Engineering Manager – Talent Pool - Rainbow Chicken

About Rainbow Chicken

For decades, Rainbow Chicken has been a trusted name in South Africa’s poultry industry — known for quality, resilience, and innovation. As we continue to grow, we’re looking for exceptional leaders to help shape the next chapter of our journey.

This opportunity is part of our Senior Management Talent Pool — a proactive initiative to identify and engage top talent ahead of future leadership needs. While there may not be an immediate vacancy, joining the talent pool means you’ll be considered for upcoming roles aligned to your skills and experience as they arise.

If you’re passionate about driving excellence, sustainability, and feeding the nation, we invite you to express interest and become part of our pipeline for future leadership opportunities.

Purpose

• To step-change engineering and maintenance processes and performance across the Operations Function to ensure sustained, effective operations and asset management.
• To drive conformance to international and national maintenance, engineering, environmental, organisational and legislative requirements, thereby enhancing long-term profitability and viability.
• To research and drive the implementation of new technologies to reduce costs and increase profitability.
• To manage, with a dedicated focus, the day-to-day maintenance operation within the area of responsibility through foremen, artisans and engineering teams.
• To lead project planning, prioritisation, scheduling, task allocation and project cost control within approved budgets.

Minimum / Mandatory Requirements

• Degree or Diploma in Mechanical or Electrical Engineering.
• GCC (Government Certificate of Competency) – preferred / not mandatory in some cases.
• 8–10 years’ experience in a maintenance and engineering environment.
• Engineering experience within an agricultural, manufacturing, warehousing or processing environment.
• Strong asset management, project management and compliance background.

Key Responsibilities

Infrastructure & Maintenance Performance Framework Management

• Formulate maintenance and infrastructure management policies across Operations.
• Define standard operating practices across all Operations.
• Define conformance criteria for warehouse, plant and transportation infrastructure and performance (including electricity usage).
• Maintain a clear understanding of enterprise and asset management principles.

Oversight, Compliance & Liaison

• Monitor compliance with performance frameworks (policies, structures, operating practices and criteria).
• Liaise with relevant government departments regarding legislative and statutory compliance.
• Attend and influence regional and executive committees regarding maintenance and infrastructure management decisions.
• Benchmark asset structures against market norms to ensure alignment with best practice.
• Stay up to date with new legislation and regulatory changes.
• Drive facility compliance with Occupational Health & Safety legislation and licensing requirements.

Asset Management

• Monitor asset maintenance standards through assessment of asset sustainability cycles.
• Inspect warehousing, plant and associated equipment to ensure assets operate at optimal levels.
• Recommend improvements through appropriate maintenance cycles aligned to operational requirements.
• Manage fixed asset registers, depreciation and lifecycle planning in line with company policy.
• Rationalise and standardise asset care management across regions.

Maintenance Management

• Develop, implement and oversee planned preventative maintenance systems for plants, warehouses and coastal depots.
• Oversee major repairs and breakdowns to minimise R&M costs.
• Ensure compliance with risk, security, safety, health, HACCP and ISO standards.
• Ensure all electrical installations and equipment comply with statutory requirements.
• Optimise utilisation of assets to minimise unit costs.

Project Planning & Management

• Strategise and manage CAPEX initiatives to reduce downtime and improve efficiencies.
• Compile and manage project plans, costing, timelines and resources.
• Conduct weekly project meetings and manage contractors.
• Maintain project documentation, archives and conduct post-project audits.

Operational Engineering Management

• Drive daily and weekly maintenance planning.
• Prioritise, schedule and allocate tasks with planners and foremen.
• Manage discipline, standards, outputs and performance of engineering teams.

Leadership & People Management

• Lead, develop and mentor engineering teams.
• Drive succession planning and skills development.
• Manage performance, discipline, HR and IR matters.
• Promote employment equity and a high-performance culture.

SHEQ Management

• Ensure compliance with all Safety, Health, Environment and Quality standards.
• Maintain audits, corrective actions and documentation.
• Promote sustainability and continuous improvement.

Financial Management

• Manage budgets, costs and capital expenditure.
• Monitor KPIs versus budget and report variances.
• Drive cost-saving initiatives without compromising sustainability.
• Manage suppliers, contractors, spares and inventory controls.