Project Engineer / Continuous Improvement Engineer (Cork, IE)

About the Role:

Join us at Ferrero Cork as a RDM (Project Engineer / Continuous Improvement Engineer), where you will take ownership of leading site performance improvement, maintenance excellence, asset optimization, and strategic operational initiatives. Working closely with Production, Maintenance, Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, and external partners, you will lead initiatives that enhance safety, quality, productivity, asset performance, and cost competitiveness. The RDM will play a critical role in improving plant performance by driving reliability, operational efficiency, continuous improvement, and capital project delivery across the site.

This role is responsible for developing and executing improvement strategies, leading cross functional projects, optimizing maintenance systems and processes, supporting capital investments, and delivering measurable business results. Acting as a key partner to operational teams, you will ensure sustainable improvements and long term value creation across the facility.

Main Responsibilities:

At the Core of the RDM role lies Asset Performance & Maintenance Excellence. A key part of your role will be to develop and implement strategies to improve equipment performance, uptime, and overall plant efficiency while driving maintenance excellence through the optimization of preventive, predictive, and corrective maintenance activities. You will lead initiatives aimed at improving OEE, reducing downtime, and eliminating recurring equipment failures. The RDM is responsible for monitoring and analysing maintenance and operational KPIs to identify opportunities for improvement while supporting maintenance planning and scheduling processes to maximise resource utilisation and asset availability. Ensuring maintenance activities are aligned with business objectives, safety standards, and operational requirements you will promote best practices in asset management, maintenance systems, and equipment lifecycle management.

A key part of this role is Continuous Improvement & Operational Excellence. You will lead continuous improvement initiatives that enhance safety, quality, productivity, reliability, and cost performance while facilitating structured problem solving and root cause analysis activities to address operational challenges. You will drive TPM, Lean Manufacturing, Operational Excellence, and loss elimination programs across the site, analysing operational data and trends to identify improvement opportunities and optimise processes. Developing and implementing sustainable corrective and preventive actions will form a key part of your remit. You will support business case development and ROI evaluations for improvement projects. You will champion a culture of continuous improvement and accountability across all departments.

Projects & Capital Investment will sit at the heart of your role. You will lead and coordinate operational and technical projects from concept through execution and completion while developing project plans, budgets, timelines, resource requirements, and risk mitigation strategies. Managing capital projects, equipment upgrades, installations, and process improvement initiatives, you will coordinate cross functional teams to ensure successful project delivery. You will monitor project performance to ensure objectives are achieved within scope, budget, and schedule while supporting equipment commissioning, validation, and handover activities. In addition, you’ll ensure all projects deliver measurable business benefits and sustainable operational improvements.

You will play an integral part in Stakeholder & Contractor Management, building strong working relationships with internal stakeholders across all site functions. Coordinating contractors, suppliers, service providers, and engineering partners, you will develop project scopes and support contractor selection and procurement activities. This role is responsible for monitoring contractor performance and ensuring deliverables meet agreed expectations, while ensuring contractors comply with site safety, quality, GMP, and operational standards. In addition, you will provide regular updates on project progress, risks, and performance to site leadership.

As the RDM you will take ownership of Governance, Compliance & Reporting. You will be responsible for maintaining accurate records relating to maintenance, projects, asset performance, and improvement activities, while ensuring compliance with company standards, GMP requirements, food safety systems, environmental regulations, and health and safety legislation. You will support internal and external audits, inspections, and compliance programs. Finally, this role is responsible for the development and maintenance of performance dashboards and reports to support data driven decision making while contributing to the development and standardisation of maintenance, project management, and operational excellence processes.

About You:

You will bring a relevant 3rd level qualification in Engineering, Manufacturing, Maintenance, Operations Management, or Food Science. Experience within a manufacturing, engineering, maintenance, or operational environment would be highly advantageous, as would experience delivering operational improvements and business performance results while leading cross functional teams and managing multiple priorities simultaneously.

The ideal candidate will have experience in project management, capital expenditure projects, and technical improvement initiatives and is self motivated with a strong focus on execution, accountability, and results. Strong understanding of manufacturing operations and asset management principles are key.

What We Offer:

Careers with caring built in - discover our benefits here.

About Ferrero:

Ferrero began its journey in the small town of Alba in Piedmont, Italy, in 1946. Today, it is one of the world’s largest sweet-packaged food companies, with many iconic brands sold in countries all over the world. Find out more about Ferrero at ferrero.com.

DE&I at Ferrero:

Ferrero is committed to building a diverse and inclusive culture in which all employees feel welcomed and appreciated and have the same opportunities. We believe all our people are equally talented in their own way. In nurturing the curiosity and natural abilities of our employees, we provide them, generation after generation, the means to succeed personally and professionally, enabling them to craft their journey at Ferrero. The diversity of our talents is what makes our work environment multicultural, innovative, and highly rewarding. Find out more here.