Head of Engineering

Morgan McKinley; Leinster; On-site; EUR 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Morgan McKinley partners with a well-established manufacturing business to recruit a Head of Engineering for a major production site in the Irish Midlands.

The role involves leading the engineering and maintenance function, ensuring equipment reliability and compliance, and driving improvements across production operations. The successful candidate will mentor the engineering team and collaborate with operations to optimise plant performance.

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading engineering or maintenance teams in manufacturing.
• Strong understanding of maintenance systems and asset reliability.
• Experience managing engineering ops in fast-paced production.
• Excellent people leadership and stakeholder management.
• Strong problem-solving and root cause analysis capabilities.
• Food manufacturing experience is desirable or from regulated/high-volume environments.

Responsibilities

• Lead engineering and maintenance across a busy site.
• Manage preventative and reactive maintenance to minimise downtime.
• Drive engineering performance, reliability, and CI initiatives.
• Collaborate with production to improve plant efficiency and output.
• Oversee KPIs, maintenance schedules and compliance standards.
• Support capital projects and site improvements.
• Develop and mentor the engineering team.
• Ensure health & safety, food safety and quality standards are met.

Skills

Leadership

Maintenance & assets

Continuous improvement

Stakeholder management

Root cause analysis

Food manufacturing knowledge

Job description

Engineering Manager

Morgan McKinley is partnering with a well-established and growing manufacturing business to recruit a Head of Engineering for a key production site in the Irish Midlands.

The successful candidate will lead all engineering and maintenance activities across the site, ensuring equipment reliability, operational efficiency, compliance, and continuous improvement across production operations.

The Role

• Leading the engineering and maintenance function across a busy manufacturing site
• Managing preventative and reactive maintenance activities to minimise downtime
• Driving engineering performance, reliability, and continuous improvement initiatives
• Working closely with production and operations teams to improve plant efficiency and output
• Managing engineering KPIs, maintenance schedules, and compliance standards
• Supporting capital projects, equipment upgrades, and site improvement initiatives
• Leading, developing, and mentoring the engineering team
• Ensuring all engineering activities meet Health & Safety, food safety, and quality standards

The Candidate

• Proven experience leading engineering or maintenance teams within a manufacturing environment
• Strong understanding of maintenance systems, asset reliability, and continuous improvement
• Experience managing engineering operations within fast-paced production settings
• Excellent people leadership and stakeholder management skills
• Strong problem-solving and root cause analysis capability
• Experience within food manufacturing is highly desirable, though candidates from other regulated or high-volume manufacturing environments will also be considered