The Company

Our client is a global, market-leading FMCG organisation with a portfolio of iconic brands enjoyed in households around the world. Long-term in its outlook, the business is known for investing in its people, its manufacturing footprint and its culture, and its Australian and New Zealand operation forms a key part of a broader Asia-Pacific region. With a significant multi-year capital program ahead across its manufacturing network, the business is now looking to appoint a Head of Engineering to set the strategic direction for engineering across the region and lead its delivery.

The Role

Reporting in a matrix structure both locally and overseas, and sitting on both the regional Engineering Leadership Team and the ANZ Supply Leadership Team, you will lead a multi-site capital engineering function across an extensive footprint of manufacturing sites. You will own the master plan for the ANZ manufacturing footprint, shape the technology roadmap that sits behind it, and have a genuine voice in regional engineering strategy, all while ensuring a substantial capital portfolio is delivered safely, on time and on budget.

Key responsibilities include

- Own the long-term master plan for each site and for the ANZ network as a whole, defining where capacity, capability and technology need to be over a five-to-ten-year horizon and co-creating the capital strategy with site leadership and regional partners
- Lead the forward technology and capability agenda, working with internal stakeholders to anticipate what the business will need to manufacture in future and build the roadmap to get there, including asset standardisation and sustainability




- Contribute as a member of the regional Engineering Leadership Team to the co-creation and deployment of the wider regional engineering strategy, talent agenda and resource allocation across the region
- Integrate engineering and capital systems, processes and governance across the network, embedding a consistent project management model and lifting the maturity of how capital is planned, phased and delivered
- Partner cross-functionally with Operations, Quality & Food Safety, Safety and commercial functions to ensure engineering is fully aligned to the broader strategic direction of each site and the ANZ business
- Hold full accountability for the ANZ capital portfolio, in excess of $50M AUD annually, including safety, quality, financial governance and sustainability outcomes across all projects
- Lead the regional capital project reviews and steering committees, managing portfolio risks, opportunities and project phasing in line with business needs
- Lead, coach and develop a multi-site team of engineers and contractors, building a strong talent pipeline and flexing resources across the network to meet project peaks
- Act as the senior escalation point for engineering matters raised by site technical and plant leadership





Your Background You are a senior engineering leader who has run a multi-site capital engineering function within a complex manufacturing environment, and who is as comfortable shaping a network strategy with the executive team as you are governing delivery on the plant floor. Specifically, you will bring:

- A Bachelor's degree in Engineering
- Demonstrated experience leading a multi-site capital engineering team in a FMCG organisation
- A track record of developing site or network master plans and long-range capital and technology strategies, and then delivering against them
- Experience integrating or standardising engineering systems, processes and governance across multiple sites
- Strong commercial and financial acumen, with experience managing large capital budgets and presenting to senior steering committees
- A cooperative, cross-functional leadership style with the ability to influence operations, quality, safety and commercial stakeholders
- Working knowledge of the broader manufacturing environment including operations, quality and food safety, and HSE

What's On Offer

- A genuine strategic leadership role with ownership of the ANZ engineering agenda, master plan and manufacturing footprint
- A seat on both the regional Engineering and ANZ Supply leadership teams
- A significant, multi-year capital program in excess of $50M AUD annually to lead across a national network
- The backing of a global FMCG business that invests in its people and its sites for the long term
- A competitive executive remuneration package

For a confidential discussion regarding this opportunity, please contact Ricky Phare at Sonder Executive on [0409 741 184](tel:0409 741 184) or [email protected].

📌 Head of Engineering (Sydney)
🏢 Sonder Executive
📍 Sydney