Engineering Leader, Food Processing & Reliability

Leaderbrand Produce; Gisborne; On-site; NZD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Leaderbrand Produce in Gisborne, North Island, seeks an experienced Engineering Manager to lead engineering, reliability and maintenance across our processing operations, including the state-of-the-art Salad House facility.

You will lead a capable engineering team, collaborate with production and technical teams, and ensure equipment and facilities are safe, reliable and fit for purpose. This is a hands-on leadership role in a fast-paced food-production environment.

Qualifications

• Trade qualification or engineering experience in electrical, mechanical or mechatronics.
• Experience leading maintenance or engineering teams in manufacturing, FMCG or fast-paced production.
• Strong people leadership: planning, coaching and performance management.
• Experience with GMP, HACCP, CMMS, Lean, TPM or continuous improvement is advantageous.
• Ability to diagnose issues and lead root-cause investigations.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach and develop the Engineering team with clear expectations.
• Create a safety-first engineering culture including contractor management, permits and safe-work practices.
• Improve plant reliability, maintenance planning and shutdown execution across facilities.
• Reduce unplanned downtime and losses through disciplined problem solving.
• Strengthen preventive and predictive maintenance and CMMS discipline.
• Partner with Operations and Technical teams to improve factory performance, equipment capability and food-safe engineering standards.
• Scope and deliver capital projects from equipment selection to commissioning and benefit realization.
• Manage engineering budgets, maintenance expenditure, contractors and utilities.

Skills

Leadership

Maintenance management

Plant reliability

Safety culture

Budgeting

Communication

Project delivery

People management

PLC/Controls

Education

Trade qualification or engineering experience

Tools

CMMS

PLCs/Controls

Job description

Leaderbrand Produce in Gisborne, North Island, seeks an experienced Engineering Manager to lead engineering, reliability and maintenance across our processing operations, including the state-of-the-art Salad House facility.

You will lead a capable engineering team, collaborate with production and technical teams, and ensure equipment and facilities are safe, reliable and fit for purpose. This is a hands-on leadership role in a fast-paced food-production environment.