Head of Machinery and Maintenance

About Deliciously Ella Deliciously Ella’s mission is to help people eat real food again, with more plants, more of the time. We are growing fast and we’re looking for talented, passionate, purpose-led people who share in our mission to help us get there. Every day, we work to cultivate positive change, sharing delicious, natural, plant-based recipes and food products with the aim of building the world’s leading plant-based platform. Starting from a recipe website, the business has evolved into a restaurant, a range of plant-based food products, an app, a collection of bestselling recipe books and a growing social media community that sits at the heart of what we do. We launched our first food products in 2016 and have since launched a wide range of products across different categories. We work with all the major grocers and OOH retailers across the UK. We also have a growing international business in the US and Europe.

The Role To lead the factory’s long-term engineering and maintenance direction, making sure the site has the right machinery, systems and capability to support growth. This includes shaping the maintenance strategy, driving improvements, and developing the team. The role sits on the Factory Senior Leadership Team and plays a key part in the future of the site.

Job Requirements Develop and lead the factory’s overall machinery, Engineering and maintenance strategy, ensuring alignment with operational goals and efficiency targets. Oversee and optimise long-term capital investment in machinery, recommending upgrades and automation opportunities and any future capacity needs. Lead the engineering input into factory master planning, layout changes, and long-term site development. Implement and evolve a robust system for tracking performance trends, asset health and driving predictive maintenance practices. Support and Track machinery availability and maintenance downtime/up time. Lead and grow the engineering and maintenance team, setting clear goals, upskilling, and developing team capability. Own the maintenance and engineering budget, managing costs, procurement of parts, and supplier negotiations. Own the machinery compliance framework and BRC documentation related to maintenance, engineering and equipment. Set the strategic direction for continuous improvement across machinery, fabrication, and factory systems. Collaborate cross-functionally with Operations, Technical, and Supply Chain teams on all aspects of performance and capacity planning. Represent machinery and maintenance in factory-level strategic planning and decision-making, contributing to culture, training, and site development. Work with Planning and Operations to ensure engineering supports future volume forecasts, NPD launches. Communicate with production and leadership teams to ensure people are aware of maintenance and machinery activities and priorities (daily emails, regular meetings). Management of fabrication work and fabrication projects where factory building and/or machine improvements are required.