Engineering & Maintenance Lead (Fixed-Term)

About the role

One Acre Fund is looking for an exceptional Engineering Lead to own factory machinery and equipment maintenance across its Tupande Soko factories in Kenya. The role focuses on building a robust maintenance management system, reducing operational downtime, and driving engineering excellence.

Key responsibilities

• Design, implement and own a Computerised Maintenance Management System (CMMS) for three factories within the first 90‑120 days.
• Create and standardise preventive maintenance schedules, targeting an 80:20 planned‑to‑unplanned maintenance ratio within 12 months.
• Develop a cross‑factory spare‑parts strategy, set minimum stock levels and manage replenishment to avoid critical stockouts.
• Establish root‑cause‑analysis (RCA) processes for major failures, track corrective actions and integrate findings into PM plans.
• Troubleshoot complex equipment failures on‑site, providing technical interventions when maintenance staff or vendors are unavailable.
• Mentor the maintenance team on best‑practice repair techniques and elevate technical standards.
• Design, maintain and present a monthly maintenance KPI scorecard to the Soko Director and produce weekly factory‑level reports.
• Maintain a cross‑factory equipment risk register and flag capital investment or replacement needs.

Required profile

• Proven experience leading maintenance operations in a factory or processing environment.
• Strong analytical mindset with the ability to drive data‑based improvements.
• Excellent communication skills to interact with maintenance staff, vendors and senior leadership.

Required skills

• CMMS implementation and management
• Preventive maintenance planning
• Root cause analysis (RCA)
• Equipment risk management
• KPI reporting and dashboard creation