Maintenance Specialist

United Utilities; Liverpool City Region; Hybrid; GBP 30,000 - 45,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

26 days annual leave rising to 30 plus bank holidays

Competitive pension up to 14% employer contribution

Performance related bonus

Company funded healthcare plan

Retail discounts, wellbeing and gym savings

EV salary sacrifice scheme

Enhanced parental leave

Flexible benefits through MORE Choices

Job summary

A leading water utility company in the United Kingdom is seeking a Maintenance Specialist. This permanent, hybrid role involves managing maintenance activities, improving asset performance, and providing support to field teams. Candidates should have a diploma in Engineering and experience in maintenance planning. United Utilities offers a supportive culture, competitive salary, and benefits such as 26 days leave and a pension. This position promotes autonomy and career advancement, making it ideal for proactive maintenance professionals.

Qualifications

• Engineering experience in an operational environment.
• Experience in maintenance planning and delivery, including corrective and preventative maintenance.
• Understanding of Reliability Centred Maintenance.

Responsibilities

• Lead and coordinate maintenance activities across Clean Water operations.
• Drive productivity and improve asset performance.
• Support field teams with complex job resolutions.

Skills

Strong technical understanding of water industry assets

Analytical skills

Planning and organisational skills

Collaboration and relationship building

Education

City and Guilds, ONC or Level 3 Diploma in Engineering or equivalent

Job description

Maintenance Specialist | Permanent | Hybrid

Are you an experienced maintenance professional looking for a role with autonomy, technical challenge and long term career progression? United Utilities is seeking a proactive and confident Maintenance Specialist to support asset performance across the Cheshire and Merseyside area.

This is an opportunity to play a key role in keeping essential clean water services running for millions of customers. If you enjoy problem solving, improving asset reliability and working closely with field engineers and operational teams, this position offers the ideal next step in your engineering career.

Why This Opportunity Stands Out

As a Maintenance Specialist you will have the autonomy to manage your own schedule while influencing asset performance across a wide operational region. Most days start from home with an average of three site visits per week and the rest of your time spent working remotely or from another suitable location. Flexibility is essential as each week can vary and an own vehicle is required.

This permanent role offers exposure to a diverse asset base and the opportunity to improve maintenance planning operational reliability and downtime reduction. You will gain valuable technical development and benefit from clear long term progression within United Utilities.

The Role

As a Maintenance Specialist you will lead and coordinate maintenance activities across Clean Water operations in Cheshire to ensure assets are reliable, efficient and compliant. You will work closely with Field Service Engineers, Work Management teams, Technical Coordinators and Production Managers to deliver high quality corrective and preventative maintenance.

You will be responsible for:

• The delivery of corrective and preventative maintenance work banks to deliver business performance and improve asset performance within a wholesale geographical area
• Effective backlog management of corrective and preventative maintenance work banks to reduce the operational risk of assets being out of service by understanding issues by leading and being visible within the area to support Field Service Engineers to resolve complex operations
• Driving productivity across the region by working closely with local FSE teams and Work Management to improve scheduling principles, resolve complex job issues, reduce job rejections and repeat visits
• To work collaboratively with the Technical Coordinators to create effective annual maintenance plans that deliver business performance
• Reduce asset downtime across the asset base for Production Manager areas by delivering an effective maintenance service and working closely with site teams to use local knowledge and learning to support the design and delivery of the spares strategy
• Communication of data and analytics to weekly field hub performance meetings to inform the Production Managers and field teams of asset performance, risks and issues and lessons learnt to aid continuous improvement. Where necessary to elevate issues and deal with conflicts
• Support monthly root cause failure analysis studies with maintenance optimisation team to improve local asset health and reduce repeat failures whilst supporting the on-going improvement of the maintenance work bank
• Provide gatekeeping support to the field hub and Production Managers to challenge high priority work requests to reduce the amount of high priority reactive work that impact on preventative maintenance delivery
• Work in a standardised way across Production Manager areas and the wider business as part of the Maintenance delivery team to improve maintenance performance and deliver the maintenance strategy
• Effective communication with the Field Service Engineers on changes to engineering practices such as new SOP’s/SSI’s, preventative maintenance job plans and work bank changes to ensure that the type of work carried out is standardised across the business
• Carry out work assurance across the field teams to ensure the highest standards of safety behaviour and that the teams have the correct capabilities, training and tools to deliver an effective maintenance service
• Build strong working relationships with work planning, field teams and maintenance excellence to ensure collaborative working that delivers business performance

What You Bring

We are looking for a maintenance professional with strong engineering understanding and the confidence to work independently across a large operational area. You will communicate effectively with colleagues at all levels and bring a structured approach to improving asset performance.

You will have:

• City and Guilds, ONC or Level 3 Diploma in Engineering or equivalent
• Engineering experience in an operational environment
• Strong technical understanding of water industry assets
• Experience in maintenance planning and delivery, including corrective and preventative maintenance
• Understanding of work order lifecycle, financial impacts and asset registration processes
• Knowledge of asset management principles including asset health and maintenance routines
• Understanding of Reliability Centred Maintenance and how FMEA informs maintenance plans
• Proven record of delivering safe, efficient and high‑quality maintenance activities
• Analytical skills to identify issues and implement solutions
• Excellent planning and organisational skills
• Resilience and the ability to manage changing operational demands
• Strong collaboration and relationship building skills

Why Join United Utilities

United Utilities offers a collaborative working culture, long term career pathways and high-quality technical development. In this role you will directly contribute to improving asset reliability and operational performance across the region, ensuring customers receive the highest standard of service every day. Your work will be supported, valued and recognised.

• 26 days annual leave rising to 30 plus bank holidays
• Competitive pension up to 14% employer contribution
• Performance related bonus
• Company funded healthcare plan
• Retail discounts, wellbeing and gym savings
• EV salary sacrifice scheme
• Enhanced parental leave
• Flexible benefits through MORE Choices

If you have a strong maintenance background and want a role that offers autonomy, technical challenge and long‑term development, we would be delighted to hear from you.