• Job Title: Interim Site Engineering Manager
• Sector: FMCG Manufacturing - Chilled, Frozen Food Production & Cold Storage
• Location: Bedfordshire (Site Based)
• Contract: Interim Assignment, 3 Months Initially (Potential Extension)
• Rate: £500-£600 per day (PAYE/Umbrella)
• IR35 Status: Inside IR35

Lead the Team. Drive Engineering Excellence. Protect Critical Cold Chain Operations.

We are seeking an experienced Interim Site Engineering Manager to lead the engineering function within a fast-paced chilled and frozen food manufacturing operation.

This opportunity requires a hands-on engineering leader with proven experience of managing engineering teams in temperature-controlled manufacturing environments, including chilled processing, frozen production, cold storage facilities, refrigeration systems and critical site services.

Working closely with the Site Leadership Team, you will take responsibility for engineering performance, asset reliability, maintenance strategy, refrigeration infrastructure, compliance and continuous improvement across the site. The successful candidate will bring strong leadership capability alongside practical experience of refrigeration plant, cold chain operations and engineering reliability within a food manufacturing environment.

The Opportunity – Interim Site Engineering Manager

This role would suit an experienced:

• Site Engineering Manager
• Head of Engineering
• Chief Engineer
• Senior Engineering Manager
• Maintenance Manager
• Interim Engineering Leader

with a background in:

• Chilled food manufacturing
• Frozen food manufacturing
• Cold storage operations
• Refrigerated warehousing
• Bakery, dairy, convenience food or FMCG environments

You will lead the engineering strategy whilst supporting operational performance through improved asset reliability, refrigeration uptime, maintenance effectiveness and engineering team development.

Key Responsibilities – Interim Site Engineering Manager

• Lead, coach and develop the engineering team.
• Drive a proactive engineering and reliability culture.
• Improve plant availability, OEE and maintenance performance.
• Ensure refrigeration and cold storage assets operate safely and effectively.
• Manage PPM, CBM and predictive maintenance programmes.
• Support ammonia and industrial refrigeration compliance requirements.
• Develop engineering KPIs and performance improvement plans.
• Lead RCA and continuous improvement activities.
• Manage engineering budgets and engineering resources.
• Deliver CAPEX and infrastructure improvement projects.
• Ensure compliance with all engineering, food safety, HSE and statutory requirements.

Essential Experience

Candidates must demonstrate experience within chilled, frozen or temperature-controlled manufacturing environments.

Particular interest will be given to individuals with experience of:

• Ammonia refrigeration systems
• CO₂ refrigeration systems
• Cold stores and refrigerated warehouses
• Blast freezers
• Spiral freezers
• Hardening tunnels
• Evaporators and condensers
• Defrost systems
• Refrigerated production environments
• Utilities and critical site services
• Food manufacturing engineering leadership
•  

What We're Looking For – Interim Site Engineering Manager

• Proven Engineering Management experience within FMCG manufacturing.
• Strong chilled or frozen food manufacturing background.
• Industrial refrigeration and cold chain engineering knowledge.
• Experience leading multi-disciplined engineering teams.
• Strong maintenance and reliability engineering expertise.
• Experience of TPM, Lean Manufacturing, WCM or similar continuous improvement methodologies.
• Demonstrable success improving OEE, asset reliability and engineering performance.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
• HNC, HND or Degree qualified Engineer, ideally with a time-served apprenticeship background.

Why Apply? Interim Site Engineering Manager

• Immediate impact opportunity.
• High-profile engineering leadership role.
• Significant autonomy and influence.
• Opportunity to improve engineering standards and refrigeration reliability.
• Supportive senior leadership team.
• Competitive day rate of £500-£600 per day.
• Immediate start available.
• This opportunity is particularly suited to engineering leaders with experience of chilled food, frozen food, bakery, cold storage, refrigeration plant, ammonia systems and temperature-controlled manufacturing operations.