Automation Manager

Position Title: Automation Team ManagerDepartment: PUMA WorksReports to: Director of PUMA WorksDirect Reports: Automation programmers project coordinator and support staff assigned to the automation teamCompensation: Salary starting range $80000 - $130000;Commensurate with Skills and ExperienceHours: Full-time Monday - Friday 8:30am - 5:00pm 40 hours per week; plus on-call rotationBenefitsThree weeks of paid vacationPaid sick timeEight & a half paid holidays per yearTwo paid flexible holidays per yearICHRA Health Insurance Reimbursement100% Employer Paid Dental & Vision Insurance100% Employer Paid Life Insurance100% Employer Paid Medical Clinic Membership or Cash Equivalent (for Field Staff) for employees and dependentsOther benefits accrue over the first 3-24 months including: additional paid vacation 401k with company matching and quarterly profit of Work: Tech Hub - Redding OverviewMaas Energy Works (MEW) is the leading developer and operator of on-farm waste-to-energy systems in the United States. The Company designs develops constructs and operates biogas renewable energy generation systems primarily on dairy farms. Our projects include anaerobic digesters biogas-powered electric generation and renewable natural gas DescriptionMEW is hiring an Automation Team Manager to lead the people and the workflow of our automation and programming team. This is a people-first leadership role. You will grow the careers of a team of PLC and SCADA programmers balance their workloads and keep programming tickets and projects moving to completion across a portfolio of digester and RNG will bring enough technical depth to sit in a troubleshooting conversation and contribute to solving the problem - but you will not set the teams technical direction. That responsibility belongs to the Technical ideal candidate has developed technical people before holds a team accountable without micromanaging it and takes satisfaction in removing obstacles so engineers can do their best of the Role - What This Role Owns and What It Does NotThis position pairs with a Technical Lead. Both roles report to the Director of PUMA Works as co-leads of the automation team. The division of responsibility is deliberate and explicit:This role owns: people development performance management hiring work assignment and loading capacity planning ticket and project throughput scheduling on-call rotation timesheet and PTO approval cross-department coordination and Technical Lead owns: technical direction architecture and platform decisions programming standards and conventions code and configuration review and the technical approach taken on any given project or Automation Team Manager does not direct the team on technical strategy override technical decisions or serve as the final technical authority. When technical and delivery priorities conflict the Manager and the Technical Lead resolve it together and escalate to the Director when they Leadership and DevelopmentManage coach and develop a team of automation programmersHold consistent one-on-one meetings focused on growth obstacles and career directionBuild individual development plans and identify training certification and stretch-assignment opportunities for each team memberWrite and deliver performance reviews; set clear expectations and address performance issues early and directlyBuild a team culture that reflects MEWs values - trustworthy effective generous fulfilled innovativeWork Loading and CapacityAssign programming tickets and project work across the team based on skill development goals and available capacityMaintain a clear view of who is working on what and rebalance when priorities shiftForecast capacity against the incoming project pipeline and flag staffing gaps to the DirectorCoordinate with Project Management Operations Engineering and Construction to sequence automation work against site schedules and commissioning datesDelivery and Ticket FlowOwn the health of the teams ticket queue in ClickUp - keep work visible current and movingRun recurring stand-ups and work-review meetings; identify stalled tickets and clear the blockers behind themTrack project milestones and communicate status risk and schedule changes to stakeholdersPartner with the Technical Lead to confirm work is scoped and sized realistically before it is committedEscalate resource conflicts scope changes and schedule risks to the Director earlyReport on team throughput backlog and delivery performanceAdministration and OperationsReview and approve timesheets expenses and PTO requestsBuild and manage team scheduling including site travel and the on-call rotationVerify the team maintains program backups and site documentation to standardSupport process improvement in how the team intakes tracks and closes workContribute to team budget planning and software hardware and licensing needsTechnical ContributionParticipate in troubleshooting and problem-solving sessions contributing practical judgment and experiencePerform automation and programming work where neededUnderstand the teams work well enough to size it assess progress honestly and hold credible technical conversations with team members and stakeholdersTranslate between technical staff and non-technical stakeholders across the companyDefer to the Technical Lead on technical direction standards and final technical decisionsQualifications & SkillsRequired3 years managing or supervising technical staff - engineers programmers controls technicians or a comparable teamDemonstrated record of developing people: coaching performance conversations career growth and retentionWorking technical background in industrial automation controls engineering IT or a closely related technical field - enough to follow the work size it and contribute in a troubleshooting discussionExperience managing a work queue or project portfolio and driving it to completionStrong organizational skills with the ability to track many parallel workstreamsExcellent written and verbal communication; can adapt the message for a programmer an operations manager and a dairy ownerComfortable with task and project tracking systems (ClickUp or equivalent)Sound judgment on when to decide when to delegate and when to escalateMust be proficient in -on experience with PLC programming (Allen-Bradley Studio 5000) or SCADA/HMI platforms (Ignition Aveva Wonderware C-more Automation Direct)Familiarity with industrial networking VFDs instrumentation 4-20mA and 24V control Modbus485 and Modbus TCPExperience in renewable energy agriculture manufacturing utilities or another field-service environmentBackground supporting geographically distributed sites and remote team membersWorking knowledge of electrical systems and safe work practicesOther DutiesPlease note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive list of activities duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without Demand RequirementsWork Environment - Office StaffThis job partially operates in a professional office environment. The role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers phones photocopiers filing cabinets and fax Demands - Office Staff / TravelThis is largely a sedentary role with some travel required. This would require the ability to walk up and down stairs and to enter travel in and exit vehicles and airplanes. Travel is required occasionally to project sites and regional offices. Site visits may involve walking on uneven ground and exposure to outdoor conditions and operating equipment.