Senior Shift Engineer, Arla

Overview

As a Senior M&E Technician at Arla’s Aylesbury Dairy, you will support a high-volume, 24/7 operation with hands-on engineering across critical systems. You’ll lead shift activities, drive safety, and push for reliability and continuous improvement in a fast-paced, regulated environment. This role offers the chance to contribute to site development and performance initiatives at a flagship dairy site. You’ll work closely with cross-functional teams to maintain uptime and quality, with strong focus on root cause analysis and coaching others.

Pay / Benefits

competitive salary
24 days’ holiday
matched pension contributions up to 6%
life assurance
flexible benefits
internal and external training opportunities

Responsibilities

Provide breakdown support across boilers, refrigeration, wastewater treatment, DAF, HVAC and water systems
Lead and coordinate shift activities, setting pace and safety standards
Plan and assign shift tasks, balancing reactive and planned maintenance and ensuring handovers
Troubleshoot faults using structured problem-solving and root cause analysis
Contribute to site projects and continuous performance improvement initiatives
Champion health and safety, target 90% planled vs actual maintenance, track progress
Elevate troubleshooting through coaching and sharing best practices
Maintain calm, clear communication and a culture of continuous improvement under pressure
Coordinate shift coverage and align daily priorities with the Team Leader

Key requirements

Experience in FMCG or regulated manufacturing with automated equipment
Time-served or apprentice-trained as mechanical, electrical, or multi-skilled engineer
Minimum NVQ Level 3 / ONC or equivalent
Structured fault-finding and root cause analysis capability
Experience with CMMS such as SAP PM and Microsoft Office
Commitment to safe, reliable engineering practices and cross-shift collaboration
Beneficial: experience with steam, process controls, cooling, data centres, clean water