Director of Facilities & Maintenance

Elizabeth, New Jersey
Gellert Global Group
Gellert Global Group consists of many of the leading North American food importing companies (Atalanta Corporation, Camerican International, Finica, Tipico Cheese Products) and has been importing food products for over 100 years. The combined revenues of GGG exceed $1.7 billion. GGG companies provide strength in sourcing, insurance, finance, logistics, food safety, and information technology, and supply the needs of retailers, distributors, food service chains, hotels, cruise lines, and food manufacturers alike.

Summary/Objective:

The Director of Facilities & Maintenance is responsible for the safe, reliable, compliant, and cost-controlled operation of a multi-site portfolio of commercial office facilities and industrial food-grade warehouse and distribution centers, including refrigerated and frozen environments. This role owns building infrastructure, refrigeration systems, material handling equipment, and fixed assets across their full lifecycle-from acquisition and commissioning through maintenance, capital planning, and end-of-life replacement. The position requires hands-on leadership of internal maintenance teams, rigorous oversight of contractors and vendors, and strong financial and technical judgment to ensure uptime, compliance, and long-term asset sustainability.

Essential Functions:

• Ensure continuous, safe, and compliant operation across all facilities in the portfolio
• Maintain uptime and performance of all critical systems, including:
  • Industrial refrigeration
  • HVAC and make-up air systems
  • Electrical systems and backup power
  • Fire suppression and life-safety system
  • Dock equipment, doors, and racking
  • Material handling equipment
• Establish and enforce site standards to ensure consistency across all locations
• Personally inspect facilities on a regular, structured cadence
• Own refrigeration system performance, integrity, and regulatory compliance
• Lead root-cause analysis for system failures and implement corrective actions
• Ensure temperature control, alarm response, and documentation meet food-grade, customer and regulatory requirements.
• Coordinate inspections, testing, and filings related to refrigeration and environmental systems
• Ensure compliance with FDA/FSMA, GMPs, OSHA, Fire and Building Codes, EPA, and other applicable regulations
• Lead preventive maintenance planning and execution; eliminate reactive maintenance as the standard operating model
• Plan maintenance, repairs, and replacements with a primary focus on safety, reliability, and operational risk reduction
• Eliminate deferred maintenance practices that elevate safety, compliance, or security exposure
• Ensure CMMS discipline, accuracy, and accountability across all sites
• Develop Predictive maintenance strategies where appropriate
• Maintain a complete and accurate fixed-asset register company-wide
• Plan asset replacement and major repairs based on lifecycle cost and operational risk-not deferred maintenance.
• Own facilities OPEX and CAPEX budgets across all sites
• Develop multi-year capital plans tied to risk reduction, reliability, and asset life extension
• Build and defend capital requests using clear ROI and operational justification
• Incorporate safety, security, and compliance risk into capital project justification and ROI analysis
• Prioritize capital investments that reduce safety risk, regulatory exposure, and operational disruption
• Control utilities spend, with particular focus on refrigeration and energy consumption
• Maintain and supervise all facility video surveillance and camera systems
• Identify efficiency opportunities without compromising system reliability or food safety
• Select, negotiate, and manage all facility-related vendors and service partners
• Enforce SLAs, scope discipline, safety standards, and performance expectations
• Challenge invoices and change orders; actively control and justify spend
• Ensure commercial office spaces are functional, professional, and safe.
• Oversee office HVAC, lighting, access control, janitorial, security, and minor renovations
• Support space planning, employee moves, and workplace changes
• Partner closely with Operations, QA, Safety, IT, Finance and Leadership
• Support peak season readiness, expansions and new site onboarding
• Contribute to layouts, retrofits, and facility modifications for operational improvement
• Own physical security controls across facilities, including:
  • Access control systems
  • CCTV and monitoring
  • Perimeter and yard security
  • Visitor and contractor access protocols
• Ensure security systems are operational, tested, and aligned with site risk profiles
• Partner with IT, Security, and Operations to align facility security with company standards and threat response protocols
• Ensure vendors and contractors comply with safety and security policies while onsite
• Support investigations related to theft, damage, or unauthorized access as they relate to facilities
• Other duties as assigned

Skills Required:

• Strong technical understanding of:
  • HVAC & Industrial Refrigeration
  • Electrical & Mechanical systems
  • Fire/life safety systems
  • Material Handling equipment
• Sound technical judgement in asset conditions and operational risk
• Preventative and predictive Maintenance Discipline
• Regulatory Compliance & Risk awareness
• Vendor negotiation and performance management
• Capital Planning and asset lifecycle management
• Crisis leadership and decision making under pressure
• Proven people Leadership and accountability
• Strong safety orientation with demonstrated accountability for employee safety and life-safety systems
• Ability to assess and mitigate facility-related operational, safety, and security risk
• Calm, decisive leadership during safety or security-related emergencies

Qualifications:

• Technical degree or trade background preferred
• 8-12+ years of facilities and asset management experience.
• 5+ years managing direct reports
• Demonstrated experience in industrial, distribution, or food-grade environments
• Proven success managing vendors, budgets, and capital projects
• Willingness to be on-call for critical facility events.

Salary: $100,000 – $135,000 annually plus bonus

Our company will be relocating to a new corporate headquarters in Madison, NJ in Q4 of 2026. Candidates should be comfortable with this upcoming change in location.

Our Benefits:

We care about your total well-being and will support you with the following subject to your location and role.

• Health: Medical, dental and vision insurance, Company-paid life, accident and long-term disability insurance, flexible spending accounts
• Wealth: Competitive pay, annual bonus opportunity, matching 401(k) with immediate vesting upon enrollment, generous employee referral program
• Happiness:
  • Professional Growth: Online training courses, virtual and classroom development experiences, education assistance program
  • Work-Life Balance: Paid-time off, parental leave, flexible work schedules (subject to your location and role)
  • Team Building: Employee engagement and recognition programs, wellness, philanthropic and DE&I initiatives, Company-sponsored celebrations, and team-building events

The Gellert Global Group of companies is an equal opportunity employer and considers qualified applicants for employment without regard to sex, race, color, religion, ethnic or national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, pregnancy, leave status, disability, veteran status, genetic information and/or any other characteristic or status protected by national, federal, state, or local law. Gellert Global Group is committed to providing access, equal opportunity, and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, its services, programs, and activities. Accordingly, if reasonable accommodation is required to fully participate in the job application or interview process, to perform the essential functions of the position, and/or to receive all other benefits and privileges of employment, please contact .

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