Multi-Skilled Maintenance Engineer

About the Role

You may not have heard of us, but there’s a good chance you’ve enjoyed our products. Avara Foods is one of the UK’s leading food businesses, supplying chicken and turkey to the country’s major supermarkets and well-known restaurants.

We own and manage our entire supply chain, from farms to factory and all the way to the customer door – meaning we have careers that cover a whole range of functions. We have major processing sites across England and Wales, and an agricultural network of over 350 farms, spanning from North Yorkshire to the South Coast and Wales.

Our advanced manufacturing site in Wednesbury, West Midlands, is our newest advanced manufacturing site, and we’ve invested around £4.7 million into state-of-the-art facilities.

Our Wednesbury site is a flagship Added Value centre for Avara, which employs over 150 talented individuals at the site, who help to supply some of the UK’s largest supermarkets and popular restaurants.

Are you passionate about engineering? Do you have experience with machinery or qualifications in mechanical or electrical engineering? As an inclusive, forward‑thinking business, we take pride in investing in our people across Avara Foods and are looking for a highly competent and motivated Maintenance Engineer to join our Engineering team at our Wednesbury site.

The role is factory‑based, so you’ll be working in a fast‑paced, dynamic FMCG factory environment which is noisy and refrigerated in some areas, manufacturing short shelf‑life products where hygiene standards are critical. The shift pattern is 4-O/4-O (05:00 to 17:00 / 12:00 to 00:00) with a shift premium of £5,006.56.

• Subject Matter Expert (SME) in one area of the factory or lower tier of the Multi‑Skilled Engineer framework.
• Ensure that engineering maintenance is carried out in line with scheduled plans and that effective and efficient corrective action is taken.
• Quick and effective response to breakdowns in more than one area onsite, identifying root cause and suggesting possible improvements to prevent further breakdowns.
• Communicate unscheduled breakdowns to the Engineering Section Manager and work with the operations department to minimise plant disruption.
• Follow good engineering standards and hygiene practice for the department.
• Ensure all activities are carried out within company and legislative health and safety guidelines, highlighting possible areas of improvement to the Engineering Section Manager.
• Timely reporting of any health and safety, animal welfare and environmental issues.
• Follow the communicated escalation route for unscheduled plant downtime and minimise downtime by following good engineering practice.
• Demonstrate basic problem‑solving techniques to identify root cause of issues.
• Raise stock and non‑stock request forms.

• Advanced apprenticeship in engineering.
• Level 3 NVQ in electrical or mechanical engineering – military equivalents will be considered.
• 4+ years of engineering experience.
• Electrical or welding/fabrication experience.
• Familiarity with process machinery or equivalent equipment and the ability to fault‑find.
• Mechanical fitting skills.
• Self‑motivated attitude with the ability to multi‑task and thrive in a timeline‑driven environment.
• Interpersonal communication skills.
• Ability to work individually or as part of a team.
• For internal candidates (must have a score of 7 on Level 2 to Level 3 competency matrix).

• Food manufacture experience.
• IEE 17th or 18th Edition.
• Instrumentation and process control experience.
• PLC experience.
• Air and pneumatics training.
• Refrigeration experience.

• From £40,320.73 DOE per annum.
• Additional £5,006.56 shift allowance per annum.
• 31 days holiday allowance (pro rata).
• 5% pension.
• Life assurance.
• Various lifestyle benefits such as cashback perks, exclusive shopping discounts from well‑known retailers, and discounted cinema tickets.
• Wellbeing resources, including free online health advice and support, and wellbeing assessments.

We are committed to being an equal opportunities employer.