Maintenance Engineer (Night Shift)

Ilkeston, Derbyshire | Permanent, Full Time | Nights

Are you an experienced Maintenance Engineer who can make sound decisions under pressure and keep a busy industrial site operating safely through the night? Castle Environmental is one of the UK's leading hazardous waste treatment, disposal and recycling businesses. With more than 40 years of experience, we process over 200,000 tonnes of hazardous and liquid waste every year across three UK sites, recycling more than 65% of all material received. Our Ilkeston site is home to our East Midlands headquarters, laboratories and treatment operations, running around the clock to support customers across the UK. We're looking for a skilled and confident Maintenance Engineer to provide technical support during our night operation, taking ownership of maintenance decisions and ensuring the safe and efficient operation of our plant when senior management and supervisors are off site.

The Role

This is a key position within our maintenance team, acting as the senior engineering presence on shift. You'll provide maintenance cover throughout the night, support operational teams with technical decision-making, and take the lead during breakdown situations. Working independently, you'll be responsible for balancing operational demands with safety and compliance requirements, making informed decisions on whether equipment should continue running, be isolated, or await further investigation during daytime hours.

What You'll Be Doing

• Providing maintenance cover during night shifts with no supervisor present.
• Making critical decisions on plant operation, isolation and repair activities.
• Responding to breakdowns and leading technical fault-finding activities.
• Balancing production requirements with safety, environmental and compliance standards.
• Acting as the primary technical point of contact for operations teams during nights and weekends.
• Leading breakdown investigations and completing detailed root cause reports.
• Maintaining and improving the reliability of your assigned area of plant and equipment.
• Reviewing maintenance schedules and identifying opportunities for improvement.
• Managing spare parts requirements for designated assets.
• Directing and supporting other engineers and maintenance personnel working on shift.
• Supervising contractors attending site outside normal working hours and ensuring compliance with permits and method statements.
• Working to permit-to-work systems, safe systems of work and LOTOTO procedures.
• Ensuring all maintenance activities are accurately recorded within the CMMS system.
• Maintaining the highest standards of health, safety and environmental compliance.

What You'll Need

• Time-served apprenticeship or equivalent engineering qualification.
• Strong multi-skilled engineering experience across both mechanical and electrical disciplines.
• IOSH Managing Safely qualification.
• ILM or CMI Level 3 in First Line Management, or equivalent supervisory experience.
• Experience in root cause analysis and incident investigation.
• Six to ten years' experience within maintenance engineering in an industrial, manufacturing, processing or heavy engineering environment.
• Experience providing engineering cover without direct supervisory support.
• Strong fault-finding and troubleshooting skills across a range of industrial plant and equipment.
• The confidence to make and justify operational engineering decisions.
• Experience balancing production demands with safety and compliance requirements.
• Experience using Computerised Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS).
• A calm, practical and safety-focused approach under pressure.

Desirable Skills

• Experience working within waste management, recycling, chemical processing or other heavy process industries.
• Permit-to-work authorisation experience.
• Experience leading investigations into major plant failures and equipment reliability issues.
• Working at Height, Confined Space or MEWP qualifications.
• Experience managing contractors and coordinating maintenance activities across multiple disciplines.

What We Offer

• Permanent, full-time night shift position.
• Competitive salary and night shift allowance.
• Training and qualifications funded and supported.
• A published career progression structure with clear development opportunities.
• The opportunity to work on a diverse range of industrial equipment including shredders, conveyors, tankers, reactors, pumps, pipework and process systems.
• A supportive team environment with long-term career prospects.
• The opportunity to take ownership of engineering decisions and play a critical role in site operations.

Why Castle Environmental?

Our sites never stand still. Every shift brings new challenges, technical problems to solve and opportunities to make a real impact. As the lead engineering presence on nights, you'll have the autonomy to make decisions, influence reliability improvements and develop your technical and leadership capabilities within a growing business. Castle Environmental is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all suitably qualified candidates.