Senior Maintenance & Engineering Manager - Aylesbury

Are you ready to lead a high-performing engineering function at one of Arla's flagship UK dairy sites?Based at our state-of-the-art Aylesbury Dairy, this is an opportunity to shape strategy, drive cultural transformation, and deliver engineering excellence within a highly automated manufacturing environment.Processing 1 billion litres of milk annually, the site is one of Europe's largest dairies, featuring advanced technologies including Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs), a cold store larger than 1.5 Wembley football pitches, and has been showcased on BBC's Inside the Factory and Channel 4's Food Unwrapped.How you will make an impactIn this role, you will lead the Engineering Teams at Aylesbury Dairy, ensuring operational excellence across all maintenance activities while driving strategic initiatives as part of the Site Leadership Team. Arla is on an exciting maintenance transformation journey, with APS (Arla Performance System) at the heart of creating a world-class reliability and maintenance culture. We are looking for a leader with a genuine passion for maintenance excellence who can inspire teams and drive sustainable change.Key responsibilities includeLeading the Engineering team (c.50 colleagues) across reactive, preventative and predictive maintenance activitiesDriving the site's maintenance transformation agenda, embedding APS principles and developing a world-class reliability-focused cultureDriving people development and fostering a high-performance engineering culture, inspiring a passion for maintenance excellence across the teamPlaying a key role in the delivery of site-wide strategic initiatives as part of the Site Leadership TeamLeading Continuous Improvement and asset reliability initiatives using TPM, RCM, FMEA, 5S and Kaizen methodologies, while overseeing site maintenance performance and CAPEX project deliveryWhat will make you successfulTo succeed in this role, you will bring strong technical expertise, proven leadership capability and a passion for creating positive change. You will have a robust understanding of engineering within an automated, fast moving manufacturing environment, along with proven experience delivering Continuous Improvement initiatives using TPM methodology.You will also demonstrate strong leadership capability with experience managing teams of around 50 engineers, as well as experience leading culture led change and driving autonomous and preventative maintenance. A collaborative mindset is essential, with the ability to unite operations and engineering as one team.What do we offer?We’re committed to your growth and development, offering internal and external training opportunities.Competitive base salary, 26 days’ holiday, annual pay review, variable pay bonus scheme, private Bupa health cover, employer pension matched up to 6% (12% total contributory), four times annual salary life assurance cover, flexible benefits including the option to buy up to five days’ annual leave and retailer discounts, strong career development. At Aylesbury, you’ll join a team proud of its high job satisfaction with plenty of challenges and support to help you succeed.Would you like to join us?If you want to make an impact and help shape the future of dairy, apply as soon as possible. We process applications on a continuous basis and will close recruitment once the right candidate is found.For additional information, please contact Chris Wakefield in the Talent team at chwak@arlafoods.comShape the Future of DairyArla is a global leader in the dairy industry, committed to enabling good food choices that make life better, providing people with nourishment, while taking care at every step to ensure Arla is a choice they can feel good about. If you are looking to shape the future with an ambitious global cooperative that truly cares about your growth, where everyone feels valued and empowered, and collaboration is the core of culture, Arla is a choice you can feel good about. #LI-CHWAKRef. 110669nullJob SummaryJob number: 110669Date posted : 2026-08-28Profession: Maintenance & EngineeringEmployment type: Full-TimeType: Replacement