operation of a solid-fuel power generation facility. Reporting to the Plant Manager, this role serves as a key member of the site leadership team and applies technical expertise, judgment, and collaboration to drive plant performance, compliance, and continuous improvement. This position requires a strong maintenance management foundation, including outage planning, work management, and CMMS oversight, along with the ability to support operational excellence. The APM plays a critical role in safety leadership, environmental compliance, budgeting, outage execution, and team development in a lean plant environment.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Support and enforce all site safety, environmental, and regulatory requirements; ensure corrective actions are implemented as needed
• Lead and support Operations and Maintenance supervisors to ensure safe, efficient, and reliable plant performance
• Establish and reinforce consistent operating philosophies, procedures, and best practices
• Oversee maintenance strategies, including preventive, predictive, and corrective maintenance programs through the CMMS
• Lead planning and execution of planned outages, including scope development, scheduling, and budget control
• Investigate operating issues, equipment failures, and forced outages; implement corrective and preventive actions
• Collaborate with the Plant Manager on operating and maintenance budgets, cost control, and resource optimization
• Ensure proper training, qualification, and development of plant personnel
• Support fuel handling and fuel quality programs, including coordination with fuel suppliers and yard operations
• Prepare and review operational, maintenance, and performance reports for plant leadership
• Promote a collaborative, coaching-oriented culture focused on accountability, safety, and continuous improvement
• Perform other duties as assigned to support plant objectives

Job Requirements:

• Thorough understanding of power plant operations and maintenance functions
• Strong working knowledge of boilers, steam turbine generators, balance-of-plant systems, and water treatment
• Proven planning and scheduling experience supporting maintenance and outage activities
• Experience managing budgets and understanding cost impacts to plant performance
• Strong leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills
• Ability to work flexible hours, including nights, weekends, and outages as required
• Ability to pass respirator fit testing and work in industrial plant environments

Education / Experience:

• High School Diploma or equivalent with 5+ years of supervisory or management experience in a solid-fuel power plant, OR
• Associate degree or industry-recognized technical certification with 3+ years of supervisory or management experience in a solid-fuel power plant, OR
• Bachelor’s degree in a related discipline with 2+ years of supervisory or management experience in a solid-fuel power plant
• Military leadership experience may be considered in lieu of some plant supervisory experience
• Strong maintenance management background, including outage planning and CMMS ownership

At NAES, we value our employees and believe in fair compensation that reflects their skills and contributions. The pay scale for this position is carefully determined based on the expected range of base pay, taking into consideration the specific work location. Within this range, employee pay will be determined by a combination of factors such as knowledge, skills, abilities, experience, education, and overall performance. As this job posting is available in multiple locations, the expected pay scale may vary depending on the specific geographic area.

Compensation Range per year: $130,000 - $175,000