Maintenance Engineering Manager

Maintenance Engineering Manager – Pharma

Location: County Kerry, Ireland
Job Type: Full-Time, Permanent

About the Role

We are seeking an experienced Maintenance Engineering Manager to join a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in County Kerry. This is a key leadership role responsible for ensuring equipment reliability, supporting production operations, and maintaining full compliance with GMP, quality systems, and health & safety standards in a highly regulated pharma environment.

This opportunity sits within a well established SME known for its supportive and collaborative culture. The environment is steady and well balanced, with a focus on doing things properly rather than working under excessive pressure. The site benefits from a great location and a strong sense of team cohesion.

The successful candidate will play a central role in maintaining plant performance, driving continuous improvement, and always ensuring inspection readiness.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and manage the preventive maintenance program to ensure reliable operation of all equipment.
• Provide technical support for equipment breakdowns and lead root cause investigations.
• Ensure full GMP compliance across all maintenance and engineering activities.
• Support development, review, and control of SOPs and maintenance procedures.
• Participate in deviations, change controls, and technical investigations.
• Assist in selection, installation, and qualification of new pharmaceutical equipment.
• Coordinate external contractors for calibrations, maintenance, and equipment qualification.
• Manage spare parts inventory and critical maintenance stores.
• Raise and manage purchase orders for capital equipment and engineering requirements.
• Support internal audits and participate in regulatory and customer inspections.
• Work closely with QA/QC teams on investigations and quality improvements.
• Drive continuous improvement and energy efficiency initiatives across the site.
• Oversee health & safety compliance and maintain high GMP housekeeping standards.
• Identify training needs and support development of maintenance personnel.

Requirements

• Degree qualification in Mechanical, Electrical, Manufacturing, or related Engineering discipline.
• 5+ years’ experience in a maintenance/engineering role within a GMP-regulated or pharmaceutical environment.
• Strong understanding of GMP, validation, quality systems, and regulatory requirements.
• Experience with preventive maintenance systems and reliability engineering.
• Proven ability to troubleshoot complex equipment issues.
• Strong leadership, communication, and organisational skills.
• Experience in pharmaceutical or other highly regulated manufacturing environments.
• Familiarity with change control, deviation management, and audit processes.
• Experience driving continuous improvement or lean manufacturing initiatives.

What’s on Offer

• Market leading salary and benefits package.
• Opportunity to work in a leading pharmaceutical manufacturing environment.
• Strong SME culture with a supportive, collaborative, and low-pressure working environment.
• Excellent location with strong work-life balance.
• Hybrid work