Shift Engineer

Title: Shift Engineer

Location: Chester

Salary: £53,560

Industry: FMCG / Food Manufacturing

Job Type: Permanent, Full Time

Shift: 4 on 4 Off, 07.00 - 19.00 / 19.00 - 07.00, including a 30-minute paid break

Reporting To: Site Lead

Shift Engineer Benefits:

• Company pension scheme
• Holiday allowance
• Career progression and development opportunities
• Supportive engineering, production, and site leadership teams
• Opportunity to contribute to continuous improvement and engineering projects

Key Shift Engineer Responsibilities:

• Carry out planned preventative maintenance (PPM), reactive maintenance, servicing, repairs, and inspections across site machinery and equipment.
• Respond promptly to emergency machine breakdowns throughout the plant to minimise production downtime.
• Diagnose the cause of potential equipment failure, performance deterioration, and recurring faults, completing remedial work where possible during the shift.
• Where issues cannot be resolved during the shift, provide a clear handover to the following shift and Engineering Team Leader, including the cause of the issue and recommended solution.
• Ensure machinery and equipment remain safe, reliable, efficient, and fit for purpose.
• Carry out overhauls, repairs, modifications, and improvements to machinery and engineering equipment.
• Support the design, installation, commissioning, relocation, and modification of new and existing machinery and equipment.
• Conduct appropriate risk assessments before undertaking maintenance activities and ensure all identified control measures are implemented before work begins.
• Ensure all engineering activities are completed in accordance with Health & Safety legislation and company requirements.
• Record all maintenance activities, breakdowns, repairs, and engineering work accurately within the CMMS.
• Identify opportunities for continuous improvement and contribute to improving engineering standards, equipment reliability, and overall plant performance.
• Set, review, and maintain appropriate engineering standards and procedures to support continuous improvement.

Shift Engineer Requirements:

Essential:

• Relevant engineering qualification, apprenticeship, or equivalent practical engineering experience.
• Previous experience working within a manufacturing, production, FMCG, or food manufacturing environment.
• Strong mechanical and/or electrical engineering fault-finding and maintenance experience.
• Proven experience carrying out planned preventative and reactive maintenance on industrial machinery and equipment.
• Experience responding effectively to machinery breakdowns within a fast-paced production environment.
• Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to identify root causes of equipment failures and implement effective solutions.
• Ability to work safely and confidently with industrial machinery and engineering equipment.
• Good understanding of Health & Safety requirements and the importance of completing risk assessments before maintenance activities.
• Ability to accurately record maintenance activities, breakdowns, and engineering work using a CMMS or similar maintenance system.

Desired:

• Time-served engineering apprenticeship.
• Relevant electrical or mechanical engineering qualification such as City & Guilds, ONC, HNC, HND, or equivalent.
• Experience with root cause analysis, continuous improvement, reliability improvement, and engineering standards.
• Experience working with CMMS maintenance systems.