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
