Reliability Lead

Coles Group; City of Melbourne; On-site; AUD 140,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Discounts

Recognition program

Learning & development

Paid parental leave

Share plan

Job summary

Coles Group in Melbourne is seeking a skilled Reliability & Asset Care leader to drive the site’s strategy and lead a team of tradespeople and external contractors. You will oversee preventive maintenance, asset lifecycle management, and continuous improvement to boost uptime and OEE across the site.

The role requires strong engineering leadership, safety focus, and collaboration with Production, Quality, Finance and Procurement to deliver business outcomes.

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading maintenance and reliability programs.
• Experience with preventative maintenance and asset management systems.
• Strong safety leadership and stakeholder management.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team of 5 site-based maintenance tradespeople and supervise 30+ external contractors.
• Deliver the site’s Reliability and Asset Care Strategy.
• Drive preventative maintenance, asset lifecycle management and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Support site performance through improved equipment uptime, reliability and OEE.
• Manage maintenance labour utilisation, contractor performance and maintenance budgets.
• Ensure compliance with engineering standards, statutory requirements, and site safety systems.
• Lead root cause investigations and implement corrective actions.
• Partner with Production, Quality, Finance, Procurement and Site Leadership teams.

Skills

Reliability leadership

Maintenance leadership

Electrical

Automation

Instrumentation

Mechanical

Process engineering

Contractor management

Stakeholder engagement

Education

Engineering degree

Tools

SAP PM

CMMS

SCADA

MES

ERP

Job description

We’ve been proudly serving Australian communities since 1914 and have grown to become a top 30-listed company on the ASX with a portfolio of iconic homegrown brands. At the heart of our continued success is over 115,000 team members working across the country, all contributing to bringing our customers smiles. You’ll not only get to see your work make a difference, you’ll be part of a team working together to help Australians eat and live better every day.

About the team

Our manufacturing team are an essential part of turning raw materials into products ready for customers. We have a strong focus on team member safety, quality and continuous improvement whilst ensuring that customers' security of supply, quality, availability of product and value for money expectations are met. You'll work alongside a diverse group of individuals with different backgrounds, cultures, personalities, and beliefs, much like the communities we serve.

About the Role

Reporting to the Reliability & Engineering Manager, you will be responsible for executing the site’s Reliability and Asset Care Strategy while leading a team of skilled maintenance professionals and specialist contractors.

You will have accountability for:

• Leading a team of 5 site-based maintenance tradespeople and supervising 30+ external contractors.
• Delivering the site’s Reliability and Asset Care Strategy.
• Driving preventative maintenance, asset lifecycle management, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Supporting site performance through improved equipment uptime, reliability, and Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE).
• Managing maintenance labour utilisation, contractor performance, and maintenance-related budgets.
• Ensuring compliance with engineering standards, statutory requirements, and site safety systems.
• Leading root cause investigations and implementing sustainable corrective actions.
• Partnering with Production, Quality, Finance, Procurement, and Site Leadership teams to deliver business outcomes.

What You’ll Bring

We're looking for a strong technical leader who thrives in a fast-paced manufacturing environment and can balance operational priorities with long-term reliability improvements.

You’ll ideally have:

• Significant experience in reliability, maintenance, or engineering leadership within an FMCG or highly automated manufacturing environment.
• Proven experience leading and developing trades and technical teams.
• Strong technical capability in electrical, automation, instrumentation, mechanical, or process engineering disciplines.
• Experience with preventative maintenance, asset management systems, reliability engineering, and root cause analysis.
• Strong contractor management and stakeholder engagement skills.
• A genuine commitment to safety leadership and compliance.
• Trade or tertiary qualifications in an engineering-related discipline. Electrical, automation, instrumentation, or processing backgrounds will be highly regarded.
• Exposure to SAP PM, CMMS, SCADA, MES, ERP or similar manufacturing systems.

What’s in it for you?.

• Discounts: Eligible team members receive 5% discount all year round on your Supermarket and Liquor online and in-store purchases. We also offer additional periods of double discount (10%) at various times throughout the year. As well as hotdeals exclusive to team members that translate into additional savings.
• Reward through recognition: Give and receive recognition, linked to our Coles values, through our digital recognition platform ‘mythanks’. You can accumulate points to redeem in the online shop for exciting gifts and electronic gift cards from an extensive range of retailers.
• Opportunities for learning and development: No matter where you start within our diverse business, you’ll have experiences, exposure, and education to satisfy you. Discover and explore a variety of career development programs and job-specific training.
• Paid parental leave: We understand how important your life outside work is and offer permanent team members paid parental leave to support you in balancing work and family.
• Investment in your future: Our annual team member share plan offer allows eligible team members to make regular pre-tax salary sacrifice deductions to purchase Coles Group shares.

About the recruitment process

We’re continuing to build a gender equitable team, and a culture that is just as diverse, inclusive and welcoming as the communities we serve. We are committed to creating a workplace that is safe and respectful for our team. We encourage applications from people of all ages, cultures (including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples), abilities, sexual orientation and gender identities.

We’re happy to adjust our recruitment process to support candidates with disability. For further information and additional contact details visit the ‘Our Recruitment Process’ section of our careers site or email ***************@coles.com.au