Interim Site Engineering Lead

Interim Site Engineering Lead / Interim Site Engineering Manager

Heavy Process Manufacturing / Food Production / Engineering & Maintenance Leadership

North Wales, Interim Contract of 6 - 12 months

Are you an experienced Engineering Manager, Engineering Lead, Maintenance Manager or Site Engineering Manager with a strong background in a heavy process manufacturing environment?

This is an opportunity to take a senior engineering leadership position at an established manufacturing site in North Wales, where you will play a key role in improving plant reliability, developing the engineering team and transforming the site's maintenance strategy.

The site is part of a larger corporate manufacturing group and employs around 250 people. It produces semi-finished products that are supplied into the wider manufacturing network.

The business has a clear investment roadmap and is committed to moving the site forward. However, this is an established plant with significant legacy equipment, complex processes and a number of critical assets where reliability and availability are essential.

We are therefore looking for a senior, hands‑on engineering leader who can hit the ground running and make a tangible impact.

The Opportunity

Reporting directly to the Plant Manager, you will take overall responsibility for engineering and maintenance activity across the site. You will lead the Engineering Manager directly, with wider responsibility for the site’s engineering, maintenance, reliability and technical teams, including mechanical, electrical and multiskilled technicians.

A major priority will be to help move the site away from a predominantly reactive maintenance culture towards a structured preventative and predictive maintenance strategy, while introducing Lean and Continuous Improvement techniques that genuinely work within a heavy‑process manufacturing environment. This isn't about implementing Lean for the sake of it.

The successful candidate will be someone who understands how to interpret Lean principles and apply them pragmatically to a complex manufacturing environment, engaging the existing team and delivering sustainable improvements.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide senior leadership across all engineering, maintenance and reliability activities on site.
• Lead, coach and develop the Engineering Managers, engineers, technicians and maintenance professionals.
• Establish clear engineering standards, processes and performance expectations.
• Develop engineering capability across mechanical, electrical and multiskilled disciplines.
• Transform the maintenance approach from reactive maintenance towards preventative and predictive maintenance.
• Continue the implementation and effective use of SAP / CMMS to plan, manage and optimise maintenance activity.
• Improve key engineering and reliability measures including OEE / GE, MTBF and MTTR.
• Lead root cause analysis and failure investigations following significant equipment breakdowns.
• Identify and address single points of failure and critical asset risks.
• Develop asset management strategies focused on reliability, availability and lifecycle cost.
• Champion appropriate Lean Manufacturing and Continuous Improvement techniques including TPM, 5S, Kaizen, Value Stream Mapping, SMED and RCA.
• Lead and support CapEx projects, equipment upgrades and plant improvement programmes.
• Develop robust engineering work standards, processes and documentation.
• Build strong relationships with the engineering and production teams and create a culture of ownership, accountability and continuous improvement.

About You

We are looking for a senior engineering or maintenance leader who has operated successfully within a manufacturing or process environment.

You will ideally have experience of:

• Leading engineering and maintenance teams within a heavy process manufacturing environment.
• Managing multidisciplinary mechanical, electrical and multiskilled engineering teams.
• Developing and implementing preventative and predictive maintenance strategies.
• Improving plant reliability and reducing unplanned downtime.
• Using CMMS systems, ideally SAP.
• Implementing Lean Manufacturing and Continuous Improvement techniques.
• Using data and KPIs such as OEE, MTBF and MTTR to drive engineering performance.
• Managing critical assets, equipment reliability and engineering risk.
• Delivering or supporting CapEx and engineering improvement projects.
• Leading teams through change while maintaining strong engagement and accountability.

Food manufacturing or food processing experience would be advantageous but is not essential.

The most important factor is your experience of heavy process manufacturing and your ability to apply engineering, maintenance and Lean principles in a practical way. Candidates from sectors such as chemical processing, food processing, ingredients, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, FMCG or other heavy/process manufacturing environments could be highly relevant.

The Right Person

This role will suit an experienced engineering leader who can quickly understand a plant, identify the major reliability and maintenance challenges and establish priorities. You will need to be comfortable operating at both a strategic and operational level.

The business isn't looking for someone who simply arrives with a textbook Lean programme and attempts to impose it on the site. Instead, you'll need to understand the existing operation, engage the engineering and production teams, build credibility and implement practical improvements that deliver measurable results.

You should be confident challenging existing ways of working, establishing better standards and processes, and creating a more proactive engineering culture. Most importantly, you'll need to be capable of hitting the ground running.

If you are an experienced Engineering Manager, Site Engineering Manager, Maintenance Manager or Engineering Lead with a strong heavy-process manufacturing background and are looking for an interim opportunity where you can make a genuine operational impact, we would be interested in hearing from you.

“Please note that if you are not contacted within the next ten days then your application, on this occasion, has not been successful. We thank you for taking the time to apply.”

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