Maintenance & Reliability Engineer

Sofina Foods Europe; Grimsby; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 65,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Car Allowance

Company Bonus Scheme

Company Pension Scheme

Enhanced Sick Pay

Private Medical Insurance

Job summary

Sofina Foods is seeking a Maintenance & Reliability Engineer based in Grimsby to drive engineering excellence across regional sites, moving maintenance from reactive to planned, evidence-led reliability.

You will lead RCA, optimise CMMS, develop risk-based maintenance, mentor site teams, and contribute to reducing downtime and cost of failure. Join Sofina Foods to shape maintenance practices, work with Heads of Engineering, and build long-term capability across the region.

Qualifications

• Apprentice trained with a Level 3 qualification in Mechanical, Electrical or Manufacturing Engineering, or equivalent time-served experience.
• At least 5 years' experience in a maintenance or reliability role within FMCG, food or high-volume manufacturing.
• Demonstrable experience delivering Root Cause Analysis on live plant.
• Hands-on experience with CMMS data, hierarchy, and maintenance governance.
• Strong understanding of preventive and predictive maintenance techniques.
• Experience with asset criticality, risk assessment, FMEA or reliability-centred maintenance.
• Able to analyse downtime and failure data and turn findings into practical improvements.
• Comfortable influencing and coaching people who are not directly within your reporting line.

Responsibilities

• Deploying and embedding Maintenance & Reliability standards across sites, including consistent RCA, PPM, and planned maintenance practices.
• Leading Root Cause Analysis on significant equipment failures and ensuring actions are implemented and sustained.
• Improving CMMS data quality, asset hierarchy, downtime coding, and failure categorisation to support better decision-making.
• Developing and implementing risk-based maintenance strategies, including asset criticality assessments and reliability-centred maintenance approaches.
• Analysing downtime, maintenance, and reliability data to identify trends, challenge assumptions and drive measurable improvements.
• Supporting investment decisions through asset risk assessments and robust ROI-based business cases.
• Working with site teams and stores to improve critical spares strategies and optimise stock levels.
• Coaching and mentoring Heads of Engineering and site engineers, sharing best practice and developing long-term engineering capability across the region.

Skills

Maintenance & Reliability

RCA

Predictive & Preventive Maintenance

Data analysis

Leadership & coaching

Education

Level 3 qualification in Mechanical/Electrical/Manufacturing Engineering

Tools

CMMS

FMEA

Job description

Summary

Turn engineering data into action, improve reliability, and make a measurable difference across our sites.

Additional Benefits

• Car Allowance
• Company Bonus Scheme
• Company Pension Scheme
• Enhanced Sick Pay
• Private Medical Insurance

The Role

Reporting into the Head of Maintenance and Reliability. Our new Maintenance & Reliability Engineer will play a key role in driving engineering excellence across our regional sites, helping to move maintenance from reactive problem-solving towards a more planned, evidence-led, and reliability-focused approach.

Based in Grimsby, you will have a lead site alongside responsibility for supporting other sites across the region. Working closely with Heads of Engineering, site engineering teams, and Group Engineering, you will embed consistent Maintenance & Reliability standards across the business, using Root Cause Analysis (RCA), CMMS, PPM, asset criticality, and reliability data to improve performance and reduce the cost of failure.

This is a role for a practising reliability engineer who enjoys solving complex problems, challenging assumptions with data and, importantly, building the capability of others rather than simply fixing problems yourself.

Your Key Responsibilities

• Deploying and embedding Maintenance & Reliability standards across sites, including consistent RCA, PPM, and planned maintenance practices.
• Leading Root Cause Analysis on significant equipment failures and ensuring actions are implemented and sustained.
• Improving CMMS data quality, asset hierarchy, downtime coding, and failure categorisation to support better decision-making.
• Developing and implementing risk-based maintenance strategies, including asset criticality assessments and reliability-centred maintenance approaches.
• Analysing downtime, maintenance, and reliability data to identify trends, challenge assumptions and drive measurable improvements.
• Supporting investment decisions through asset risk assessments and robust ROI-based business cases.
• Working with site teams and stores to improve critical spares strategies and optimise stock levels.
• Coaching and mentoring Heads of Engineering and site engineers, sharing best practice and developing long-term engineering capability across the region.

The role will be approximately 60% focused on your lead site and 40% supporting other regional sites, with regular travel required.

The Ideal Candidate

• Apprentice trained with a Level 3 qualification in Mechanical, Electrical or Manufacturing Engineering, or equivalent time-served experience.
• At least 5 years' experience in a maintenance or reliability role within FMCG, food or high-volume manufacturing.
• Demonstrable experience delivering Root Cause Analysis on live plant.
• Hands-on experience with CMMS systems, including data, hierarchy, and maintenance governance.
• Strong understanding of preventive and predictive maintenance techniques.
• Experience with asset criticality, risk assessment, FMEA or reliability-centred maintenance.
• Able to analyse downtime and failure data and turn findings into practical improvements.
• Comfortable influencing and coaching people who are not directly within your reporting line.

It would be advantageous to hold CMRP, MIAM or an equivalent reliability qualification, alongside previous multi-site or regional experience.

Most importantly, you will be someone who can influence without authority — able to work alongside Heads of Engineering and site teams, challenge established thinking constructively and build sustainable capability.

Why Sofina Foods?

Join Sofina Foods and play a key role in transforming engineering performance across multiple manufacturing sites. As a Maintenance & Reliability Engineer, you'll have the opportunity to drive meaningful change, using data and innovative reliability strategies to improve equipment performance, reduce downtime, and influence engineering excellence across the region.

This is more than a technical role. You'll work alongside experienced engineering leaders, coach and develop teams, lead continuous improvement initiatives, and help shape the future of maintenance practices in a business that values expertise, collaboration, and long-term capability building. With responsibility across multiple sites and the chance to make a measurable impact, this is an ideal opportunity for a reliability professional looking to grow their influence and career.

Company Information

Sofina Foods isn't just a food company - It’s a place to build your future.

With a team of over 13,000 people across 40 sites in Canada and Europe, we're passionate about delivering quality meats and seafood products to consumers around the world.

Join a company where innovation, sustainability, and customer satisfaction drive everything we do. At Sofina, you’ll grow your skills, make a real impact, and work with responsibly sourced products from more than 50 protein sources across five continents.

Our vision is bold: to be the most successful food company in the world.

Equal Opportunities

Sofina Foods is proud to be an equal opportunities employer. We’re committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace where everyone feels valued and respected.

We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and experiences – regardless of age, disability, gender identity, marriage or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation.

Schedule

Monday to Friday

Location

Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire

Hours of Work

Full-time

Company

Sofina Foods

Country Code

GB