Engineering & Reliability Lead

Engineering Performance & Reliability Manager

Join this dynamic team focused on delivering better nutrition for every step of life’s journey.

The Engineering Performance & Reliability Manager is responsible for driving engineering performance, reliability, maintenance planning excellence and continuous improvement across the Middlesbrough site. The role acts as the key link between Engineering, Operations, Technical and Continuous Improvement functions, ensuring that engineering activity is planned effectively, executed to a high standard and continuously improved through robust systems and processes.

This position owns the engineering operating systems that support performance, including maintenance planning, CMMS optimisation, breakdown analysis governance, PM effectiveness, reliability improvement programmes and engineering continuous improvement activities. The role does not directly manage engineers but is responsible for ensuring engineering processes, standards and systems are effective, adhered to and continuously improved.

• Own and continuously improve the site engineering planning process.
• Work with the Maintenance Manager and Shift Engineers to develop robust weekly maintenance plans.
• Coordinate engineering activity to ensure resources are aligned to business priorities.
• Provide clear visibility of planned engineering activities across the site.
• Support planning of preventative maintenance, corrective maintenance, shutdown work and engineering improvement projects.
• Ensure engineering work is appropriately planned, prepared and resourced before execution.
• Monitor engineering backlog and drive completion of priority activities.
• Improve engineering handovers and communication between shifts.
• Develop planning standards that maximise engineering effectiveness and minimise reactive work.

• Own and continuously improve the site’s Planned Maintenance programme.
• Review PM effectiveness and ensure maintenance frequencies remain appropriate.
• Ensure PM schedules are optimised based on asset performance, breakdown history and RCA findings.
• Conduct routine audits of completed PMs to verify quality, compliance and adherence to standards.
• Challenge ineffective PM activities and drive improvements to maintenance routines.
• Ensure PMs remain focused on failure prevention rather than task completion.
• Support the Maintenance Manager in driving maintenance excellence across the site.
• Act as site owner for the Computerised Maintenance Management System (CMMS).
• Optimise CMMS workflows, reporting, structures and user compliance.
• Ensure engineering work orders are raised, managed and closed correctly.
• Ensure meaningful fault descriptions, corrective actions and closure comments are captured.
• Improve engineering data quality to support effective reliability analysis.
• Ensure engineering labour hours are accurately captured against work orders.
• Ensure engineering activity is visible and traceable through the CMMS.
• Develop reporting that provides visibility of:
  • Asset performance trends
• Train and coach engineers on effective CMMS usage.

• Champion engineering breakdown analysis across the site.
• Coach engineers in effective Root Cause Analysis and fault‑finding techniques.
• Ensure engineering‑related RCA actions are completed and embedded.
• Challenge repeat failures and recurring equipment losses.
• Track and report recurring breakdown trends.
• Develop asset reliability improvement plans.
• Drive permanent corrective actions rather than temporary fixes.
• Ensure lessons learned from breakdowns are embedded into PMs, SOPs, training and engineering standards.
• Work with Shift Engineers to improve Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF)…