Automation Team Manager

Position Title: Automation Team Manager
Department: PUMA Works
Reports to: Director of PUMA Works
Direct Reports: Automation programmers, project coordinator, and support staff assigned to the automation team
Compensation: Salary starting range $80,000 - $130,000; Commensurate with Skills and Experience
Hours: Full-time Monday - Friday, 8:30am - 5:00pm, 40 hours per week; plus on-call rotation
Benefits

Three weeks of paid vacation
Paid sick time
Eight & a half paid holidays per year
Two paid flexible holidays per year
ICHRA Health Insurance Reimbursement
100% Employer Paid Dental & Vision Insurance
100% Employer Paid Life Insurance
100% Employer Paid Medical Clinic Membership or Cash Equivalent (for Field Staff) for employees and dependents
Other benefits accrue over the first 3-24 months, including: additional paid vacation, 401k with company matching, and quarterly profit share.

Place of Work: Tech Hub - Redding, CA.

Company Overview
Maas 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 upgrading.
Position Description
MEW is hiring an Automation Team Manager to lead both the people and the workflow of our automation and programming team. 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 facilities.
This is a working leadership role. You will stay hands-on in programming, troubleshooting, and commissioning, and contribute directly to the technical work alongside the team. Technical direction and standards are set in partnership with the Technical Lead, who holds final responsibility for them.
The 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 work.

Scope of the Role
This position leads the automation team and works closely with the Technical Lead to ensure the successful delivery of automation projects and support across the company's portfolio. The division of responsibility is deliberate and explicit.
The Automation Team Manager is expected to be an experienced PLC, SCADA, and industrial automation professional who actively contributes to programming, troubleshooting, project execution, and technical problem solving while providing leadership and management for the team. This is not a people-management-only role.

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, escalation, and hands-on technical contribution where needed to support team success.
The 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 ticket.

The Automation Team Manager is expected to maintain sufficient technical expertise to effectively contribute to automation projects, mentor team members, evaluate technical tradeoffs, and participate in technical decision-making. The Technical Lead remains responsible for establishing technical standards, guiding technical direction, and ensuring consistency in engineering practices across the team.
The Automation Team Manager does not unilaterally establish technical standards or override technical decisions without collaboration and review. When technical and delivery priorities conflict, the Manager and Technical Lead resolve them together and escalate to the Director when necessary.
Responsibilities
People Leadership and Development

Manage, coach, and develop a team of automation programmers
Hold consistent one-on-one meetings focused on growth, obstacles, and career direction
Build individual development plans and identify training, certification, and stretch-assignment opportunities for each team member
Write and deliver performance reviews; set clear expectations and address performance issues early and directly
Build a team culture that reflects MEW's values - trustworthy, effective, generous, fulfilled, innovative

Work Loading and Capacity

Assign programming tickets and project work across the team based on skill, development goals, and available capacity
Maintain a clear view of who is working on what, and rebalance when priorities shift
Forecast capacity against the incoming project pipeline and flag staffing gaps to the Director
Coordinate with Project Management, Operations, Engineering, and Construction to sequence automation work against site schedules and commissioning dates

Delivery and Ticket Flow

Own the health of the team's ticket queue in ClickUp - keep work visible, current, and moving
Run recurring stand-ups and work-review meetings; identify stalled tickets and clear the blockers behind them
Track project milestones and communicate status, risk, and schedule changes to stakeholders
Partner with the Technical Lead to confirm work is scoped and sized realistically before it is committed
Escalate resource conflicts, scope changes, and schedule risks to the Director early
Report on team throughput, backlog, and delivery performance

Administration and Operations

Review and approve timesheets, expenses, and PTO requests
Build and manage team scheduling, including site travel and the on-call rotation
Verify the team maintains program backups and site documentation to standard
Support process improvement in how the team intakes, tracks, and closes work
Contribute to team budget planning and software, hardware, and licensing needs

Technical Contribution

Actively participate in PLC programming, SCADA development, troubleshooting, commissioning, and automation support activities
Serve as an experienced technical resource for team members and stakeholders across the company
Maintain sufficient hands-on involvement to accurately assess project scope, technical risk, workload, staffing needs, and delivery timelines
Provide technical mentoring and development opportunities for automation team members
Collaborate with the Technical Lead to evaluate technical approaches, resolve complex issues, and maintain consistency across projects
Understand the team's work well enough to assess progress honestly, remove obstacles, and hold credible technical conversations with team members and stakeholders

This role is expected to remain technically proficient and capable of directly contributing to the team's engineering work. It is not solely a people-management position.
Qualifications & Skills
Required

5+ years of hands-on experience in industrial automation, controls engineering, PLC programming, SCADA development.
Demonstrated experience programming, troubleshooting, commissioning, and supporting industrial automation systems
3+ years managing or supervising technical staff
Demonstrated record of developing people through coaching, performance management, and accountability
Experience managing project workloads, priorities, ticket queues, and technical resources
Strong organizational, communication, and leadership skills
Must be proficient in English.

Preferred

Experience in renewable energy, RNG, biogas, agriculture, manufacturing, utilities, or similar industrial environments
Experience supporting geographically distributed facilities and remote team members
Working knowledge of industrial electrical systems and safe electrical work practices

Other Duties
Please 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 notice.
Physical Demand Requirements
Work Environment - Office Staff
This job partially operates in a professional office environment. The role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, filing cabinets, and fax machines.
Physical Demands - Office Staff / Travel
This 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.