Freshwater Engineer - Barcaldine

Scottish Sea Farms Ltd; United Kingdom; On-site; GBP 36,000 - 48,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

31 days holiday

Life cover

Subsidised gym membership

Pension scheme

Employee assistance programme

Eyewear discount

Childcare contribution

Driving licence assistance

Rewards platform

Job summary

Scottish Sea Farms Ltd seeks a practical, safety-focused engineer for our Barcaldine RAS Hatchery near Oban. The role involves hands-on maintenance of hatchery equipment, water systems and site infrastructure to keep operations efficient and fish welfare at high standards.

You will perform planned and reactive maintenance, troubleshooting, and support project work, with on-call residential shifts. Familiarity with health and safety, risk assessments and permits to work is important.

Qualifications

• This role seeks a time-served engineer or equivalent with practical fault-finding skills.
• Experience in aquaculture, food production, utilities, or process environments is a plus.
• Health and safety awareness, permits to work and safe systems of work are important.

Responsibilities

• Carry out planned preventative maintenance and reactive repairs across plant and site services.
• Maintain and troubleshoot pumps, valves, pipework, oxygen systems and water treatment equipment.
• Support safe operation of recirculation and freshwater systems and emergency response.
• Work with hatchery teams to minimise downtime and protect fish welfare.
• Identify opportunities to improve reliability, energy efficiency and safety.
• Keep maintenance records, update work orders and assist with stock control.

Skills

Adaptability

Collaboration

Communication

Engineering

Qualification

Reliable

Job description

We are looking for a practical, safety-focused Engineer to join our freshwater Engineering team based at our Barcaldine RAS Hatchery near Oban.

ABOUT THE JOB

This is a hands-on role supporting the reliable operation, maintenance and improvement of hatchery equipment, water systems and site infrastructure. The successful candidate will help ensure the hatchery runs efficiently, safely and to high standards of fish welfare.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Carry out planned preventative maintenance and reactive repairs across plant, equipment and site services.
• Maintain and troubleshoot pumps, valves, pipework, oxygen systems, water treatment equipment, filtration, heating, alarms and control systems.
• Support the safe and efficient operation of recirculation and freshwater systems, including emergency response where required.
• Work closely with hatchery, fish health and management teams to minimise downtime and protect fish welfare.
• Identify opportunities to improve reliability, energy efficiency, safety and operational performance.
• Ensure all work is completed in line with health, safety, environmental and biosecurity procedures.
• Keep accurate maintenance records, update work orders and support stock control for critical spares.
• Assist contractors and project teams during installations, upgrades and site improvement works.
• Provide 24/7 engineering support to the facility through a residential On-call/day shift working pattern.

ABOUT YOU

The successful candidate should be a time-served engineer, mechanical fitter, maintenance technician, electrician or similar, ideally with experience in aquaculture, food production, utilities, agriculture, manufacturing or another process-led environment. You will have strong fault-finding skills and a practical approach to keeping critical systems operational along with a good understanding of health and safety, risk assessments, permits to work and safe systems of work.

Whilst not essential, it would be advantageous for the candidate to have:

• Experience with RAS, hatchery, freshwater production or aquaculture systems.
• Electrical qualification, mechanical engineering qualification, welding/fabrication skills or controls/PLC knowledge.
• Forklift, telehandler, confined space, first aid or other relevant site tickets.
• Experience using computerised maintenance management systems or work-order software.

ABOUT THE PACKAGE

• 31 days holiday (increasing to 32 with length of service)
• life cover
• subsidised gym membership and cycle to work scheme
• pension scheme
• employee assistance programme
• prescription eyewear discount plus pre-school childcare contribution
• driving licence assistance
• rewards and discounts platform

Full UK driving licence required.

You must have the legal right to work in the UK at the time of application as we are unable to consider candidates who require sponsorship to work in the UK.

About Scottish Sea Farms

With 46 marine farms, 3 freshwater hatcheries and 2 processing facilities across our estate, we know that growing the best quality salmon doesn't only rely on the best farming locations but also having the best teams in place across our business.

As a recognised local employer across the West Coast, Highlands and Northern Isles, we support the local economies where we live and work. We provide employment and career development opportunities to support our team and encourage them to build professional career paths.

Scottish Sea Farms are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace where all individuals are respected and supported. We welcome applications from all backgrounds and provide reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process to ensure equal opportunity.

If you have any questions, email [e-mail] and a member of our team will be happy to help.

Skills for the job

• Adaptability
• Collaboration
• Communication
• Skills
• Engineering
• Qualification
• Reliable

Laurel HouseLaurel Business ParkStirlingFK7 9JQUnited Kingdom