Who are we?
Dnata is one of the world’s largest air and travel services providers. We provide a comprehensive range of inflight catering, onboard retail, supply chain and logistics services at all major and regional airports across the UK. Dnata Catering provide expertly crafted inflight catering services, delivering fresh and high-quality meals at major and regional airports across the UK. As the leading Halal caterer in the UK, we also provide tailored experiences to meet each customer’s unique needs. We’re a leader in VIP catering, offering bespoke inflight to private and charter clients.
The Role
The engineer plays a key role in ensuring dnata Catering's fleet remains safe, legally compliant and operationally available to support 24/7 catering operations. The role combines engineering expertise, supplier management and compliance oversight to maximise fleet reliability, minimise downtime and ensure the highest standards of safety, quality and customer service
The Engineer will ensure that all legal documentation and compliance paperwork is kept up to date, liaise closely with the Operations team, and carry out minor vehicle repairs and maintenance when required. You will act as the main point of contact for the on-site Operations team and will report directly into the Fleet team.
- Ensure the fleet remains fully compliant with all legal, regulatory and company requirements by maintaining accurate maintenance schedules, compliance documentation and statutory records.
- Maximise fleet availability by proactively managing Vehicle Off Road (VOR) levels, coordinating maintenance activities and ensuring sufficient vehicle availability to meet operational and customer requirements.
- Monitor and maintain MOT compliance, ensuring vehicles are presented to the required standard and achieving agreed first-time pass rate targets.
- Act as the technical subject matter expert, providing engineering advice and guidance to operational teams and supporting the resolution of vehicle and engineering-related issues.
- Undertake minor vehicle repairs and maintenance where appropriate to minimise downtime and support operational continuity.
- Manage the performance of external maintenance providers and repair agencies, ensuring service level agreements are achieved, costs are controlled and vehicle downtime is minimised.
- Monitor supplier performance through regular audits, review meetings and performance reporting, challenging underperformance and driving continuous service improvement.
- Conduct regular audits of fleet compliance, vehicle inspections, driver first-use checks and engineering processes to ensure consistency, legal compliance and adherence to company standards.
- Investigate vehicle defects, breakdowns, maintenance delays and recurring failures, identifying root causes and implementing corrective and preventative actions.
- Review and challenge engineering and maintenance expenditure, identifying opportunities to improve cost efficiency without compromising safety, compliance or operational performance.
- Produce and analyse fleet performance data and management reports, including VOR, MOT performance, compliance, supplier performance and maintenance costs, making recommendations for improvement.
- Organise, coordinate and lead regular engineering, supplier and operational review meetings, building effective relationships with internal stakeholders and external partners.
- Identify and implement continuous improvement initiatives to enhance fleet reliability, engineering processes, operational efficiency and standardisation across all sites.
- Ensure all engineering activities are carried out in accordance with company Health & Safety policies, promoting a strong safety culture and compliance with relevant legislation.
Must have previous experience of working in one or more of the following GSE/LGV/HGV/PSV/Plant in a workshop environment- Confident with computer skills
- Possess a clean driving licence (Max of 6 points)
- Extensive knowledge of the HGV Inspection Manual / Guide To Maintaining Roadworthiness
- Extensive knowledge of the DVSA/O license legal obligation
- Confident in making decisions
- Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced environment and customer-demanding situations
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to develop and maintain beneficial working relationships with multiple stakeholders, confident liaising with decision makers at all levels.
- Ability to make informed and objective decisions that are consistent with the needs of the wider business, considering relevant internal and external contributors.
- An articulate communicator, confident liaising with decision makers at all levels with strong negotiation skills and with the ability to inform, persuade and influence.
- A strong commitment to the industry and keen knowledge of the latest technology relating to HGVs
- HGV Licence(Or willing to obtain HGV through dcuk)
- Completing accurate and timely reports on work carried out
- A recognised LGV/HGV/Mechanical or Electrical qualification (Level 3)
- Flexibility of working hours within the business needs
- Willingness to go on an on-call rota to answer technical related queries during a delayed flight scenario (1 in 8 weeks)
- Experience or knowledge of working in aviation
- IRTEC qualification
- IOSH/NEBOSH trained
- Hydraulic Experience
- Roadside Breakdown Experience
What's in it for you?
- An opportunity to be part of the Emirates global family.
- Free breakfast, lunch and dinner on site
- Free tea and coffee
- Simply health Plan
- Refer a Friend Scheme
- Discounted gym membership at over 2000 gyms nationwide
- Cycle to Work Scheme
- Opportunity to enhance your learning through our inhouse apprenticeship programme
If you're invited to interview, please let us know if there are any adjustments we can make to ensure you're cleared for take-off and able to perform at your best. We’re committed to making the recruitment journey as smooth and inclusive as possible.
Dnata is one of the world’s largest air and travel services providers. We provide a comprehensive range of inflight catering, onboard retail, supply chain and logistics services at all major and regional airports across the UK.
dnata Catering UK is committed to protecting your personal data. Any information you provide during the recruitment process will be processed in accordance with our Privacy Notice and used solely for recruitment purposes. Your data will be held securely and retained only for as long as necessary in line with our data retention policy.
