Maintenance Manager- Refrigeration

MAINTENANCE MANAGER – REFRIGERATION About the Role Sokify is recruiting a Maintenance Manager for Refrigeration to lead our technical operations and manage service delivery across Kenya's leading cold-chain and food-preservation sector. In this role, you'll oversee a skilled team of technicians, manage complex maintenance contracts worth significant revenue, and ensure clients across supermarkets, dairies, hospitality, healthcare and industrial sectors receive responsive, professional refrigeration support. This is a hands-on leadership position where your technical expertise, commercial acumen and people skills directly impact both our team's performance and client satisfaction. Key Responsibilities TEAM LEADERSHIP & DEVELOPMENT You will recruit, train and supervise a team of refrigeration technicians, service assistants and a coordinator. You'll allocate work based on skill level, location and capacity to maintain balanced workload distribution. Your day-to-day leadership includes running morning toolbox talks, weekly planning sessions and monthly one-on-ones with team members. You'll manage timesheets, approve overtime and leave, administer field allowances, and maintain discipline and attendance in line with company policy and Kenya's employment legislation. You'll identify skill gaps and coordinate technical training in refrigerant handling, electrical safety and industry certifications. Safety is paramount – you'll enforce personal protective equipment use and ensure every site meets food-industry hygiene standards. PLANNED MAINTENANCE & SERVICE SCHEDULING You'll develop and maintain a comprehensive annual Planned Preventive Maintenance calendar for each contracted client and site. Every week, you'll issue job cards, route plans and spare-parts lists to technicians, ensuring all work is closed out with completed reports, photographic evidence and client sign-off. The 24/7 breakdown call-out roster will be your responsibility, with careful monitoring to ensure response and repair times consistently meet contractual service-level agreements. You'll track critical service KPIs in our CMMS system including PPM completion rates, mean time to respond, mean time to repair and callback frequency. You'll also coordinate with our projects and installation teams on equipment commissioning and warranty work. QUOTATIONS, COSTING & COMMERCIAL MANAGEMENT You'll prepare detailed technical quotations for breakdown repairs, equipment retrofits, replacements and maintenance contracts at various intervals. Accurate costing is essential – you'll factor in refrigerants, spare parts, consumables, labour hours, transport, access requirements, subcontractor services and appropriate margins. Your supplier relationships will be key; you'll negotiate pricing and lead times with local vendors and overseas manufacturers of compressors, condensing units, controls and refrigerant gases. You'll track quotation-to-order conversion rates and work with finance on contract invoicing, retention release and debt recovery. CLIENT RELATIONSHIP & ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT You'll be the primary contact for our maintenance contract clients, a diverse portfolio including supermarket chains, dairy operations, horticultural exporters, hotels, hospitals, ice plants and cold-chain logistics providers. Regular site visits, quarterly contract reviews and annual service reports will be core to your account management. You'll set clear, realistic expectations around response times, import lead times and repair versus replacement costs. When issues arise, you'll investigate root cause, resolve complaints quickly and implement lasting corrective actions. You'll actively identify renewal opportunities and cross-sell possibilities such as additional sites, energy-efficiency upgrades and refrigerant retrofits. SPARE PARTS, STOCK & PROCUREMENT You'll maintain optimal inventory levels of fast-moving refrigeration spares – contactors, fan motors, expansion valves, filter driers, common compressors and controls. You'll plan refrigerant procurement strategically, ensuring compliance with Kenya's NEMA Ozone-Depleting Substances regulations and maintaining accurate refrigerant logs. You'll approve local purchase requisitions within your delegated authority and actively manage stock variance and obsolete inventory. REPORTING, COMPLIANCE & IMPROVEMENT Monthly, you'll submit a comprehensive maintenance report to the General Manager detailing jobs completed, revenue generated, gross margin, KPIs, health and safety incidents and significant client matters. All work must comply with manufacturer specifications, Kenya's electrical regulations, applicable food-safety standards (HACCP protocols where relevant) and environmental refrigerant rules. You'll champion continuous improvement initiatives including standardised service checklists, technician performance dashboards, spares standardisation and energy-efficiency proposals. Required Qualifications & Experience EDUCATION & CERTIFICATION You'll hold a Diploma or Higher Diploma in Refrigeration and Air Conditioning, Mechanical Engineering, Electromechanical Engineering or equivalent qualification. Government Trade Test certification or NITA qualification in Refrigeration and Air Conditioning is essential. You must have completed certified refrigerant handling and safe-handling training. A