Engineering Manager
TEAM
You will join the founding leadership team of a brand-new greenfield food-grade rPET facility in Ellesmere Port. The plant will process up to 35,000 tonnes of post-consumer PET bottles and trays every year, turning them into high-quality food-grade rPET pellets.
Hot commissioning is scheduled for November/December 2026, with full capacity aimed for the start of 2027. We want you to be a part of this.
All equipment is new. You will design, implement and own the full engineering and reliability strategy from day one - taking the plant safely through commissioning into world-class planned maintenance performance.
What you’ll be doing as Engineering Manager
- Founding leadership seat with direct access to senior decision-makers
- Own the complete transition from construction to stable operations
- Build a true planned-maintenance culture (target 80–85% planned / 15–20% unplanned) using RCM and TPM principles
- Permanent senior standalone role — strategy, systems, continuous improvement and build/hire your team around your needs for the plant.
- Genuine opportunity with the senior management team, to shape how a major UK circular-economy facility operates for years to come
- You will lead the Engineering & Reliability function through hot commissioning and into reliable full-capacity operation while establishing a world-class planned maintenance system.
- Lead and coordinate hot commissioning of all new plant equipment (Nov/Dec 2026)
- Support partial operation and ramp-up to full capacity (early-mid 2027)
- Establish commissioning procedures, punch-list management, as-built documentation and operator training support
- Act as Site Custodian for the Permit to Work system and implement rigorous Lockout-Tagout (LOTO) across all four shifts
- Design and implement a comprehensive PPM programme across all assets and shifts
- Apply Reliability-Centred Maintenance (RCM) to prioritise critical assets and select the right strategy for each
- Embed Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) principles, including operator autonomous maintenance
- Drive and measure a high planned-to-unplanned work ratio (world-class target 80–85% planned)
- Select, configure and embed a CMMS supporting work planning, scheduling, history, spares and reporting
- Develop and use key reliability KPIs (MTBF, MTTR, planned vs unplanned ratio, schedule compliance, backlog health)
- Lead root-cause analysis and ensure corrective/preventive actions stick
- Manage stores, critical spares strategy and OEM/vendor relationships
- Ensure full compliance with statutory inspections, pressure systems, LOLER, PUWER and UK H&S legislation
- Build and develop a lean engineering team that will grow with the operation
- Create a culture of ownership, competence and continuous improvement
- Work closely with Operations so maintenance is planned around production needs
- Be a visible, hands-on leader during the critical start-up phase
- Significant experience as Engineering Manager, Maintenance Manager or senior Engineering Lead in manufacturing, process or industrial environments (continuous process, plastics, recycling or similar preferred)
- Hands-on experience of plant commissioning, start-up or major equipment handover (ideally hot commissioning of new process plant)
- Proven track record of leading planned preventive maintenance programmes and achieving a high planned-to-unplanned ratio
- Demonstrable experience managing Permit to Work systems, contractor safety coordination and LOTO in heavy manufacturing
- Practical experience of RCM and/or TPM, including operator autonomous maintenance
- Strong understanding of CMMS systems, work planning & scheduling, spares management and reliability KPIs
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