Electrical Shift Engineer

David Wood Foods; South Witham; On-site; GBP 32,000 - 48,000; Full time

Job summary

David Wood Foods is seeking an experienced Electrical Maintenance Engineer to support a 24/7 bakery operation. You will perform planned maintenance, diagnose faults, and implement improvements across motors, drives, PLCs, HMIs and safety circuits.

Applicants should hold a Level 3 Electrical Engineering qualification or equivalent, with strong fault-finding skills, BS 18th Edition knowledge and a track record in fast-paced production environments. Shift work, nights and weekends may be required.

Qualifications

• Essential: Level 3 Electrical Engineering qualification or equivalent
• Essential: industrial electrical maintenance experience
• Essential: safe-isolation competence and fault-finding skills
• Essential: experience with motors, drives, controls and PLC I/O
• Essential: knowledge of BS 18th Edition and electrical safety practices
• Desirable: food/FMCG engineering experience and HV/ specialist systems knowledge

Responsibilities

• Carry out planned maintenance and daily checks to high standards
• Respond quickly and safely to machine breakdowns and faults
• Diagnose electrical and controls faults using drawings, PLC/HMI diagnostics and measurements
• Record all work in CMMS and communicate updates to Production
• Support reliability improvements and permanent fault elimination
• Maintain clean, organized engineering areas and tools usage

Skills

Fault finding

Motors & drives

PLC I/O

Electrical safety

Electrical panels

HMI & sensors

Shift work

Education

Level 3 Electrical Engineering qualification / NVQ / BTEC or equivalent

Job description

About The Role

What we’re looking for:

• A recognised Level 3 Electrical Engineering qualification, NVQ, BTEC or equivalent (Essential)
• Previous industrial electrical maintenance experience.
• Strong practical fault-finding skills.
• Experience with motors, drives, controls and PLC I/O.
• Knowledge appropriate to BS / 18th Edition.
• Demonstrable safe-isolation competence.
• Good mechanical maintenance ability.
• Experience working in a fast-paced production environment.
• Good computer skills and the ability to complete accurate engineering records.
• Excellent communication skills.
• The ability to work shifts, including nights, weekends and bank holidays where required.

Even better if you have:

• Food, bakery or FMCG engineering experience.
• PLC/HMI programming or advanced diagnostics experience.
• Industrial-network experience.
• C&G or equivalent inspection/testing competence.
• Experience with servo systems and automation.
• Functional-safety awareness.
• Experience with HV, gas, steam, refrigeration or other specialist systems.

Shift Pattern

The role supports a 24/7 bakery operation, so flexibility around day shifts, night shifts, weekends and bank holidays may be required.

We can offer some flexibility around shift preferences depending on operational requirements, so please discuss your preferred pattern with us during the recruitment process.

Responsibilities & Requirements

Working as part of our Engineering Team, you’ll be responsible for a combination of planned maintenance, daily checks, breakdown response and engineering improvements.

Your day-to-day responsibilities will include:

• Carrying out planned preventative maintenance (PPM) in its entirety and to a high standard.
• Completing daily engineering checks and ensuring site utilities and equipment are operating correctly.
• Responding quickly and safely to machine breakdowns and plant issues.
• Systematically diagnosing electrical and controls faults and carrying out effective repairs.
• Fault-finding across motors, starters, VFDs, servo systems, PLCs, HMIs, sensors, instrumentation, control panels, safety circuits and industrial networks.
• Using electrical drawings, PLC/HMI diagnostics, alarms and measurements to identify the cause of faults.
• Working through Engineering Work Requests and ensuring all work is accurately recorded.
• Communicating with Production throughout breakdowns, providing clear updates on progress and expected recovery.
• Completing engineering projects and jobs within agreed timescales.
• Supporting reliability improvements and identifying recurring faults that need a permanent solution.
• Carrying out mechanical tasks within your level of competence and supporting the wider Engineering Team when required.
• Maintaining clean, tidy and well-organised engineering areas, workshops, panels and stores.
• Ensuring all tools, equipment, parts and materials used within the food factory are properly accounted for and left clean and tidy.

Electrical & Engineering Skills

We’re looking for an engineer with a strong electrical bias and good practical industrial maintenance experience.

You should be confident working around electrical panels and industrial machinery and have a strong understanding of electrical safety.

Experience with the following would be highly beneficial:

• LV electrical systems and control panels.
• Motors, contactors, starters and VFDs.
• PLCs, PLC I/O and HMIs.
• Servo systems and automated machinery.
• Sensors and instrumentation.
• Safety circuits and machine guarding.
• Industrial communications and networks.
• Heating and process controls.
• Production and packaging machinery.
• Site services and utilities.

You’ll also need to demonstrate a good level of mechanical competence, with the ability to diagnose and rectify mechanical issues within your assessed competence.

Bakery & Food Manufacturing Experience:

Previous experience within food production, bakery, FMCG or a similar high-volume manufacturing environment would be a major advantage.

You’ll be expected to:

• Follow all food hygiene and site safety requirements.
• Protect products and packaging during engineering interventions.
• Follow foreign-body controls and tool/parts accountability procedures.
• Leave equipment and work areas clean and ready for production.
• Complete appropriate line-release procedures following engineering work.
• Work safely around hot, cold, noisy and access-restricted areas.
• Follow all required PPE, permit and isolation procedures.

Breakdown & Production Support:

You’ll work closely with Production to:

• Understand the issue and its impact.
• Prioritise the response appropriately.
• Communicate realistic recovery expectations.
• Diagnose the fault rather than relying on guesswork.
• Restore equipment safely.
• Record what happened and what was done.
• Identify follow-up work where required.

Communication & Reporting

Good communication is an important part of the role.

You’ll be expected to confidently discuss breakdowns, engineering issues and recurring faults during Engineering and production meetings.

You’ll also complete accurate shift reports, CMMS records and handovers, documenting:

• What failed.
• What caused the failure where known.
• What action was taken.
• Parts and materials used.
• Equipment condition.
• Any temporary repairs or controls.
• Outstanding work and recommended follow-up.

Projects & Improvements:

You may be involved in:

• Equipment installations and modifications.
• Commissioning and testing.
• Engineering improvement projects.
• Root-cause analysis.
• Repeat-failure elimination.
• Maintenance-plan improvements.
• Contractor and OEM support.