Job Description:
Job Title: Maintenance Technician
Location: Topeka, KS
Shift: Various
Job Type: Full-Time, Permanent
Join Our State-of-the-Art Team in Topeka, KS
Being a Mars Associate is all about opportunity. We are looking to hire a highly skilled Maintenance Technician to maintain, repair, and optimize our advanced packaging and processing equipment at our state-of-the-art facility in Topeka, Kansas.
Whether you are an experienced industrial maintenance professional or a transitioning military Veteran, Reservist, or National Guard member, we welcome your technical and diagnostic expertise! At Mars, we highly respect and value the dedication, safety compliance, and troubleshooting skills you developed during your service. We provide exceptional training, tools, and technical resources to help you seamlessly translate your military mechanical or electrical background into a rewarding, lifelong civilian career.
What We Offer (Total Rewards & Benefits)
Mars is proud to offer an industry-leading total compensation and benefits package starting on your very first day:
- Health & Wellness: Comprehensive Medical, Dental, Vision, and Life Insurance starting on Day One.
- Financial Security: Competitive base salary, annual company bonus earning potential, and a highly competitive 401(k) match.
- Work-Life Balance: Immediately eligible (based on hire date) for up to three weeks of paid vacation, 12 Paid Holidays per year, and accrued Sick Pay.
- Family Support: Paid Maternity & Parental Leave, plus Short-Term and Long-Term Disability.
- Professional Development: Access to best-in-class continuous learning from day one, including our in-house Mars University programs.
Key Responsibilities
As a Maintenance Technician, you will ensure our high-speed manufacturing lines run safely, efficiently, and at peak reliability.
- Preventative Maintenance (PMs): Perform routine mechanical and electrical PMs on packaging equipment, processing systems, and electrical panels, documenting all activities in our Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS).
- Technical Troubleshooting: Diagnose and repair routine mechanical, pneumatic, hydraulic, and electrical component failures (e.g., motor starters, switches, sensors, sorting systems, and palletizing robots).
- Continuous Improvement (MSE): Participate on Mars Supply Excellence (MSE) teams, train production operators on Autonomous Maintenance (AM) activities, and conduct breakdown analyses.
- System Ownership: Own preventative maintenance systems for your assigned line, focusing on Maintenance Planning, Scheduling, and Breakdown Elimination.
- Loss Elimination: Analyze quantitative and qualitative data to make smart business decisions and help develop the line's 90-day loss-elimination plans.
- FMOS Representation: Represent the maintenance team in daily FMOS (Daily Management System) meetings, presenting machine performance data and communicating action plans.
Position Requirements
Minimum Qualifications:
- Education: High School Diploma, GED, or equivalent civilian/military education.
- Experience & Certifications: A technical degree, trade school certification, OR 2+ years of equivalent technical maintenance experience (such as mechanical or electrical repairs).
- Technical Troubleshooting: Ability to troubleshoot AC/DC electrical components using multi-meters, amp probes, and basic electrical testing gear.
- Schematics Literacy: Fundamental understanding of electrical, hydraulic, and pneumatic schematics and mechanical drawings to solve problems in a timely manner.
- Pneumatics & Drive Systems: Ability to diagnose and repair basic pneumatic and mechanical drive systems at the component level.
- Attributes & Schedule: Ability to work a flexible night-shift schedule as needed, work in a fast-paced environment, and a willingness to develop technical skills in welding, basic machining, and fabrication.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Associate degree in Industrial Maintenance, Mechatronics, or equivalent technical discipline.
- Advanced understanding of AC/DC electrical systems (up to 480-volt 3-phase).
- Strong PLC and instrumentation troubleshooting skills.
Physical Requirements:
- Frequent lifting/carrying (10-50 lbs.) and pushing/pulling (50-200 lbs.).
- Frequent handling, gripping, bending, and stooping.
- Ability to work at elevated heights off a ladder or platform, climb stairs, and lean over equipment.
- Ability to stand and work on your feet for extended periods (minimum eight hours in one shift).
Military & Veteran Technical Equivalency Guide
At Mars, your technical training and hands-on maintenance experience are highly respected. If you served in any of the following fields (or a related occupational specialty), your military background is a direct match:
- U.S. Army: Allied Trade Specialist (91E), Wheeled Vehicle Repairer (91B), Track Vehicle Repairer (91H), Bradley Fighting Vehicle System Maintainer (91M), Artillery/Missile System Maintainer (94-series), Utilities Equipment Repairer (91C). Your experience with PMCS, safety tags, and complex electrical/hydraulic schematics maps perfectly to our operations.
- U.S. Navy: Machinist's Mate (MM), Machinery Repairman (MR), Engineman (EN), Electrician's Mate (EM), Gas Turbine System Technician (GSM/GSE), Aviation Structural Mechanic (AM). Your training in shipboard auxiliary, electrical distribution, or propulsion systems is an outstanding match.
- U.S. Air Force: Aerospace Propulsion Specialist (2A6X1), Aircraft Metals Technology (2A7X1), Electrical Systems (3E0X1), Electrical Power Production (3E0X2), Aerospace Ground Equipment (2A6X2). Your strict adherence to safety standards and diagnostic multi-meters fits our high-speed automation lines.
- U.S. Marine Corps: Machinist (2161), Ground Ordnance Vehicle Maintainer (2147/2149), Engineer Equipment Mechanic (1341), Mobile Facility Technician (6499).
- U.S. Coast Guard: Machinery Technician (MK), Damage Controlman (DC).
About Mars, Incorporated
Mars is a family-owned business with over a century of history making diverse products and offering services for people and the pets people love. With almost $35 billion in sales, the company is a global business that produces some of the world’s best-loved brands: M&M’s®, SNICKERS®, TWIX®, MILKY WAY®, DOVE®, PEDIGREE®, ROYAL CANIN®, WHISKAS®, EXTRA®, ORBIT®, 5™, SKITTLES®, BEN’S ORIGINAL®, and COCOAVIA®. Mars also provides veterinary health services that include BANFIELD® Pet Hospitals, Blue Pearl®, VCA® and Pet Partners™.
The Mars Five Principles – Quality, Responsibility, Mutuality, Efficiency, and Freedom – inspire our more than 100,000 Associates to create value for all its partners and deliver growth they are proud of every day.