Senior Mechanical Engineer

Essar Oil (UK) Limited; Ellesmere Port; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

10% company contribution pension

25 days holiday, increasing with serve

Private medical insurance

Additional flex benefits, including 50

Job summary

Essar Oil (UK) Limited in Stanlow invites an experienced Senior Mechanical Engineer to join our Engineering team. You will provide mechanical integrity assurance, lead complex maintenance and ensure safe, reliable operation of our facilities, working with Operations, Maintenance and Projects.

You will develop repair strategies, manage change documentation, and mentor engineers while upholding COMAH, PSSR, ATEX and PUWER standards in a fast-paced, regulated refinery environment.

Qualifications

• Degree in Mechanical Engineering or related discipline.
• Experience in refining, petrochemical, chemical manufacturing, energy, or other major process industries.
• Knowledge of static equipment: pressure vessels, piping, heat exchangers, tanks, boilers and furnaces.
• Experience with rotating equipment and multidisciplinary teams.
• Understanding of API, ASME and British Standards.
• Experience with reliability programs, RBI, root cause analysis.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management and report writing.
• Ability to coach, mentor and influence others; risk-based decision making.
• Chartered Engineer status or progress towards registration advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership for mechanical asset integrity, maintenance activities and plant modifications.
• Support resolution of complex equipment failures and integrity challenges; overtime coverage as needed.
• Lead development of repair strategies, scopes of work and technical assessments.
• Support MoC, risk assessments, inspection activities and compliance processes.
• Contribute to reliability improvement initiatives and maintenance optimization.
• Support capital planning and spend on maintenance projects and turnarounds.
• Coach and mentor engineers; promote engineering excellence and continuous improvement.
• Ensure compliance with COMAH, PSSR, ATEX and PUWER.

Skills

Static equipment knowledge

Rotating equipment experience

Repair methodologies & maintenance sc

Engineering change management

Asset integrity & reliability

Industry codes: API, ASME, BS

Reliability programs & RBI

Communication & report writing

Coaching & mentoring

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or related field

Chartered Engineer status or progression advantageous

Job description

Location: Stanlow Manufacturing Complex, Ellesmere Port

Employment Type: Site Based Full Time Role 5 days per week Monday-Friday

• Competitive salary
• 10% company contribution pension
• 25 days holiday, increasing with service
• Private medical insurance
• Additional flex benefits, including holiday purchase
• Access to Employee Assistance Programme with exclusive access to a range of Discounts
• Free secure on-site car parking

About the Company

EET (Essar Energy Transition) vision is to be the leading producer of low carbon fuels and establish a blueprint energy transition hub in the North West. EET plays a major role in supplying the Northwest and the wider UK with essential fuels. We produce over 16% of the UK’s road transport fuels, supply key feedstocks to the petrochemical industry, and are investing heavily in low‑carbon energy solutions.

We work with major retail fuel brands, supermarkets, Manchester Airport, leading airlines, and regional transport operators. We are also a key partner in the HyNet project, helping to deliver the region’s low‑carbon future.

With over 900 skilled colleagues, we offer a strong safety culture, technically challenging work, and some of the best training in the energy sector.

Find out more: Redefining Energy | EET

About the Role

We are seeking an experienced Senior Mechanical Engineer to join our Engineering team at Stanlow. This is a key technical role responsible for providing mechanical engineering assurance, supporting asset integrity and driving the safe, reliable and efficient operation of our production facilities. As a Senior Mechanical Engineer, you will provide expert support for critical static and rotating equipment, lead complex maintenance and repair solutions, and ensure compliance with site standards and regulatory requirements. You will work closely with Operations, Maintenance, Inspection, Projects, Technology and Turnaround teams to manage mechanical risks, improve asset reliability and support the delivery of safe and effective engineering solutions. For new in house projects you will have the opportunity to lead the mechanical design development alongside project managers.

Key responsibilities include:

• Providing technical leadership and assurance for mechanical asset integrity, maintenance activities and plant modifications.
• Supporting the resolution of complex equipment failures, operational threats and integrity challenges. To include participation in the engineering duty rota out of hours support.
• Leading the development of repair strategies, scopes of work and technical assessments, and authorize concessions and technical deviations.
• Supporting Management of Change (MoC), operational risk assessments, inspection activities and compliance processes.
• Contributing to reliability improvement initiatives, root cause investigations and maintenance optimisation programmes.
• Supporting capital planning and delivery of spend on maintenance projects, turnaround activities, including major equipment technical requestion specification and expenditure justification.
• Coaching and mentoring engineers while promoting engineering excellence and continuous improvement.
• Ensuring compliance with relevant engineering standards and regulatory requirements including COMAH, PSSR, ATEX and PUWER.

This is an excellent opportunity to influence long-term asset performance while working in a challenging and rewarding operational environment.

About You

We are looking for a highly capable mechanical engineer with a strong background in asset integrity, maintenance and operational support within a regulated industrial environment. You will combine sound technical judgement with a practical, solutions-focused approach and be comfortable operating in a fast-paced setting where reliability, safety and compliance are critical.

We are looking for someone with:

• A degree (or equivalent qualification) in Mechanical Engineering or a related discipline.
• Significant experience within refining, petrochemical, chemical manufacturing, energy, or other major process industries.
• Strong knowledge of static equipment including pressure vessels, piping systems, heat exchangers, tanks, boilers and furnaces.
• Experience supporting rotating equipment and working effectively across multidisciplinary engineering teams.
• Proven capability in developing repair methodologies, engineering assessments, maintenance scopes and management of change documentation.
• A good understanding of relevant industry codes and standards including API, ASME and British Standards.
• Experience supporting reliability programmes, risk-based inspection, root cause analysis and incident investigations.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management and technical report-writing skills.
• The ability to coach, mentor and influence others, regardless of formal line management responsibility. The ability to make sound risk-based engineering decisions and effectively manage competing priorities in a complex operational environment.

Chartered Engineer status, or progress towards professional registration, would be advantageous.

Application Process

This vacancy will be advertised for a minimum period of two weeks and will remain open to applications until an offer has been made and accepted. Therefore, the vacancy may close at any time after 2nd November 2026 , and we encourage interested candidates to apply as early as possible.