Interim Site Engineering Manager

Omega Plc; Kempston; On-site; GBP 92,000 - 111,000; Full time

Job summary

Omega Plc seeks an experienced Interim Site Engineering Manager to lead the engineering function in a fast-paced chilled and frozen food manufacturing operation in the UK. You will oversee a hands-on engineering team, drive reliability, and manage site services and refrigeration assets.

The role requires proven leadership in temperature-controlled environments with ammonia systems, and a track record of delivering maintenance and reliability improvements in FMCG settings.

Qualifications

• Hands-on engineering leader with experience in temperature-controlled manufacturing.
• Proven track record in TPM, Lean and WCM or similar improvement methods.
• Strong maintenance and reliability engineering expertise.
• Experience with ammonia refrigeration systems and critical site services.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach and develop the engineering team and budget.
• Drive maintenance strategy to improve asset reliability and OEE.
• Manage refrigeration infrastructure and compliance across the site.
• Deliver CAPEX and infrastructure improvement projects.
• Ensure safety, food safety, HSE and statutory compliance.

Skills

Engineering leadership

Maintenance reliability

OEE improvement

Stakeholder management

Team leadership

TPM/Lean/WCM

Continuous improvement

Ammonia refrigeration knowledge

Education

HNC/HND or Degree

Time-served apprenticeship

Job description

Essential Experience

Lead, coach and develop the engineering team.

Drive a proactive engineering and reliability culture.

Improve plant availability, OEE and maintenance performance.

Ensure refrigeration and cold storage assets operate safely and effectively.

Manage PPM, CBM and predictive maintenance programmes.

Support ammonia and industrial refrigeration compliance requirements.

Develop engineering KPIs and performance improvement plans.

Lead RCA and continuous improvement activities.

Manage engineering budgets and engineering resources.

Deliver CAPEX and infrastructure improvement projects.

Ensure compliance with all engineering, food safety, HSE and statutory requirements.

We are seeking an experienced Interim Site Engineering Manager to lead the engineering function within a fast-paced chilled and frozen food manufacturing operation.

This opportunity requires a hands-on engineering leader with proven experience of managing engineering teams in temperature-controlled manufacturing environments, including chilled processing, frozen production, cold storage facilities, refrigeration systems and critical site services.

Working closely with the Site Leadership Team, you will take responsibility for engineering performance, asset reliability, maintenance strategy, refrigeration infrastructure, compliance and continuous improvement across the site. The successful candidate will bring strong leadership capability alongside practical experience of refrigeration plant, cold chain operations and engineering reliability within a food manufacturing environment., Candidates must demonstrate experience within chilled, frozen or temperature-controlled manufacturing environments.

Particular interest will be given to individuals with experience of:

• Ammonia refrigeration systems
• CO refrigeration systems
• Cold stores and refrigerated warehouses
• Blast freezers
• Spiral freezers
• Hardening tunnels
• Evaporators and condensers
• Defrost systems
• Refrigerated production environments
• Utilities and critical site services
• Food manufacturing engineering leadership, Proven Engineering Management experience within FMCG manufacturing.
• Strong chilled or frozen food manufacturing background.
• Industrial refrigeration and cold chain engineering knowledge.
• Experience leading multi-disciplined engineering teams.
• Strong maintenance and reliability engineering expertise.
• Experience of TPM, Lean Manufacturing, WCM or similar continuous improvement methodologies.
• Demonstrable success improving OEE, asset reliability and engineering performance.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
• HNC, HND or Degree qualified Engineer, ideally with a time-served apprenticeship background.

Why Apply? Interim Site Engineering Manager

• Immediate impact opportunity.
• High-profile engineering leadership role.
• Significant autonomy and influence.
• Opportunity to improve engineering standards and refrigeration reliability.
• Supportive senior leadership team.
• Competitive day rate of £500-£600 per day.
• Immediate start available.
• This opportunity is particularly suited to engineering leaders with experience of chilled food, frozen food, bakery, cold storage, refrigeration plant, ammonia systems and temperature-controlled manufacturing operations.