Engineering Manager

Location – Harlow + 2 other sites (onsite)

Salary – DOE (£60K to £70K)

Start Date – ASAP

Benefits – Great benefits package

I'm delighted to be partnering with a highly respected and well-established manufacturing business that is recognised as a leader within its field. With a strong reputation for quality, innovation, and operational excellence, they are now looking to appoint an experienced Engineering Manager to lead the engineering function across three manufacturing sites in Essex.

This is a fantastic opportunity for a proven engineering leader to join a successful and growing organisation, where you'll play a pivotal role in driving reliability, continuous improvement, engineering compliance, and long-term operational performance. Reporting directly to the Operations Director, you'll have the opportunity to shape engineering strategy, lead a talented team, and make a visible impact across the business.

Role Overview

The Engineering Manager is responsible for leading the engineering function across three sites in Essex. This includes two flour mills and an ingredient mixing plant. Reporting to the Operations Director, the role ensures safe, reliable, and efficient operation of plant, equipment, services, and engineering projects. The role combines technical engineering expertise, people leadership, legal compliance, and continuous improvement to support operational performance, maintenance standards, insurance requirements, DSEAR compliance, and long-term asset reliability.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, and develop the engineering team, setting clear objectives and maintaining high standards of performance, safety, and accountability.
• Manage planned preventative maintenance, reactive maintenance, and engineering support to minimise downtime and improve equipment reliability.
• Plan and deliver engineering projects, capital improvements, and equipment upgrades on time, within budget, and to agreed technical standards.
• Ensure compliance with health and safety, statutory, environmental, and quality requirements across all engineering activities.
• Take responsibility for engineering compliance across all sites, ensuring legal, statutory, and insurance inspection requirements are understood, planned, completed, and documented.
• Maintain technical knowledge of DSEAR requirements and ensure relevant plant, equipment, processes, and hazardous area controls are managed safely and in line with site obligations.
• Work closely with Operations, Production, Quality, and Supply Chain teams to support production targets and resolve technical issues.
• Coordinate engineering priorities across flour milling and ingredient mixing operations, balancing production needs, maintenance windows, safety requirements, and business priorities.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives, including root-cause analysis, reliability improvement, energy efficiency, and lean engineering practices.
• Manage contractors, suppliers, and service providers, ensuring work is completed safely, efficiently, and to specification.
• Develop and manage engineering budgets, spare parts strategy, critical asset registers, and maintenance KPIs.
• Maintain accurate engineering documentation, maintenance records, risk assessments, and standard operating procedures.
• Support new equipment introductions, process changes, and site improvement programmes from concept through to handover.