Maintenance Engineer

Northgate Vehicle Hire; Tees Valley; On-site; GBP 27,000 - 33,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual leave 23 days

Life assurance

Gym membership

Vehicle‑leasing schemes

Pension

Save-as-you-earn

Benefits app

Retailer discounts

Wagestream

Job summary

Northgate Vehicle Hire is seeking a Maintenance Engineer at our Darlington Head Office. The role offers 37.5 hours per week with a basic salary around £30K depending on skills and experience, plus company benefits.

You will apply your motor trade background to reduce downtime, control repair costs and ensure fleet maintenance complies with policy and legal requirements. This office‑based role suits technicians seeking to move off the tools into fleet control.

Qualifications

• NVQ Level 2 or equivalent in Motor Vehicle Mechanics.
• Minimum 5 years workshop experience.
• Strong communication between team members, customers and suppliers.
• Experience interacting with drivers, technicians, and suppliers.

Responsibilities

• Ensure proactive management of all service, maintenance and repair events.
• Handle contacts from customers and suppliers for updates, defects and authorisations.
• Manage costs associated to service, maintenance and repairs with updates and escalation as needed.
• Monitor systems and verify documentation to capture unplanned SMR events to resolution.
• Identify issues and delays and escalate to manufacturers, suppliers or management for support.
• Chase vehicles to achieve set SLA and authorise work accordingly.
• Ensure all administration is completed to a high standard, raise invoices and order numbers.
• Liaise with clients, manufacturers, dealers, internal workshops and suppliers for timely, cost‑effective repairs.

Skills

Motor Vehicle Mechanics

Workshop experience

Communication

Cost awareness

Education

NVQ Level 2 in Motor Vehicle Mechanics

Job description

We are excited you have visited our Careers page. We are seeking talented individuals that are excellent in their field of expertise and are posed with all potential and skills necessary to help us meet future business challenges.

Maintenance Engineer

Reference: AUG20269961

Expiry date: 2026-09-24 16:10:00.000

Location: Darlington Head Office

Benefits: N/A

Maintenance Engineer

£30K depending on skills and experience with company benefits

Hours: 37.5 hrs

Northgate Fleet Management is part of Northgate Plc with over 65k vehicles to manage and maintain. Northgate are the UK's leading Van Hire & Mobility Solution Provider and Fleet Management is an integral part of the offering, based in our Head Office in Darlington.

Our Maintenance team understand the importance of reducing repair costs and downtime to ensure drivers are back on the road as soon as possible whilst ensuring legal and policy compliance for all fleets.

With an NVQ Level 2 or equivalent in Motor Vehicle Mechanics and a good understanding of the motor trade, your expertise will allow us to ensure the integrity of repairs, reduce vehicle downtime by timely completion and control costs.

This role requires a strong technical knowledge as will involve interaction with drivers, technicians, suppliers, and customers. This is a role for someone who wishes to utilise their mechanical & motor trade background experience in a fleet control environment, so could suit a fully qualified Technician who is looking to move off the tools into an office-based role.

The Maintenance Controllers Part to Play

• Ensuring proactive management of all service maintenance and repair events.
• Handling contacts from customers and suppliers for updates, defects, and authorisations.
• Manage costs associated to Service, Maintenance & Repairs through obtaining updates, escalating issues, challenging costs, and potential delays.
• Monitor systems & verifying documentation to ensure any unplanned SMR events are captured and manage through to conclusion
• Identify issues and potential delays in a timely fashion and escalate them directly to the manufacturers, suppliers or management for support and advise
• Constant chasing up of vehicles, authorising work with set SLA’s
• Ensuring all associated administration is completed to a very high standard, raising invoices and order numbers
• Liaising with clients, manufacturers, dealers, internal workshops, and suppliers to ensure repairs are carried out in a timely, cost-effective manner.

Criteria for the role of Maintenance Controller

• Computer literate and able to communicate effectively between team members, customers, and suppliers.
• Technical Knowledge - Up to level 2 NVQ/City & Guild Equivalent in Motor Vehicle Mechanics with a minimum of 5 year Workshop Experience
• Ability to understand technical work required/time frame needed to complete
• Very good technical knowledge gained in a Workshop environment and someone who can interact at all levels.
• Experience and knowledge of Fleet Compliance would also be useful.
• Excellent and effective communication, negotiation and interpersonal skills
• Must be proactive and be able to pay keen attention to the smallest of details
• Ability to work as part of a team and equally un-supervised

Be part of the future of vehicle rental

Of course, a great basic salary, but there’s much more available for you at Northgate Vehicle Hire than just that. Some of our most popular benefits include (but aren’t limited to) …

• 23 days annual leave (+ bank holidays) and an extra day’s leave to celebrate your birthday
• free life assurance
• discounted, flexible Gym memberships
• exclusive employee vehicle-leasing schemes
• pension & save-as-you-earn share scheme
• Our Benefits App offering unlimited access to a huge range of retailer discounts and cashback deals (incl. Tesco, Asda, Currys, B&Q & Wickes to name just a few)
• We've recently launched Wagestream for all our colleagues - a Financial Wellbeing app that gives you more control over your pay. Not only does it let you choose when to get paid it also lets you put money aside each month and in addition you can get discounts on your shopping, check what benefits you're eligible for and can even put you in touch with a financial coach!

We’re also part of something bigger - ZIGUP, a leading provider of integrated mobility solutions, supporting customers across the UK, Ireland, and Spain. We are proud to have been awarded a King's Award for Enterprise in 2025, recognised for our commitment to promoting opportunity and supporting social mobility. Unlock your potential in an industry-leading business, surrounded by inspiring individuals and leaders, fuelled by the opportunity to thrive in your career.

We’re committed to building a diverse, inclusive, and respectful workplace where everyone can thrive. We actively welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, experiences, identities, and abilities. If you need adjustments at any stage of the recruitment process, just let us know. We’re here to support you.

We are agile. We are experts. We are imaginative. We are reliable.