Head of Engineering & Projects

Head of Engineering & Projects Home-Based (with frequent travel to both creameries in the Lake District and Haverfordwest) About Us First Milk is a wholly British farmer-owned dairy co-operative with a vision to create value for members by delivering long-term prosperity in the form of success, profitability, security, and wellbeing. Owned by the family farms that supply us with milk and invest capital in the business, we produce award-winning cheddar, regional cheeses, and dairy ingredients, as well as marketing fresh raw milk to many other UK dairy processors. We work together as one team, with a relentless focus on efficiency and quality, to deliver competitive total returns to our farmer members. We put customers at the heart of our business, creating value through strong, long-term partnerships. We are now looking for a Head of Engineering & Projects to join us on a full-time, permanent basis. The Benefits - Competitive salary - 34 days holiday, including public Bank Holidays - Pension scheme This is a remarkable opportunity for a strategic, results-driven engineering professional with a strong background in maintenance and project management to join our cooperative organisation. Youll play a pivotal role in shaping the future of our operations, ensuring our sites remain at the cutting edge of efficiency, safety, and sustainability and enabling us to continue delivering value to our members and customers alike. Whats more, youll have the chance to make a considerable impression on your experience portfolio, driving your level of expertise and positioning yourself as a critical figure in our organisation. So, if youre ready to make a significant impact within a growing and innovative organisation, this is the opportunity for you. The Role As the Head of Engineering & Projects, you will provide strategic leadership for the maintenance and engineering functions across two creameries in the Lake District and Haverfordwest. Ensuring both short-term operational efficiency and long-term business growth, you will develop and implement maintenance strategies and lead capital investment projects. Working closely with the leadership team, you will ensure our engineering objectives align with broader business goals. Your duties will encompass oversight of regulatory compliance, project management, team development, and continuous improvement, ensuring our facilities operate smoothly, efficiently, and in compliance with health and safety standards. Additionally, you will: - Lead and optimise preventive, predictive, and corrective maintenance programmes - Ensure regulatory compliance across all operations - Manage a team of internal and external project managers for various engineering projects - Introduce innovative engineering solutions - Foster cross-functional collaboration with other business areas - Implement and promote sustainability initiatives in line with our values About You To be considered as the Head of Engineering & Projects, you will need: - To be a chemical engineer with food or dairy industry experience OR an experienced mechanical or electrical engineer - A proven track record in setting maintenance strategies and overseeing capital investment projects - Strong leadership experience, including managing geographically dispersed teams - Project management expertise with experience in managing large-scale projects - Familiarity with regulatory compliance and safety standards in a food manufacturing environment - Excellent communication and interpersonal abilities - IOSH Leading Safely or an equivalent qualification - A degree-level qualification or hold an equivalent qualification Other organisations may call this role Engineering Director, Maintenance Director, Head of Maintenance and Engineering, or Senior Engineering Manager. Webrecruit and First Milk are equal opportunities employers. We value diversity and are strongly committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all employees and applicants for employment. Equal opportunities are the only acceptable way to conduct business, and we believe that the more inclusive our environments are, the better our work will be. So, if you want to join us as a Head of Engineering & Projects, please apply via the button shown. This vacancy is being advertised by Webrecruit. The services advertised by Webrecruit are those of an Employment Agency. TPBN1_UKTJ