Mechanical Engineering Manager in Tadcaster

Location: On site / Tadcaster LS24, UK

Job type: Permanent / Full-time

Sector and subsector: Engineering | Mechanical

Salary: Competitive Salary

Mpac is a global leader in automation and packaging solutions, known for combining advanced engineering with a people‑focused, collaborative culture. With over a century of innovation, the company designs and supports integrated automation systems that help customers stay competitive across industries such as food, beverage, healthcare, and clean energy.

Purpose of the Role:

To lead and manage the Mechanical Engineering department by planning and allocating resources, ensuring the delivery of high-quality engineering outputs, and driving the performance, efficiency, and continuous improvement of the team. The role ensures that projects are properly supported, milestones are achieved, engineering standards are upheld, and departmental performance metrics, including utilisation, quality, and process adherence, are monitored and improved. Working closely with Project Management and Controls leadership, the Mechanical Engineering Manager ensures strong cross-functional alignment and contributes to the successful delivery of organisational strategic initiatives.

Key Accountabilities and Responsibilities

• Lead the Mechanical Engineering department, providing strategic direction, resource planning, performance oversight, and operational management.
• Allocate engineering resources across all mechanical workstreams, ensuring appropriate skills, capacity, and support are available to meet project demand.
• Monitor and report departmental utilisation, balancing workload across teams and identifying capacity constraints or optimisation opportunities.
• Oversee the quality of mechanical engineering outputs, ensuring adherence to engineering standards, procedures, and regulatory requirements.
• Review and track departmental non-conformances and cost-of-poor-quality (COPQ), ensuring timely investigation, corrective actions, and prevention measures.
• Drive continuous improvement in engineering processes, documentation, design methodologies, and department workflows.
• Support pre-sales process by reviewing and optimising lead times for prospective projects.
• Lead the delivery of strategic initiatives and improvement programmes in collaboration with senior leadership.
• Develop and mentor Team Leaders and senior engineers, fostering talent development and succession planning.
• Support the creation and maintenance of a positive, collaborative, and high-performance culture within the department.

Project & Delivery Responsibilities

• Collaborate with Project Responsible Engineers (PREs) to ensure progress is on track, engineering plans remain viable, and key milestones will be met.
• Provide oversight and governance to ensure project designs align with customer requirements, internal standards, and regulatory obligations.
• Monitor engineering progress across all mechanical work packages, identifying risk areas, resource bottlenecks, or schedule threats and intervening where necessary.
• Work closely with Project Management to ensure accurate planning, forecasting, and integration of mechanical engineering deliverables within the wider project schedule.
• Coordinate closely with the Controls Engineering and Electrical teams to ensure seamless interdisciplinary collaboration and best project outcomes.
• Support root-cause investigation and resolution of technical issues, engineering errors, or design challenges affecting project performance.
• Provide clear communication to senior leadership and stakeholders on departmental status, risks, performance trends, utilisation, and quality metrics.

Knowledge and Experience

• Proven experience leading or managing mechanical engineering teams within an automation, machinery, or complex engineered systems environment.
• Strong background in mechanical design, engineering governance, and adherence to industry standards and regulatory requirements.
• Demonstrable experience in resource planning, capacity management, and departmental performance tracking.
• Experience overseeing the delivery of multiple engineering projects simultaneously, ensuring quality and schedule adherence.
• Solid understanding of engineering project lifecycles, milestone planning, and cross-functional dependencies.
• Experience managing engineering non-conformances, root-cause analysis, corrective actions, and cost-of-poor-quality reduction.
• Strong leadership capabilities with experience developing engineering teams, mentoring senior engineers, and fostering high performance.
• Experience participating in or leading continuous improvement initiatives or large-scale engineering process changes.

Technical Skills and Qualifications

• Degree, HND/HNC, or equivalent qualification in Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics, or a related engineering discipline.
• Strong understanding of engineering fundamentals, mechanical design principles, and industry standards relevant to automated machinery.
• Proficiency with mechanical engineering tools and documentation (CAD awareness, design specifications, technical files), with the ability to evaluate completeness and quality.