Lead Reliability Engineer - Drive Uptime & Asset Excellence

Avara Foods Ltd.; Brackley; On-site; GBP 41,000 - 50,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension

Private medical

Life assurance

Holiday allowance

Staff discounts

Wellbeing programs

Job summary

Avara Foods Brackley site is seeking a Lead Reliability Engineer to drive asset performance and long-term engineering excellence across the site. You will lead a small Reliability team and work with the Engineering Operations team to deliver reliability improvements and optimise asset lifecycle management.

You will focus on enhancing OEE, reducing downtime, and embedding proactive maintenance strategies, including predictive maintenance, while developing the team within a fast-paced FMCG

Qualifications

• HND or above in Engineering (Mechanical, Electrical, or related discipline).
• Proven experience in reliability, maintenance, or engineering leadership in an FMCG or manufacturing environment.
• Strong understanding of maintenance systems (CMMS), asset management, and performance metrics (OEE, MTBF, MTTR).
• Demonstrable leadership, coaching, and influencing skills.
• Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and communication abilities.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and work effectively across teams.
• Experience leading engineering teams in a manufacturing setting.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage the Reliability team, ensuring effective delivery of asset performance, maintenance planning, and reliability projects.
• Act as lead for reliability and asset care, championing continuous improvement across site.
• Develop and sustain proactive maintenance strategies, including predictive and condition-based maintenance, to improve equipment availability and reduce unplanned downtime.
• Analyse performance and downtime data to identify and eliminate root causes of equipment failure.
• Collaborate with the wider Engineering team to coordinate planned maintenance, improvement activities, and engineering support during production.
• Lead cross-functional reliability reviews, ensuring effective communication between Engineering, Operations, Planning, and Technical teams.
• Manage contractor and OEM support, ensuring all work complies with site safety, technical, and legislative standards.
• Ensure all rectification actions identified on service reports are followed up and completed in a timely manner.
• Identify the training needs of the team in order to coach, train and develop the team to provide the opportunities to develop to their potential.
• Oversee asset care documentation, including PM reviews, calibration schedules, and PUWER assessments.
• Lead or support capital and improvement projects, ensuring reliability principles are built into design and implementation.

Skills

Leadership

Reliability leadership

Manufacturing engineering

CMMS proficiency

Data analytics

OEE optimization

Team coaching

Education

HND in Engineering

Engineering degree

Tools

CMMS

Job description

Avara Foods Brackley site is seeking a Lead Reliability Engineer to drive asset performance and long-term engineering excellence across the site. You will lead a small Reliability team and work with the Engineering Operations team to deliver reliability improvements and optimise asset lifecycle management.

You will focus on enhancing OEE, reducing downtime, and embedding proactive maintenance strategies, including predictive maintenance, while developing the team within a fast-paced FMCG