Engineering Maintenance Manager

ProFound People Pty Ltd; Christchurch; On-site; NZD 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

ProFound People Pty Ltd is recruiting an Engineering Maintenance Manager to lead the on-site mechanical and electrical engineering and maintenance functions. You will ensure equipment uptime, manage preventive and corrective maintenance, and drive reliability improvements during peak and off-peak seasons.

The role focuses on hands-on leadership on the plant floor, coaching supervisors, and coordinating with production and site leadership to meet KPIs, budget and safety targets.

Qualifications

• Experience leading maintenance/engineering teams in a processing or manufacturing plant.
• Ability to set goals, KPIs and team expectations.
• Strong practical understanding of mechanical and electrical plant equipment.

Responsibilities

• Lead the plant's mechanical and electrical engineering and maintenance function, setting goals and KPIs.
• Plan preventive, corrective and reliability maintenance around seasonal calendars.
• Diagnose recurring faults and implement lasting fixes on site.
• Lead health and safety across engineering and maintenance activities.
• Scope, plan and deliver engineering capital projects and installations.
• Develop technical and leadership capability within the team.

Skills

Leadership

Maintenance planning

Safety culture

Troubleshooting

Education

Mechanical/Electrical engineering degree

Job description

An established New Zealand manufacturer is strengthening the engineering leadership at its Canterbury plant and is now hiring an Engineering Maintenance Manager to lead the mechanical and electrical engineering function responsible for the condition, reliability and improvement of the site's plant and equipment.

In this role you will own the engineering side of the plant: the machinery, the electrical systems and the maintenance of both, rather than the production output that runs on them. Throughput, yield and processing targets sit with a separate production manager, while your responsibility is making sure the equipment is in a fit state to deliver them. That covers maintenance and repair, reliability improvement, equipment upgrades, the installation and commissioning of new plant, engineering health and safety, capital projects and the KPIs that measure how well the engineering function performs. The plant combines heavily mechanical, chain driven processing lines at the front end with conveyor systems and automated packaging equipment further down the line, and the engineering workload follows a strongly seasonal rhythm. For much of the year the site runs at full capacity with very little time available for maintenance, so the engineering priority is protecting uptime and resolving breakdowns quickly. In the quieter months the focus shifts to rebuilding, overhauling and improving equipment so the plant goes into the next peak in better mechanical and electrical condition. You will lead an engineering team that includes supervisory and maintenance planning roles alongside mechanical and electrical trades, reporting to the site's senior manager and working closely with production and the wider engineering leadership of the business. It suits a manager who sets clear direction, goals and expectations for the engineering team, and who is just as comfortable out on the plant floor working through a fault with the team as setting KPIs, rather than someone who manages from behind a desk or through strategy documents. The ideal background is one shaped by leading maintenance and engineering teams in a demanding processing or manufacturing plant with seasonal peaks and tight maintenance windows, rather than a production, operations or manufacturing management career, a corporate engineering management role, or a supervisory role without genuine management responsibility.

This is a full time, salaried role based on site at a plant within commuting distance of Christchurch. Hours are generally Monday to Friday, with maintenance work on some weekends, particularly outside the main processing season, and the role requires a strong and regular presence on site. For candidates outside Canterbury, relocation is required, and relocation support can be considered for the right person.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the plant's mechanical and electrical engineering and maintenance function, setting goals, KPIs and clear expectations for the team.
• Plan and prioritise preventive, corrective and reliability maintenance around the seasonal processing calendar, protecting equipment uptime during peak periods and driving rebuild and overhaul work in the quieter months.
• Stay close to the detail on the plant floor, working with supervisors and trades to diagnose recurring mechanical and electrical faults and put lasting engineering fixes in place.
• Lead health and safety across all engineering and maintenance activities, building a strong safety culture within the team and among contractors.
• Scope, plan and deliver engineering capital projects, including the installation and commissioning of new equipment and improvements to existing machinery.
• Develop the technical and leadership capability of the engineering team, coaching supervisors and working closely with production and wider site leadership.

Requirements

• Trade qualification, diploma or degree in mechanical, electrical or a related engineering discipline.
• Proven experience managing a maintenance or engineering team in a processing or manufacturing plant, with responsibility beyond day to day supervision, including setting goals, KPIs and team expectations.
• Strong practical understanding of mechanical, electrical and automated plant equipment, with the ability to get into the detail of a fault and lead it through to resolution.
• Demonstrated experience planning maintenance and reliability work around production demand, ideally in an environment with seasonal peaks and limited maintenance windows.
• Experience leading engineering health and safety and delivering capital projects or equipment installations within an operating plant.

Desirable but not essential

• Background in red meat processing or a closely related food processing environment.
• Experience maintaining chain driven processing lines, conveyor systems and automated packaging equipment.
• Exposure to working in a larger organisation alongside a central engineering function.