Maintenance Operations Manager – Based in Chattanooga, TN | Travel to AL and VA
At Rock Point Real Estate, we exist to impact lives through construction and real estate by serving our team and empowering them to serve our clients and the world around them.
We’re a mission and values driven company that believes work matters, clarity is kindness, and excellence comes from consistency.
Reports to the Director of Property Management
Mission of the Role: The Maintenance Operations Manager keeps a 780-unit portfolio running at a standard we're proud of by owning team development, cost control, compliance, and field operations from day-to-day work orders through portfolio-wide capital planning.
This role exists to:
- Build and develop a maintenance team that performs consistently across every property
- Protect margin by surfacing cost trends before leadership has to ask
- Ensure every property is documented, inspected, and executable without constant oversight
What Winning Looks Like
- Maintenance technicians are trained, accountable, and performing across all properties
- Per-unit costs are tracked, anomalies are caught early, and savings are found proactively
- Inspections, compliance, and deferred maintenance are never a surprise
- Problems solved in the field before they become escalations
- The Director of Property Management is never chasing you for updates
We pay for the person who actually protects the standard and the margin, not someone who just dispatches work orders. Compensation is structured to reward outcomes, not activity.
Core Responsibilities
1. Team Development
- Train, coach, and evaluate maintenance techs on technical skills, work-order quality, and resident service
- Lead onboarding for new hires: hands-on field orientation, AppFolio training, and property-specific procedures
- Serve as the escalation point for complex or unfamiliar repairs across the portfolio
2. Field Operations
- Coordinate unit turns, small-scope projects, seasonal maintenance, and recurring capital work
- Respond to emergencies — active leaks, after-hours escalations, storm damage — alongside the tech on site
- Run periodic property walkthroughs to catch problems before they escalate; partner with PMs on triage
3. Cost & Performance
- Track per-unit maintenance, water, and trash costs; surface anomalies before leadership has to ask
- Find savings through product substitutions, bulk purchasing, and preferred-vendor relationships
- Review invoices, monitor work-order throughput, and report regularly to leadership
4. Compliance & Risk
- Own annual fire-suppression inspections at multifamily properties and keep us audit-ready
- Maintain inspection schedules across the entire portfolio and proactively flag deferred maintenance
5. Systems & Documentation
- Write and maintain SOPs, onboarding checklists, and skills assessment tools
- Refine templates, training materials, and reporting workflows so the team gets sharper over time
- Deliver regular portfolio reporting to the Director of Property Management — on time, every time
Key Expectations
- Portfolio of 7 multifamily communities and 200+ single-family homes
- Daily travel between properties across the Chattanooga area
- Several out-of-town day trips per month and occasional overnight travel
- This is not a desk role. Field presence and credibility are non-negotiable
- Roughly 60% field / 40% office
Who We’re Looking For: Humble, Hungry, Smart
Humble: You coach and correct without tearing people down. You know techs report to PMs — not to you — and you influence through respect, not authority. You can take feedback from a PM about how your training is landing without getting defensive.
Hungry: You follow up on the work order that’s been open too long. You notice a water bill spike and go find the leak before anyone asks. You close the gaps nobody assigned you.
Smart (property-smart): You know the difference between a quick fix and a band-aid. You read a spike in per-unit trash cost and know where to look. You recognize when a turn is going sideways and get in front of it.
Who We Need:
- Relational but firm. You build respect with techs and vendors without losing standards
- Detail-oriented. Nothing slips through the cracks
- Ownership-minded. Responsibility for outcomes, not just activity
- A coach. You can teach, correct, and influence people who don't directly report to you
- Organized and disciplined. Your properties are clean, trackable, and predictable
Required on Day One
- 5+ years of multifamily maintenance experience: turns, work orders, common-area systems
- EPA 608 certification (or obtain within 90 days of hire) and strong cross-trade skills: HVAC, plumbing, electrical, appliance, carpentry
- Working knowledge of AppFolio (or ability to come up to speed quickly)
- Valid driver's license and reliable personal vehicle , daily travel between properties is required
- Located in the Chattanooga area, or willing to relocate at your own expense
Nice to Have:
- Plumbing or electrical trade license
- Prior experience training or leading maintenance teams
Deal-Breakers - Save yourself and us the time. Do not apply if any of the following is true:
- You need direct reports to feel effective. Techs don’t report to you. If you can’t build respect and influence without a command-and-control relationship, this role will frustrate both of us.
- You won’t turn a wrench anymore. This role is hands-on when the job calls for it — training demos, emergencies, unfamiliar repairs. If you’ve moved past that, this isn’t the seat.
- You don’t like documentation. SOPs, AppFolio logs, inspection records, and cost reporting. If paperwork feels like a distraction from “real work,” this role will frustrate you.
- You can’t coach a peer. You’ll spend most of your time influencing people who don’t report to you. Conflict-averse or heavy-handed personalities don’t work here.
What Will Get You Fired
- Repeated fire suppression or compliance misses
- Unexplained spikes in per-unit costs that weren’t caught before leadership noticed
- A pattern of techs being under-trained or onboarding falling apart
- Work orders closing as ‘complete’ when the work isn’t right
- Poor documentation or lack of visibility into what’s happening across the portfolio
Why You Would Want This Role
- High ownership and autonomy, you run the maintenance operation
- Direct access to the Director of Property Management without layers of bureaucracy
- Opportunity to grow into a broader operations role over time
- A values-driven company that prioritizes people and sustainable pace
- Competitive compensation: $65K–$75K base depending on experience, plus mileage reimbursement and benefits
Our Core Values (Who We Strive To Be)
1. People First: Your life matters both in and out of the workplace. You are valued.
2. We Are Team Members, Not Employees: We take ownership. What we do matters.
3. Clarity: To be unclear is to be unkind, both for our team and our clients.
4. Servant Leadership: Leadership is serving those around us, empowering and encouraging their growth.
5. Always Learning, Always Improving: We continuously grow to better serve our family, team, and community. Shoot the sacred cow.
6. Excellence and Consistency: Doing the small things right, paying attention to details, and staying consistent makes big things happen.
7. Work Matters: We were created to work and believe it brings purpose, joy, and a fulfilled life.
Pay: $65,000.00 - $75,000.00 per year
Benefits:
Experience:
- Multifamily maintenance : 5 years (Required)
- turns, work orders, common-area systems: 5 years (Required)
- people or team leadership: 5 years (Preferred)
License/Certification:
- EPA 608 certification (Preferred)
- Plumbing or electrical trade license (Preferred)
Work Location: In person
