The maintenance manager leads and manages the maintenance, reliability and utility performance of a centralised sauce manufacturing plant, ensuring that all equipment, infrastructure and services are safe, compliant and available to support efficient production. The role is responsible for preventive maintenance, breakdown response, engineering improvement, contractor management and long-term asset care.

Duties and Responsibilities:

1. Maintenance Strategy and Execution
2. Develop and implement maintenance plans and systems to ensure high equipment reliability and plant uptime.
3. Manage preventive, predictive and corrective maintenance across processing equipment, utility systems, filling lines, packaging equipment and associated plant infrastructure.
4. Ensure timely response to breakdowns and effective root cause analysis to prevent repeat failures.
5. Establish shutdown plans, service schedules, inspection routines and maintenance standards for critical assets.
6. Utilities and Site Services
7. Take ownership of utilities and plant services, including boiler, softener plant, air compressor, chiller, cooling tower, diesel systems, pumps, valves, fillers, cappers, end of line packaging systems, piping networks and back up systems.
8. Ensure utility systems are maintained and operated safely and efficiently to support production requirements.
9. Monitor equipment condition, service performance and energy usage to improve reliability and reduce costs.
10. Support plant commissioning, installation, equipment handovers and start-up activities.
11. Work closely with operations teams to improve mechanical reliability, changeover performance and operating efficiency.
12. Manage engineering contractors, service providers and technical support partners as required.
13. Ensure all maintenance activities comply with OH&S requirements, safe work procedures, permit systems and lockout requirements.
14. Support food safety and quality requirements by maintaining hygienic design integrity and safe maintenance practices.
15. Maintain statutory inspections, calibration coordination, maintenance records and asset documentation.
16. Ensure engineering readiness for audits, inspections and compliance reviews.
17. Lead, coach and develop maintenance staff and technical support resources.
18. Implement maintenance planning systems, work order control, spare parts management and engineering reporting routines.
19. Manage maintenance costs, contractor spend and asset lifecycle planning.

1. BEng, BTech or National Diploma in Mechanical, Chemical, Industrial or Process Engineering, or equivalent relevant experience.
2. Minimum 5 years’ experience in a maintenance leadership role within food, beverage, liquid processing or related manufacturing.
3. Strong practical knowledge of boilers, water treatment systems, compressors, chillers, cooling towers, pumps, valves, piping, rotary bottle filling machines, packaging equipment, HVAC and temperature controlled facilities such as cold rooms and freezers.
4. Experience in preventive maintenance systems, breakdown analysis and reliability improvement.
5. Knowledge of food safety, FSSC22000, GMP, HACCP and OH&S requirements in a manufacturing environment.