Engineering Manager - Food Manufacturing

Location: West of Ireland

Salary: €80,000 + Benefits

Job Type: Full-Time, Permanent

The Opportunity

An established and growing food manufacturing organisation in the West of Ireland is seeking an experienced Engineering Manager to lead its engineering and maintenance function.

Reporting directly to the senior leadership team, this is a strategic leadership role with responsibility for ensuring a safe, reliable and efficient manufacturing operation. The successful candidate will drive engineering excellence through effective maintenance strategies, people development, continuous improvement initiatives and the successful delivery of capital investment projects.

This opportunity is ideally suited to an ambitious engineering professional with proven leadership experience gained within manufacturing, food production, FMCG, pharmaceuticals or another highly regulated environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, develop and mentor the engineering and maintenance team to achieve best-in-class plant performance.
• Drive equipment reliability and minimise downtime through robust preventative and predictive maintenance programmes.
• Ensure all engineering activities comply with relevant safety, quality and regulatory requirements.
• Manage engineering budgets, resource planning and contractor performance.
• Lead capital investment projects from concept, planning and business case development through to implementation and handover.
• Support continuous improvement initiatives aimed at enhancing productivity, efficiency and asset utilisation.
• Ensure all site equipment and infrastructure are maintained to the highest operational and safety standards.
• Work closely with Production, Quality and Operations teams to achieve site performance objectives.
• Lead root cause investigations and implement corrective actions for equipment and process-related issues.
• Maintain engineering records, maintenance systems and compliance documentation.

Candidate Profile

Essential Requirements

• Degree or equivalent qualification in Engineering, Manufacturing, Maintenance or a related discipline.
• Previous engineering leadership experience within a manufacturing environment.
• Strong understanding of plant maintenance, asset management and equipment reliability principles.
• Experience managing engineering teams and external contractors.
• Knowledge of preventative and predictive maintenance systems.
• Demonstrated project management and continuous improvement experience.
• Excellent leadership, communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience managing engineering budgets and capital expenditure projects.

Desirable Experience

• Experience within food manufacturing, FMCG or another regulated manufacturing environment.
• Knowledge of GMP, BRC and industry audit requirements.
• Exposure to Lean Manufacturing, Operational Excellence or Continuous Improvement methodologies.
• Strong understanding of Health, Safety and Environmental standards.

Personal Attributes

The successful candidate will demonstrate:

• A proactive and visible leadership style.
• Strong problem-solving and decision-making skills.
• Commercial awareness with experience managing budgets and resources.
• A passion for developing high-performing teams.
• A commitment to continuous improvement and operational excellence.
• The ability to build strong relationships across engineering, production, quality and operations functions.

What's on Offer

• Salary of €80,000 plus benefits.
• Opportunity to join a successful and expanding manufacturing business.
• Significant influence over engineering strategy and site performance.
• Career development opportunities within a dynamic production environment.
• Strong leadership support and continued investment in engineering excellence.

Recruitment Process

• Initial screening discussion.
• Formal interview process.
• On-site interview and facility tour.
• Reference checks.

Interested?

For a confidential discussion on this opportunity, please send your updated CV to

📧 morgan.danaher@cpl.ie

Alternatively, please call:

Morgan Danaher

Principal Consultant | Cpl Engineering & Construction

📞 087 164 7527

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