Maintenance Engineer

Vital Energi; South Derbyshire; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

Vital Energi is recruiting a Mechanical Maintenance Engineer to support the Drakelow WtE facility. The role focuses on safe, efficient operation and maintenance planning with the Maintenance Manager and site team.

You will oversee reactive, preventative and condition-based maintenance of boilers, flue gas systems, steam turbine, ash handling, and DCS systems, ensuring high plant availability in line with budgets and procedures.

Qualifications

• Engineering background with HNC/HND or higher in engineering (mechanical/power generation).
• Minimum 5 years in power generation, Energy from Waste or similar.

Responsibilities

• Delivers and maintains high health, safety and environmental standards.
• Complies with safety rules and RAMS/authorization procedures.
• Assists in development and implementation of operating instructions.
• Investigates accidents or near misses with management.
• Maintains plant and equipment to OEM guidelines and CMMS procedures.

Skills

Engineering knowledge

Power generation

Safety awareness

Outage planning

Education

HNC/HND in Engineering (Mechanical)

Tools

MS Project

Excel (Advanced)

Job description

Mechanical Maintenance Engineer

A vacancy has arisen and we are excited to announce a new opportunity within our Drakelow team for the position of Mechanical Maintenance Engineer.

The Mechanical Maintenance Engineer is responsible for the safe, efficient and reliable operation of the WtE facility. This role involves assisting the Maintenance Manager and Plant Management Team to organise and manage the site maintenance functions, to ensure high plant availability and performance within approved budgets, liaising with internal staff and external support contractors where appropriate.

The role manages the life cycle integrity of plant and equipment and is responsible for the reactive, preventative and condition-based maintenance processes of waste-fired high-pressure boilers, flue gas treatment systems, steam turbine generator, ash handling equipment, auxiliary balance of plant, HV and distributed control (DCS) systems.

The Role

• Delivers and maintains high standards relating to health and safety performance and culture, environmental compliance and site housekeeping.
• Comply with and actively participate in Company rules, procedures, initiatives, in particular those relating to Health, Safety, environmental management, quality systems and continuous improvement.
• Complies fully with corporate safety rules, site safety rules and associated safe systems of work, PTW, LOTO, RAMS & authorization procedures to ensure that the plant is always maintained within prescribed Health, Safety and Environmental constraints and guidelines.
• Assists with the development, maintenance and implementation of operating and emergency instructions and procedures following OEM operating and maintenance instructions and procedure manuals.
• Ensures conformance to relevant statutory requirements Carries out supervisory responsibilities in accordance with the organisation's policies and applicable laws.
• Ensures that the facility and all personnel operate safely at all times and promotes an environment whereby safety is a priority.
• Thoroughly and promptly investigates any accidents or near misses in conjunction with management team to ensure that any unsafe practices or conditions are addressed and eliminated immediately.
• Reports and communicates incidents as per the incident reporting systems.
• Attends team safety meetings and lead meetings where necessary.
• Keep abreast of changes to safety and environmental legislation and all relevant Company policies.
• Ensures that a work order, risk assessment and method statements are produced for each activity and that all documents are completed in accordance with the Company CMMS procedures.
• Assists in the delivery of improvements by identifying issues, making recommendations and implementing plans.
• Assists with investigations into plant and process issues including root cause analysis, providing technical expertise, evaluating process variables, maintaining records, writing reports and taking appropriate action to ensure plant operations remain within design and regulatory requirements.
• Ensures that the plant is maintained in accordance with the prescribed O&M guidelines or approved instructions following evaluation of operational history and plant information.
• Works with team leaders and engineers to ensure that first line diagnosis and maintenance activities in conjunction with current procedures is carried out in order to preserve the highest levels of safety, environmental compliance, plant integrity and availability.
• Ensures that the Ops / Maintenance Manager and shift team leader are informed of maintenance activities that impact upon availability and reliability.

The Person

Education and Experience:

• Have a background in engineering or process operations and hold the following qualifications:
• HNC/HND level or above in an Engineering discipline, preferably Mechanical discipline related to power generation.
• A minimum of 5 years progressively responsible experience in the power generation environment, Energy from Waste, or similar industry.
• IOSH or NEBOSH Managing Safely general certificate or similar safety qualification required as a minimum.
• Professional memberships and certifications from groups such as the Institute of Mechanical Engineers (IMECHe), Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), or similar professional bodies.
• In-depth knowledge of steam raising plant and power generation equipment, welding, electrical design, maintenance, and repair issues, and knowledge of instrumentation/ & control systems.
• Minimum of 2 years’ experience and involvement in outage planning and execution duties.
• Experience with computerised monitoring and reporting systems.
• IT literate and competent to manage MS Project & complex excel-based spreadsheets.
• Knowledge and experience of working under CDM regulations will be an advantage.
• Understanding of continuous improvement philosophy and techniques and environmental compliance standards is desirable.

The company is opposed to all forms of discrimination and will select for employment, training and promotion on the basis of suitability for the job and/ or merit. It is company policy that no job applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment than another on the grounds of sex, race, colour, age, ethnic or national origins, political affiliations, religious beliefs, marital status, physical disability or is disadvantaged by unjustifiable conditions or requirements.

Applicants must have the unrestricted and ongoing right to work in the UK for the duration of employment, without the need for sponsorship. Due to the nature of this role, we are unable to support visa sponsorship or employ individuals with time‑limited permission or conditions attached to their right to work in the UK