Maintenance Lead

Abbott; Pokeno; On-site; NZD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Abbott in New Zealand is seeking a Maintenance Lead to oversee operations at the Pokeno plant. You will drive a world-class maintenance culture, ensuring equipment safety, reliability, and cost-effective performance to meet manufacturing targets.

Lead and mentor maintenance staff, plan and schedule preventative and corrective work, coordinate across departments, resolve breakdowns quickly, and push continuous improvement in reliability and loss elimination.

Qualifications

• Mechanical or Electrical NZQA Level 4 trade or equivalent.
• CMMS software experience.
• NZCE, Dairy Degree or Engineering Diploma are desirable.

Responsibilities

• Guide, develop, and mentor maintenance staff to support a safety-first culture.

Skills

Coaching

Maintenance planning

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Mechanical or Electrical NZQA Level 4 trade or equivalent

NZCE / Dairy Degree / Engineering Diploma

Tools

CMMS

Job description

JOB DESCRIPTION:

Abbott is a global healthcare leader, creating breakthrough science to improve people’s health. We’re always looking towards the future, anticipating changes in medical science and technology.

Our nutrition business develops science-based nutrition products for people of all ages, from helping babies and children grow, to keeping adult bodies strong and active. Millions of people around the world count on our leading brands, including Similac®, PediaSure®, Pedialyte®, Ensure® and Glucerna®, to help get the nutrients they need to live their healthiest life.

Working at Abbott

At Abbott, you can do work that matters, grow, and learn, care for yourself and family, be your true self and live a full life. You will have access to:

• Career development with an international company where you can grow the career you dream of.
• Benefits that support you and your family to stay healthy, financially secure, and supported throughout life’s journey, including comprehensive medical insurance coverage, wellbeing support, and competitive rewards that recognize your contributions.
• A company recognized as a great place to work in dozens of countries around the world and named one of the most admired companies in the world by Fortune.

The Opportunity

As the Maintenance Lead , oversee operations within our production facility. In this role, you will be responsible for ensuring that all equipment operates safely, reliably, and is maintained cost-effectively to consistently meet our manufacturing targets. A core focus of this position is driving a world‑class maintenance culture through leadership, asset optimization, and continuous improvement.

What You’ll Do

• Team Leadership & Mentoring: Guide, develop, and mentor operational and technical maintenance staff to support a high‑performing, safety & quality first culture.
• Planning & Scheduling Deployment: Deploy and the plant’s maintenance strategy by driving the planning and scheduling of both preventative and corrective maintenance activities.
• Cross‑Department Collaboration: Partner closely with other area Maintenance Leads, Production Schedulers and Production Leads to effectively plan, schedule, and execute site‑wide work.
• Breakdown Resolution: Take full ownership of internal and external resource coordination to ensure rapid and effective equipment breakdown resolution.
• Loss Elimination: Support to Identify, minimize, and eliminate maintenance- and breakdown‑related operational losses across the facility.
• Stakeholder Management: Build and maintain robust professional relationships with key internal and external stakeholders across the processing plant.

Requirements

• Mechanical or Electrical NZQA Level 4 trade or equivalent
• CMMS software experience

Desirable

• NZCE, Dairy Degree or Engineering Diploma

Competencies and Attributes

• Strong coaching, and team development skills.
• Effective maintenance planning, scheduling, and prioritisation capability.
• Strong problem‑solving and root cause analysis skills.
• Ability to coordinate resources and manage equipment breakdowns effectively.
• Strong stakeholder management and cross-functional collaboration skills.
• Continuous improvement mindset focused on reliability and loss elimination.
• Sound knowledge of maintenance systems, safety, and compliance requirements.

Location:

This position is based in Pokeno, New Zealand

Follow your career aspirations to Abbott for diverse opportunities with a company that can help you build your future and live your best life. Abbott is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to employee diversity.

Connect with us at www.abbott.com, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Abbott and on Twitter @AbbottNews and @AbbottGlobal.

The base pay for this position is

N/A

In specific locations, the pay range may vary from the range posted.

JOB FAMILY:

Manufacturing

DIVISION:

ANSC Nutrition Supply Chain

LOCATION:

New Zealand > Waikato: Pokeno Plant

WORK SHIFT:

Standard

TRAVEL:

Not specified

MEDICAL SURVEILLANCE:

Not Applicable

SIGNIFICANT WORK ACTIVITIES:

Continuous standing for prolonged periods (more than 2 consecutive hours in an 8 hour day)