Engineering Manager

Description

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From a bold idea to revolutionising dog food, [Employer hidden — sign up to reveal] has grown into a fast-scaling business dedicated to helping dogs live longer, healthier lives.

In just 3 years, we’ve built a great start up business, serving thousands of happy customers, all while striving to achieve our mission.

Our goal? To give dog owners a better, fresher, and healthier way to feed their pets. We provide human cut, personalised meals designed to support each dog’s unique needs, delivered straight to their door - no preservatives, no compromises, just real nutrition.

You can find our customers across the UK, with future ambitions to scale internationally and continue transforming how people care for their dogs.

Your Mission:

As our Engineering Manager, you’ll build and lead the engineering function at a fast-scaling food production business - taking full ownership of reliability, maintenance strategy, and engineering standards across the site.

This is a rare opportunity to step into a leadership role where you’re not inheriting a legacy system - you’re building it. From day one, you’ll shape how engineering operates: designing preventative maintenance systems, setting standards, building a team, and creating the infrastructure required to support production at scale.

You’ll balance hands-on problem solving with strategic thinking - driving down downtime, improving equipment performance, and implementing systems that move the business from reactive firefighting to proactive, data-led engineering.

If you’re someone who takes pride in building high-performing teams, enjoys solving complex operational problems, and wants to leave a lasting mark on a growing business - this role gives you that platform.

What You’ll Be Responsible For:

• Build, recruit, and lead the Engineering team - setting clear standards, structure, and daily direction
• Design and implement a preventative maintenance (PPM) and asset care programme from the ground up
• Own and improve engineering KPIs - downtime, MTTR, MTBF, and PPM adherence
• Lead reactive and proactive engineering activity to maximise equipment reliability
• Drive continuous improvement projects to reduce downtime and improve line performance
• Oversee installation, commissioning, and optimisation of new machinery and upgrades
• Ensure full compliance with health & safety and food manufacturing standards
• Manage engineering budget, contractor relationships, and supplier sourcing
• Build and maintain an organised, well-equipped workshop and spares system
• Work closely with Production, NPD, and Operations on trials, automation, and scale-up initiatives
• Embed a culture of accountability, safety, and engineering excellence

Requirements

What You’ll Bring:

• Strong mechanical and electrical engineering background within a production or manufacturing environment
• Proven experience leading or stepping into a leadership role within engineering
• Experience building or running preventative maintenance (PPM) systems
• Solid understanding of production equipment - conveyors, mixers, weighers, chillers, packaging lines
• Exposure to automation and PLC-controlled systems
• Experience managing budgets, contractors, and external suppliers
• Strong understanding of health & safety within a food or regulated environment
• Flexibility - there may be some evening and weekend work required based on project requirements (agreed directly with Line Management where needed)

How You Work:

• You take ownership - you don’t wait for systems, you build them
• You’re hands-on when needed but think strategically about long-term improvements
• You prioritise effectively and stay calm under pressure
• You communicate clearly across teams and bring people with you
• You set high standards and build a culture that reflects them
• You’re driven by continuous improvement and measurable results

Benefits

• £55,000 - £65,000 PA
• Medicash Cash Back programme
• Annual £250.00 Learning & Development budget for courses, books or other self-learn activities
• Access to Spill EAP and Mental Wellbeing support
• Annual £200.00 Wellbeing budget
• Up to 2 weeks working abroad per year (selected roles)
• Monthly recognition through our Yappa of The Month programme
• 1 Volunteer day per year - dog themed or not: it’s your choice!
• Subsidised employee groups - from five a side to padel there’s loads to get involved in or the chance to start up your own group
• Exclusive discounts on [Employer hidden — sign up to reveal] and [Employer hidden — sign up to reveal] treats for yourself and friends/family
• Lunch & Learn programme - from dog first aid to financial savviness we’ve got sessions planned to cover all kinds of topics
• Casual dress
• Your birthday off or different day if it falls on a non-working day
• Ability to sell any unused holiday back to [Employer hidden — sign up to reveal] at the end of the Holiday Year (maximum 1 working week)