Product & Manufacturing Engineering Executive

Overview

Product & Manufacturing Engineering Executive

Location:

South Africa, Maitland

Industry: Precision Engineering / Advanced Manufacturing

Reporting to:
General Manager

Level: Executive / Senior Management

A well-established precision engineering and manufacturing organisation is seeking an experienced Product & Manufacturing Engineering Executive to lead its engineering, maintenance, and toolroom functions.

This is a senior leadership role within a high-performance manufacturing environment responsible for ensuring engineering excellence, efficient production processes, and continuous operational improvement.

The successful candidate will play a critical role in supporting manufacturing operations, driving technical innovation, maintaining world-class engineering standards, and ensuring the organisation remains globally competitive in terms of cost, quality, and delivery.

The role requires a technically credible engineering leader with deep experience in machining and/or assembly environments, strong project leadership capability, and the ability to collaborate effectively across production, quality, supply chain, and executive leadership teams.

• Provide strategic leadership to the engineering function to ensure the reliable and cost-effective manufacture of products.
• Ensure product master data integrity to support accurate costing, production planning, and manufacturing execution.
• Lead the implementation of engineering best practices and continuous improvement initiatives to enhance manufacturing efficiency, throughput, and cost competitiveness.
• Collaborate with production teams to develop and optimise manufacturing processes and production systems.
• Ensure all engineering and production processes comply with relevant industry standards and organisational requirements.
• Work closely with the Quality department to ensure achievable and sustainable quality standards across manufacturing operations.
• Manage configuration control and product engineering documentation.
• Maintain overall responsibility for ERP engineering master data, including:
• Bill of Materials (BOM)
• Routing structures
• Engineering change processes

• Provide direct engineering support to manufacturing teams to ensure stable and efficient production operations.
• Enable operational teams to translate customer concepts into practical, manufacturable engineering solutions.
• Drive initiatives to improve:

• Serve as the Competent Person for Supervisor of Machinery (GMR 2.1).
• Provide full management oversight of the maintenance department.
• Drive the implementation of preventative maintenance programmes aligned with Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) principles.
• Ensure maintenance service levels support uninterrupted manufacturing operations.
• Provide full leadership and oversight of the toolroom function.
• Ensure tooling availability and reliability to support production schedules.
• Implement preventative systems to ensure press tools and manufacturing equipment remain operational and available.
• Lead engineering and maintenance improvement projects through to successful completion.
• Promote and enforce a strong safety culture across engineering and maintenance teams.

• Lead and develop a team of engineering professionals and technical specialists.
• Create a culture of technical excellence, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Foster strong cross-functional collaboration between engineering, production, quality, and supply chain.
• Support the development of engineering capability within the organisation.
• Encourage innovation and practical engineering problem solving.
• Promote clear communication, ownership of outcomes, and disciplined execution within the team.

• The Engineering Executive will contribute to organisational success by:
• Ensuring globally competitive manufacturing costs
• Improving operational reliability and efficiency
• Supporting customer satisfaction and delivery performance
• Leading engineering innovation within the manufacturing environment
• Strengthening…