🧴 Head of Engineering
Location: UK (East of England)
Industry: Personal Care Manufacturing
🚀 Overview
We’re partnering with a well-established, fast-growing personal care manufacturer supplying global beauty brands across prestige, mass, and indie channels.
This is a key leadership role responsible for driving engineering excellence, operational efficiency, and site performance across a complex, high-volume manufacturing environment.
🎯 Key Responsibilities
⚙️ Engineering & Site Performance
* Lead all engineering, maintenance, and facilities activities across the site
* Drive equipment reliability, uptime, and overall plant performance
* Oversee preventative maintenance programmes and continuous improvement initiatives
* Identify and deliver process optimisation opportunities across filling, formulation, and packaging lines
🏗️ Capex & Projects
* Own and execute capital investment strategy, including new equipment and line upgrades
* Lead site expansion and automation projects
* Manage external vendors, contractors, and OEM relationships
* Ensure projects are delivered on time, on budget, and to spec
📈 Continuous Improvement
* Implement Lean / Six Sigma methodologies to reduce waste and improve efficiency
* Drive cost reduction and margin improvement initiatives
* Support production teams to improve throughput, yield, and quality
👥 Leadership & Collaboration
* Lead, develop, and mentor a multi-disciplinary engineering team
* Partner closely with Operations, Supply Chain, Quality, and NPD teams
* Play a key role in site leadership and strategic decision-making
🧾 Compliance & Standards
* Ensure compliance with GMP, health & safety, and regulatory standards
* Maintain strong documentation, audit readiness, and engineering governance
💥 Ideal Profile
* Proven experience in a senior engineering leadership role within manufacturing
* Background in:
* Personal care / cosmetics
* FMCG manufacturing
* CDMO / contract manufacturing
Strong expertise in:
* High-speed production lines (filling, packaging, formulation)
* Capex project delivery
* Lean / continuous improvement
Track record of:
* Improving OEE / uptime / efficiency
* Leading site transformation initiatives
* Delivering cost and performance improvements
⭐ Nice to Have
* Experience in multi-site environments
* Exposure to automation / digital manufacturing
* Background working with global beauty brands or retailers
💡 Why this role
* High-impact position within a growing manufacturing platform
* Opportunity to shape engineering strategy and site performance
* Strong visibility with senior leadership