Job Description

Maintenance Manager – Food Manufacturing

📍 Co. Kildare | Permanent Opportunity

A leading food manufacturing business is seeking an experienced Maintenance Manager to lead site engineering, maintenance, and facilities operations within a fast-paced production environment.

This is an excellent opportunity for an ambitious engineering leader who enjoys driving reliability, improving plant performance, developing teams, and delivering operational excellence.

The Opportunity

You will take ownership of the site's maintenance strategy, ensuring maximum equipment uptime, statutory compliance, and continuous improvement across all engineering activities. Working closely with production and senior leadership, you will play a key role in supporting business growth and operational performance.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and develop a multi-skilled maintenance team
• Drive plant reliability, efficiency, and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE)
• Develop and implement preventative and predictive maintenance strategies
• Manage and optimise the site's CMMS maintenance system
• Support production through effective maintenance planning and engineering solutions
• Oversee maintenance budgets, spare parts inventory, and contractor management
• Lead equipment installations, upgrades, and commissioning projects
• Ensure compliance with all health & safety, environmental, quality, and statutory requirements
• Manage utilities performance including electricity, gas, refrigeration, steam, and water consumption
• Drive Lean and continuous improvement initiatives across the site
• Build strong relationships with suppliers, contractors, and key stakeholders
• Monitor and report on maintenance KPIs, downtime, and engineering performance

What We're Looking For

• Electrical qualification with industrial manufacturing experience
• Minimum 5 years' experience leading maintenance teams within a manufacturing environment
• Strong knowledge of preventative maintenance, reliability, and asset management
• Proven project management experience
• Experience managing budgets, contractors, and site compliance activities
• Strong leadership, coaching, and team development skills
• Lean Manufacturing / Continuous Improvement experience
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management abilities

Desirable Experience

• PLCs, controls, automation, and software-based maintenance systems
• Food manufacturing or FMCG experience
• Experience working with CMMS platforms

What's on Offer?

✔ Leadership role with significant influence on site performance
✔ Opportunity to drive continuous improvement and engineering excellence
✔ Supportive and growth-focused environment
✔ Competitive salary and benefits package

If you're an experienced Maintenance Manager, Engineering Manager, Reliability Manager, or Senior Maintenance Leader looking for your next challenge, we'd love to hear from you.

📧 Send your detailed CV to enquiries@nextgeneration.ie
📞 Or contact the Next Generation team for a confidential discussion about the opportunity.