About this role Engineering & Maintenance Lead Chester Up to £75,000 Are you an experienced engineering professional with a passion
for team leadership, plant reliability and continuous improvement? We are recruiting for an Engineering Leader to join a growing manufacturing operation in Cheshire. This is an exciting opportunity to lead day-to-day engineering and maintenance activities at a site investing in new process capabilities and transitioning towards 24/7 production. Working closely with the General Manager and Production teams, you will play a key role in improving equipment reliability, minimising downtime and developing a strong, safety-focused engineering team. As Engineering Lead, you will coordinate the engineering and maintenance function, ensuring equipment and plant operations remain safe, efficient and reliable as production demands increase. Responsibilities include; Leading, planning and allocating work across the engineering and maintenance team. Coordinating planned, preventative and condition-based maintenance, alongside reactive breakdown support. Driving improvements in plant reliability, equipment uptime and maintenance performance. Ensuring compliance with permit-to-work, safe isolation and lock-out/tag-out procedures. Monitoring maintenance KPIs, including MTBF, MTTR and planned versus reactive maintenance. Managing maintenance budgets, critical spares and external contractors. Supporting the installation, commissioning and handover of new equipment. Coaching and developing engineers and technicians, including training, competency management and apprenticeships. Working collaboratively with Production to coordinate shutdowns and minimise disruption. Providing on-call support when required to support a 24/7 manufacturing operation. The Person Educated to HNC, HND or degree in Mechanical, Electrical or Multi-skilled. Previous experience leading an engineering or maintenance team within a manufacturing or process-driven environment. A strong understanding of engineering safety, permit-to-work systems and safe isolation procedures. Experience using a CMMS to plan, monitor and improve maintenance activities. Excellent leadership, communication and problem-solving skills. A proactive approach to preventative maintenance, reliability and continuous improvement. IOSH or NEBOSH health and safety qualification. Experience working within a 24/7 or continuous-process manufacturing environment (Desirable)
