Engineering Manager

Location: Newtownards

Company Profile

We are representing a well-established and growing food manufacturer supplying retail, foodservice and B2B customers across the UK and Ireland. They are focused on improving reliability, investing in their sites and building a strong engineering function to support continued growth.

Role Purpose

The Engineering Manager will lead the site engineering function, ensuring equipment reliability, compliance and effective maintenance planning. This is a leadership role focused on strategy, people management and performance, rather than a hands-on maintenance position.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and develop the engineering team, setting clear priorities, standards and ways of working.
• Develop and deliver the site engineering strategy aligned with operational and business objectives.
• Own preventative and planned maintenance programmes to maximise equipment uptime and reliability.
• Drive improvements in downtime reduction, asset care and overall equipment performance.
• Ensure full compliance with health and safety and statutory engineering requirements.
• Maintain accurate engineering documentation, procedures and records.
• Manage the engineering budget, including cost control and spend forecasting.
• Oversee external contractors, service providers and equipment suppliers.
• Ensure all contractor activity is carried out safely and to agreed standards.
• Support and lead capital projects, equipment upgrades and installations.
• Work closely with Operations, Production and Technical teams to support site performance.
• Provide engineering input into process changes and new product introductions.
• Support internal and external audits when required.

Skills and Experience

• Experience in an Engineering Manager or engineering leadership role within manufacturing.
• Strong understanding of maintenance strategy, reliability and asset care.
• Proven people leadership experience managing engineers and technicians.
• Good knowledge of health and safety legislation and engineering compliance.
• Experience managing budgets, contractors and capital projects.
• Strong communication skills and ability to work cross-functionally.
• Structured, calm and professional leadership style with a continuous improvement mindset.