Role: Maintenance Shift Leader
Reports to: Head of Engineering
Site: Darlington
Hours: 3 week rotation - earlies, lates and nights
Salary: £43,594.18, with shift allowance £49,034.02
We’re looking for an experienced Maintenance Shift Leader to join our Darlington manufacturing site. In this role, you will lead and manage a team of Maintenance Engineers to ensure equipment reliability, maximise uptime and deliver against safety, performance and cost targets.
You’ll take ownership of both planned and reactive maintenance, driving continuous improvement, developing your team, and maintaining a safe, efficient and high-performing operation aligned with site and business objectives.
What’s in it for you?
Subsidised canteen
Fantastic company discounts: Up to 80% off our stylish kitchen ranges and products
Access to Retail Trust
Flexible holidays: Buy up to five extra days with our holiday purchase scheme
Wellbeing support: Access to our virtual GP service and employee assistance platform 24/7
Lifestyle perks: Cycle to work scheme and savings on hundreds of top brands via our benefits app
A collaborative culture built on care, inclusion, and continuous improvement
What you’ll be doing:
Lead and coordinate day-to-day maintenance activities to maximise plant reliability and uptime
Drive and manage an effective Planned Preventative Maintenance (PPM) programme, ensuring maintenance is proactive rather than reactive
Understand and promote the critical importance of PPMs in preventing breakdowns, improving reliability, and extending equipment life
Lead and embed strong 5S standards across engineering and production areas, driving organisation, cleanliness, and workplace discipline
Manage planned maintenance schedules and prioritise reactive breakdown support effectively
Mentor, coach, and develop engineers to strengthen technical capability and team performance
Drive a strong safety-first culture, ensuring all HSE standards, KPI’s, and legislative requirements are consistently achieved
Conduct detailed electrical fault finding and root cause analysis, implementing permanent corrective actions
Support continuous improvement initiatives focused on reliability, efficiency, and waste reduction
Organise and control contractors, ensuring compliance, safety, and quality standards are maintained
Build and wire electrical control panels where required
Lead by example with engineering standards, behaviours, and best practices
Deliver effective team briefings and communicate maintenance performance clearly to operational stakeholders
Maintain exceptional housekeeping and engineering standards across all work areas
Collaborate cross-functionally to achieve production and business objectives
Remain flexible to support operational demands, including shift or working pattern changes where required
Who we’re looking for:
NVQ Level 3 (minimum) in Electrical Engineering or a relevant engineering discipline
Time-served maintenance engineering background within manufacturing or production environments
Strong electrical fault-finding and diagnostic skills on machinery and automated equipment
Proven leadership experience with excellent mentoring and people-development capability
Multi-skilled engineering experience advantageous
Experience within woodworking, furniture manufacturing, CNC machinery, or similar industries highly desirable
Strong understanding of Planned Preventative Maintenance (PPM) systems and reliability-centred maintenance principles
5S-driven mindset with a passion for high standards and continuous improvement
Ability to build, wire, and fault-find electrical panels
Strong understanding of preventative maintenance and continuous improvement methodologies
Calm, decisive, and solutions-focused under pressure
Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills
Working knowledge of Lean Manufacturing principles
IT literate, including CMMS systems, Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
Why choose Magnet?
At Magnet, we bring over 100 years of heritage-but our focus is firmly on the future.
As the UK’s leading kitchen specialist, our success is driven by the expertise, insight and innovation of our people.
We’re in the middle of an exciting transformation, with real opportunity to shape how we work, grow and deliver for our customers. We’re always open to fresh thinking and new perspectives—so even if your experience doesn’t perfectly match, we’d still love to hear from you.
We’re committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace. If you require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know.
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