Technical Maintenance Manager

We are looking for a Technical Maintenance Manager with at least 5 years of experience in a similar role to manage, mentor, and be accountable for the maintenance teams that maintain our solar PV electrical infrastructure. Your job will be leading, managing and being responsible for a team that reports to you. You will plan their maintenance activities, monitor assets in your portfolio, issue work orders, follow up on issued work orders, and close completed work orders.

Due to this job's high risk, you must be responsible and pay great attention to safety precautions. The ideal candidate must also have experience in leading and managing a team, have knowledge of PV solar system electrical systems, and can plan and execute maintenance activities. We will provide training in specialised solar systems and applications; therefore, specialised solar experience is optional but an advantage. 

As a Technical Maintenance Manager, you will be responsible for planning scheduled and unscheduled maintenance for your technical team, which is maintaining our solar systems, minimising the probability of accidents and downtime and maximising solar systems' smooth operations

Position of the job in the organisation: The successful candidate will report directly to the O&M Manager.

Principal responsibilities:

Team management

• Efficiently allocate the team and resources (like plant & vehicles) to ensure the mean time to acknowledge, mean time to respond and mean time to repair are all below the agreed times for both planned and ad-hoc maintenance work. This includes (without limitation): Ticket management, Ticket closure, Ticket scheduling and reviewing closed tickets (re-opening them as necessary if work is not done or the issue is not resolved)
• Have in-depth understanding of all categories of work and how long work should take and does take for the team to do, constantly driving efficiency to reduce the time work takes to do.
• Develop and implement maintenance plans for each OEM for the equipment installed on our assets
• Track and record weekly KPI’s in the company scorecard for the maintenance team.

Quality, health & safety

• Continuous improvement of templates, processes & procedures (which includes manuals).
• Ensure compliance with health and safety regulations and enforce safety protocols.
• Develop and implement safe operating procedures for all maintenance activities
• Develop & implement quality control and quality assurance processes to ensure our maintenance is to world class standards
• Periodic, adhoc, quality audits
• Ensure any changes to equipment on site or changes to cabling reticulation are agreed with the Engineering team and reduced to red line drawings that are submitted to and approved by the Engineering team.
• Constantly assess the team skill set, identify skills gaps and implement a training regime to close these skills gaps.

Plant performance

• Write weekly, monthly and quarterly technical maintenance reports on the portfolio and top assets
• Review, correct and distribute maintenance reports from technicians
• Monitor and analyse system performance, including energy production and efficiency, BESS utilisation, circuit breaker and other protection equipment status
• Develop and implement maintenance strategies to ensure plant performance exceeds the guaranteed performance levels as per each fund and customer agreement.
• Research and implement cost effective predictive maintenance to improve departmental cost effectiveness and overall plant performance.
• Inventory management, allocation and critical spares planning

Stakeholder management of (without limitation) the following stakeholders

• Engineering: for site handovers, participation in FR’s and escalation on technical issues as well as consultation on red lines and other decisions on plant changes
• Customer: For arranging site access and ensuring that every interaction between customers and our staff results in a moment of customer delight
• CX: For sharing success stories where we have delighted customers and also for receiving and providing feedback on the resolution of customer complaints
• Asset Management: keeping them up to date on all matters that O&M is aware of that is happening on our customer sites
• Projects: Interact with the projects team to receive newly completed projects, ensuring they comply with O&M standards and work with them to deal with defects during the EPC contractor liability period 
• Any other job duties associated with this role. 

PERSON DESCRIPTION

Experience:

• 5 years+ experience in the renewable industry. 
• 5 years+ of experience in maintenance management in the electrical industry, preferably renewables
• Ability to co-ordinate across multiple active projects/work orders
• Ability to deal with multiple conflicting priorities
• Deadline and goal driven
• Thorough knowledge of safety procedures and legal regulations and guidelines.
• Excellent critical thinking and problem-solving ability.
• Valid driver's license and willing to travel.  
• Resourceful and comfortable working in a fast-paced and changing environment. 
• Comfortable with working at heights.
• Computer literacy (MS Office).
• Valid driver's license and willing to travel. 

Advantageous Skills include:

• PV system >1MWp
• Generators > 500kVA
• Transformers >1MVA
• SANS 10142 and NRS 097-2 standards specifically reference embedded generation.
• Surge and Lightning protection and grounding systems.
• Networking equipment and industrial communication protocols like Modbus, RS485, Ethernet, etc.
• SCADA & similar monitoring
• VCOM monitoring system
• CMMS experience
• Battery Energy Storage Systems >1MVA
• Experience with specific OEMS:

BESS (Sungrow, FreedomWon,Huawei,SolarMD)

PV (Huawei, Sungrow, SolarEdge, ATESS) 

Work Conditions:

• Overtime is required, including standby.
• Working over weekends is required when high-priority sites have emergency call-outs.
• After-hour monitoring of the PV assets will be required. 

What does success look like:

By Month 3:

• I will be proficient with internal software systems, including V-com, for automation and reporting tasks.
• I will have a clear understanding of departmental processes, safety protocols, and maintenance planning for solar PV infrastructure.
• I will have conducted my first 1:1 meetings with the O&M Manager and my team, identifying key priorities and challenges.
• I will have established a routine for daily check-ins with the maintenance team to proactively manage maintenance activities.
• I will be familiar with the condition and performance of all assets under my portfolio through regular monitoring and reporting.
• I can effectively issue, follow up on, and close work orders with minimal backlog.

By Month 6:

•  I will have successfully conducted monthly 1:1s and quarterly reviews with maintenance technicians and assistant teams, providing constructive feedback and setting clear expectations.
• I will be accountable for implementing maintenance plans and ensuring compliance with health and safety regulations without incident.
• I will consistently achieve key performance indicators (KPIs) related to maintenance completion rates, downtime reduction, and safety compliance.
• I will have resolved maintenance-related issues promptly, demonstrating effective problem-solving skills.
• I can manage inventory efficiently, ensuring critical spare parts are available without causing delays.
• I will have initiated at least one process improvement based on maintenance reports and performance analytics.

By Month 12:

• I can confidently manage both scheduled and unscheduled maintenance with a focus on minimising downtime and maximising system efficiency.
• I will have achieved departmental rocks, including high compliance rates for safety audits and maintenance quality standards.
• I will have conducted comprehensive O&M audits on multiple sites, identifying areas for improvement and implementing corrective actions.
• I can manage sub-contractors effectively, ensuring timely completion of tasks with quality standards met.
• I will have submitted accurate and insightful monthly reports to the O&M Manager, highlighting performance metrics, risks, and recommendations.
• I will have played a key role in improving documentation, processes, and policies to streamline maintenance operations.
• I will be recognised for my leadership capabilities and ability to drive the maintenance team towards achieving organisational goals.

Core Values:

We hire, reward, and recognise our team against these values. It is imperative that you believe in these values and demonstrate them consistently.

• We are passionate and proud of what we do.
• We communicate candidly, especially when it is difficult.
• We take the initiative, share our mistakes, and grow together.
• We are dependable and take accountability.
• No one person is bigger than the solution - no egos.