Shift Engineering Team Leader - Drive Reliability

Whitworths; Irthlingborough; On-site; GBP 42,000 - 54,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

33 days holiday

Workplace pension

Family friendly benefits

Job summary

Whitworths is seeking a hands-on Engineering Team Leader to coordinate the shift engineering team and keep the site running safely, reliably and efficiently. You’ll combine strong technical knowledge with practical people leadership to respond quickly to breakdowns and deliver planned maintenance.

You’ll be on the factory floor, build a high-performing team, manage spares and records, and drive continuous improvements while maintaining health, safety and engineering standards.

Qualifications

• Experience as a maintenance technician in manufacturing.
• Strong knowledge of manufacturing systems, controls and instrumentation.
• Solid electrical fault-finding and general engineering maintenance skills.
• Ability to diagnose complex problems and deliver practical solutions.
• Proactive approach to planned and preventive maintenance.
• Ability to organise workloads, set priorities and hold others accountable.
• Clear communication skills across levels of the organisation.
• Supportive leadership with a focus on developing others.
• Good IT, administration and record-keeping skills.
• Strong commitment to health, safety and high engineering standards.

Responsibilities

• Lead, organise and support the shift engineering team.
• Respond decisively to breakdowns and minimise production downtime.
• Deliver the planned preventive maintenance programme.
• Identify recurring faults and turn reactive fixes into lasting improvements.
• Plan repairs and maintenance around production requirements with Operations.
• Maintain high standards of health and safety and safe systems of work.
• Coordinate contractors and issue permits to work when required.
• Ensure engineering records, machine settings and maintenance activity are documented.
• Manage critical spares and maintain stock levels.
• Support machinery modifications and continuous improvement projects.
• Coach and develop your team through regular feedback and performance reviews.

Skills

Maintenance Technician experience

Manufacturing systems controls & 


Electrical fault-finding

Diagnose complex problems

Preventive maintenance

Workload management & prioritisation

Clear communication across levels

Leadership & developing others

IT, administration & record-keeping

Health, safety & engineering standards

Education

Time-served apprenticeship or BTEC/ONC/HNC/City & Guilds in engineering

Tools

PLCs

Process equipment

Packaging equipment

Service equipment

Job description

Whitworths is seeking a hands-on Engineering Team Leader to coordinate the shift engineering team and keep the site running safely, reliably and efficiently. You’ll combine strong technical knowledge with practical people leadership to respond quickly to breakdowns and deliver planned maintenance.

You’ll be on the factory floor, build a high-performing team, manage spares and records, and drive continuous improvements while maintaining health, safety and engineering standards.