Interim Engineering Maintenance Manager (3–6 Month Contract)

Location: North East England
Contract: Interim, 3–6 Months
Salary/Rate: Competitive Day Rate / Fixed-Term Salary (DOE)
Start Date: Immediate / Short Notice Preferred

A well-established food manufacturing business in the North East is seeking an experienced Interim Engineering Maintenance Manager to provide leadership and operational support during a key period of business activity.

This is a hands-on leadership role responsible for overseeing all engineering and maintenance functions across the site, ensuring equipment reliability, operational efficiency, and continuous improvement initiatives are delivered effectively.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, manage and develop the site engineering team, providing day-to-day direction, support and coaching.
• Drive maintenance performance through the effective implementation of preventative and planned maintenance programmes.
• Ensure maximum equipment reliability and plant uptime across production operations.
• Investigate engineering breakdowns, identify root causes and implement sustainable corrective actions.
• Work closely with Production, Technical and Finance teams to support operational objectives.
• Lead engineering projects, including equipment installations, upgrades and process improvements.
• Manage engineering contractors and suppliers, ensuring performance, compliance and cost control.
• Monitor departmental budgets, engineering spend and critical spare parts management.
• Promote a strong culture of health, safety and continuous improvement across the site.
• Participate as a key member of the senior management team, contributing to site performance and strategic decision-making.
• Provide support during emergency situations and out-of-hours incidents when required.

About You

The successful candidate will be an experienced Engineering Manager with a proven track record within a fast-paced manufacturing environment, ideally food, FMCG, processing or related sectors.

You will demonstrate:

• Strong engineering and maintenance leadership experience.
• Excellent knowledge of preventative maintenance and asset reliability programmes.
• Experience managing engineering budgets, contractors and capital projects.
• Continuous improvement and lean manufacturing knowledge.
• Strong root cause analysis and problem-solving capability.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Ability to lead teams, drive performance and deliver results in a demanding manufacturing environment.
• A proactive, hands-on approach with a focus on safety, quality and operational excellence.

What's On Offer?

• Immediate impact role with a respected manufacturing business.
• Opportunity to lead an established engineering function.
• Significant autonomy and influence across site operations.
• Competitive remuneration package.
• Potential for contract extension depending on business requirements.

For a confidential discussion regarding this interim opportunity, please apply today.