Production Engineer - Dairy Experience

Use your dairy engineering experience to improve plant performance, reliability and production.
We are looking for an experienced Production Engineer with a strong dairy manufacturing background who enjoys being close to the plant, solving problems and finding better ways to run production.

This is a hands-on engineering role focused on plant performance, process improvement, reliability and optimisation. You will work closely with production, maintenance and engineering teams to identify issues, develop practical solutions and implement improvements that make a measurable difference.

About the role
You will spend time understanding how the plant is performing, where the constraints are and what needs to change.

Your work could include:

• Improving plant reliability, capacity, efficiency and throughput
• Troubleshooting recurring production and process issues
• Identifying bottlenecks and opportunities for improvement
• Optimising dairy processing equipment and process systems
• Supporting pumps, valves, pipework, CIP and hygienic processing systems
• Developing and implementing plant modifications and upgrades
• Supporting equipment installation, commissioning and start-up
• Working with production and maintenance teams to reduce downtime
• Coordinating contractors and suppliers where required

There will be engineering projects to deliver, but this is not a traditional Project Engineer role. The focus is on understanding production, getting into the detail and using your engineering capability to improve how the plant operates.

What we're looking for
The key requirement is strong dairy industry experience.

You need to understand dairy processing environments, hygienic design and the realities of engineering within a live manufacturing operation.

Ideally, you will bring:

• Production, process or mechanical engineering experience within dairy manufacturing
• A mechanical, process or relevant engineering qualification
• Strong knowledge of dairy processing plant, equipment and systems
• Practical problem-solving and root cause analysis capability
• Experience improving plant reliability, efficiency or production performance
• Exposure to equipment upgrades, installation and commissioning
• Confidence working across production, maintenance, engineering and external suppliers
• A practical approach and willingness to spend time on the plant floor

You could currently be a Production Engineer, Process Engineer, Mechanical Engineer or Project Engineer who wants to move closer to day-to-day manufacturing and plant performance.

Why consider it?
If you enjoy figuring out why something isn't working as well as it should, then doing something about it, this role will give you plenty to get stuck into.

You will have the opportunity to influence plant performance, solve real production problems and see the results of the improvements you implement.
If you know dairy processing and enjoy combining engineering knowledge with practical problem solving, we'd like to hear from you.

What next?
Apply now with your CV and a brief cover letter telling us why this role interests you.

Please note you will need to be in New Zealand to be considered for this role.