Senior Engineering Lead

Overview

Science In Sport Group is a world leader in sports and performance nutrition. We operate two brands:
SiS and PhD Nutrition. SiS provides performance nutritional solutions for professional athletes, sports and fitness enthusiasts, and the active lifestyle community, with ambassadors and partnerships across major clubs and events. PhD Nutrition serves the active lifestyle community with over 20 years of R&D to maximise performance. Our brands sell through , , third‑party marketplaces including Amazon, and extensive domestic and international retail distribution.

In 2022 we opened a 160,000 square foot manufacturing and logistics facility in Blackburn, Lancashire. We partner with globally recognised elite teams and are the Official Energy Gel Provider of Run Through and the Official Nutrition Partner of Ultra X.

The Role

Senior Engineering Lead: you will control all engineering activities across a world‑class sports nutrition manufacturing site. You will ensure assets operate safely, reliably and efficiently, and drive continuous improvement in equipment performance and engineering standards. Through leadership, strategic oversight and hands‑on involvement, you will build a proactive, high‑performing engineering team that supports operational excellence and growth plans. You will deliver the engineering strategy, optimise planned maintenance, support capital expenditure planning, and ensure compliance with statutory, safety and quality standards.

You will work with Manufacturing, Quality and Warehouse teams to maximise equipment uptime, reduce cost, and drive sustained reliability across the site.

Responsibilities

• Job Type: Permanent
• Salary: up to £65,000
• Working Hours:
  
  09:00 – 17:30 Monday to Friday
• Location:
  
  Blackburn

• Champion safety, compliance and engineering standards. Maintain systems for risk assessments, permits to work, and contractor control. Promote a safety‑first culture and continuously raise engineering standards.
• Drive asset reliability and operational performance. Deliver the maintenance strategy to maximise asset availability and performance, oversee planned and reactive maintenance, and use data and RCA/PM insights to reduce downtime and extend asset life.
• Develop and empower the engineering team. Provide leadership, foster accountability and integrity, recognise success, and coach underperformance fairly.
• Lead continuous improvement. Identify and deliver projects to enhance safety, quality, cost and efficiency; collaborate cross‑functionally to improve Overall Equipment Effectiveness, process reliability and safety.

Accountability – What You Are Responsible For Delivering

Health, safety & compliance

• Ensure all engineering activities are conducted safely, meeting statutory and company standards.
• Maintain robust systems for risk assessments, safe isolation, work permits and contractor control.
• Ensure compliance with relevant HSE legislation and insurance requirements, including PUWER, DSEAR, PSSR and LOLER; schedule inspections and manage corrective actions.
• Role model safe practices and promote near‑miss reporting and proactive risk prevention.

Maintenance planning & execution

• Schedule planned maintenance and oversee the team to exceed PMC targets.
• Lead timely reactive response, achieve first‑time fixes, and implement corrective actions using root cause analysis to prevent recurrence.
• Adapt and optimise maintenance schedules using breakdown data, insights and OEM recommendations.
• Coordinate with production planning to schedule PM activities around production demand.

People leadership & management

• Lead and motivate the engineering team with clear communication and regular 1‑to‑1s.
• Align team priorities with business objectives through quarterly OKRs.
• Develop capability through coaching, training and performance plans.
• Allocate engineering resources across PM, reactive work, Continuous Improvement and projects using the CMMS system.
• Plan and manage engineering cover across production shifts.
• Build a high‑performance culture through recognition, constructive feedback and performance frameworks.

Engineering systems & reporting

• Guide consistent use of the CMMS system and ensure activity is recorded and…