Job Description:

Leicestershire | Food Manufacturing | Engineering Leadership

We’re looking for an experienced Maintenance Manager to take ownership of engineering at a busy, fast-paced manufacturing site.

This is a great opportunity for someone who enjoys leading from the front, developing engineering teams and improving plant reliability. With significant investment planned across the business, you’ll have the chance to make a real impact on maintenance performance, equipment reliability and future projects.

You’ll lead the engineering function, balancing day-to-day maintenance with longer-term improvements, team development and capital investment.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Engineering Leadership: Managing, developing and motivating the engineering team, setting clear expectations and building a strong performance culture.

• Maintenance Strategy: Overseeing planned preventative maintenance, breakdown response and maintenance scheduling to maximise equipment availability and reduce downtime.

• Plant Reliability: Analysing performance data, identifying recurring issues and driving continuous improvement across the site.

• Health & Safety: Promoting high standards of engineering safety, food safety and compliance, ensuring the site remains audit-ready.

• Budget & Investment: Managing the engineering budget, controlling spend and supporting the delivery of capital projects on time and within budget.

• Planning & Systems: Making effective use of the CMMS, PPM schedules, work orders, spare parts management and external service contractors.

• Performance Reporting: Monitoring downtime, OEE, maintenance KPIs and costs to identify opportunities for improvement.

• People Development: Supporting training, skills development and performance management to build a capable, effective engineering team.

We’re looking for someone who can combine strong technical knowledge with the ability to lead people, improve processes and deliver results.

You’ll ideally have:

• Experience in a Maintenance Manager or similar engineering leadership role within FMCG or food manufacturing.

• A minimum Level 3 engineering qualification or equivalent practical experience.

• A good understanding of mechanical and electrical systems, including PLCs, HMIs, robotics and drives.

• Strong people management skills, with experience developing teams and managing performance.

• Experience with PPM, CMMS systems, maintenance planning and reliability improvement.

• A proactive approach to problem-solving, continuous improvement and project delivery.

• The ability to interpret engineering data, report on performance and manage budgets effectively.

• A good understanding of health and safety, quality and food safety requirements.

• The opportunity to take ownership of a key engineering function.

• A business investing in its people, equipment and manufacturing capabilities.

• The chance to lead improvement initiatives and influence future site performance.

• A varied leadership role combining team management, reliability and capital projects.

• A supportive environment where attitude, accountability and continuous improvement matter.

If you’re an engineering leader who wants to improve reliability, develop people and help drive a manufacturing site forward, we’d love to hear from you.

Apply today to find out more.