Job Purpose
The Maintenance Technician is responsible for the hands-on troubleshooting, repair, and preventive maintenance of production equipment, utilities, and facility systems at Athlone Laboratories, working to maximise equipment uptime and reliability while ensuring full compliance with GMP and Health & Safety requirements.
Principal duties and responsibilities
- Carry out troubleshooting, fault-finding, and repair of mechanical, electrical, and utility equipment across the site, escalating complex issues to the Maintenance Supervisor or Facilities Engineer as required.
- Perform preventive and planned maintenance tasks in line with the maintenance schedule, and accurately complete all associated logging and task tracking.
- Carry out spare parts identification, storage, and procurement.
- Maintain regular, consistent, and professional attendance, punctuality, and personal appearance, and adhere to all relevant GMP and Health & Safety procedures, including safe systems of work (e.g. permit-to-work, lock-out/tag-out) and correct use of PPE.
- Develop and maintain standard changeover manuals, set-up/settings lists, and consistent timelines for equipment changeovers, and identify opportunities to reduce changeover time.
- Track equipment performance and report on it at regular intervals, forming the basis of the site's Continuous Improvement programme, with the aim of moving maintenance from a reactive to a proactive approach.
- Work with the Maintenance Team and Operations to understand and resolve equipment performance issues.
- Use techniques such as "one point" lesson plans to share information on fault correction, and support operators in developing their equipment knowledge.
- Build agreement among key operators and technicians on the most effective method of operating equipment.
- Liaise with onsite and external contractors on equipment repairs and in detailing the jobs and projects required of them, ensuring all learnings are captured.
- Liaise with the Maintenance Facilities Engineer to source and order parts, machinery, and maintenance equipment as required.
- Communicate with all departments to ensure schedules are achieved.
- Support the coordination of teams for new equipment installation projects, ensuring effective installation.
- Support adherence to maintenance budgets, ensuring spending is geared to business benefit.
- Undertake any other duties reasonably required, in line with the needs of the business.
Skills and Experience
· Recognised trade qualification (e.g. QQI Level 6 or equivalent) in Mechanical, Electrical, or Instrumentation Engineering, or equivalent relevant experience, would be an advantage but is not essential.
· Experience in a pharmaceutical, medical device, or other regulated manufacturing environment would be an advantage but is not necessary.
· Hands-on experience troubleshooting and repairing mechanical, electrical, pneumatic, and/or hydraulic equipment.
· Familiarity with PLC-controlled equipment and automated production lines would be an advantage.
· Relevant safety certifications (e.g. Safe Pass, Manual Handling) and any applicable plant or equipment licences.
· Strong leadership/team management skills and experience.
· Strong analytical and problem-solving ability.
· Ability to prioritise, demonstrating good time management skills.
· Excellent attention to detail with the ability to work in a busy and demanding environment.
· Willingness to work flexible hours/shifts, and to participate in an on-call/call-out rota as required.
The role demands a well-organised approach, underpinned by the ability to communicate effectively with people at all levels, both verbally and in writing. Reliability, IT literacy and the ability to plan and complete projects to set timelines is essential.
This job description is intended as a guide to the nature and scope of the role. It is not exhaustive, and duties may be reviewed and amended from time to time in line with the needs of the business.
Pay: €40,000.00-€42,000.00 per year
Work Location: In person
