Maintenance Specialist

Hounslow, England, United Kingdom

12/17/2024

We are looking for a maintenance specialist with a passion for problem-solving, to support and provide technical expertise, and quality maintenance support to production so that we can ensure growth and the continued production at Tails.com.

Changing the world of pet food for good

We’re Tails.com, a dog food subscription company with a big difference. We create truly tailored food for each and every dog we serve. We start by asking people a few simple questions about their dog. Then we use that information to create their dog’s unique tails.com recipe – so their dog gets exactly the nutrition they need, in the taste they love, delivered to their door every month. It’s clever stuff.

We’ve got ambitious plans. Having created an entirely new category in pet food, we’re now scaling fast in the UK and Europe – backed by Purina, one of the world’s largest pet food companies. You’ll join a bunch of smart people working towards the same goals – and a bunch of smart-ish dogs, all working on their own thing.

Together, we’ll change the world of pet food for good.

Smart factory. Smarter people.

In Factory Operations, we’re responsible for creating a different product for each and every dog, and delivering it to our customers - on time and in beautiful condition. This requires a manufacturing process with ever-increasing complexity and elements. As Tails grows it is becoming increasingly more important to reduce downtime and ensure Production runs smoothly throughout. The maintenance team started off small but is expanding now to provide 24-hour support to production.

The maintenance team is responsible first and foremost for the maintenance (and improvement) of all the factory equipment, factory building, networking and internet systems and ensuring continued production. Beyond that, the maintenance team is heavily involved with engineering and production in process improvement and optimisation projects.

The team is engaged, empowered, and high-performing. We’re driven by innovative problem-solving, which means you get the space and trust to take a problem and solve it. We believe most hard skills are learnable – so we’re looking for attitude and approach above all else. Eager to learn, adapt, and work hard and problem-solve? You could be just the person we need to deliver a truly game-changing product to thousands of people, every day.

Build our brand

We’re building an international brand, fast. We set ambitious goals. We challenge and support each other in equal measure. At the pace we’re moving, we prefer to test ideas and learn quickly rather than spend months building a business case. That means we celebrate when things go right, and we learn when things go wrong.

Sound like a team you want to join? Here’s how you’ll make a difference:

The role:

You will be based at our Heathrow Factory but may be required to travel to other Tails.com sites as necessary. Working hours will be on a shift pattern rotation between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. You will provide support to production, which will require out-of-hours calls and ad hoc weekend work when needed. You will be responsible for problem-solving and working through any issues that arise within production and finding innovative and smart solutions to improve factory efficiency.

Written and verbal communication is key (English). If an issue is too complex for one person to solve, you’ll be quick to convey information to the rest of the team (engineering, production, and quality control) to land on the right solution.

Ownership of tasks will be key, sticking with problems until they are solved.

The things you’ll do:

• General equipment maintenance and PPM schedules on production lines (mechanical and low voltage electronics).
• Problem-solving and investigation.
• Carrying out planned maintenance and inspection checks.
• Shift Support to ensure continuous production (which may include occasional weekend work).
• Handle and deal with various external contractors.
• Maintaining stock levels and ensuring equipment is maintained to the highest standard.
• General building maintenance.
• Installation of various facility equipment.
  
  

The skills you’ll bring:

• Hands-on skills working with tools and powered equipment. (previous maintenance experience desirable but not essential).
• A good analytical and organized approach to work, correctly following procedures.
• Knowledge in Health & Safety and safe ways of working.
• Good work ethic and the sense to go the extra mile to ensure continued production.
• Demonstrably proactive in your previous roles.
• Comfortable speaking and adding in on meetings and conveying information.
• A flexible approach to work situations.
• Ownership of tasks
  
  

What's in it for you?

• Competitive salary, reviewed annually.
• Annual bonus, based on company performance.
• Flexible core hours, giving you true work life balance.
• 25 days of holiday (excluding bank holidays) which increases over time to a max of 27 days.
• Optional 5 days unpaid leave and 1 paid volunteer day each year.
• When you need a change of scenery, you can work from abroad 2 weeks every 6 months.
• Health insurance for you, paid by tails.com (starting mid 2023) & discounted gym membership.
• Extended maternity, shared parental and adoption pay. Up to 6 months at 70% pay, linked to statutory parental pay.
• Flexible paid care leave to support immediate dependants, people close to you and pets.
• Vet service - to support with all pet related questions.
• In house L&D team, with access to year round courses to help drive your development.
• 50% discount on all Tails.com
  
  

What’s next?

If this sounds like it matches your experience and what you’d love to do, we can’t wait to hear from you! If you’re unsure whether you fit our criteria exactly, please get in touch anyway. And because we believe that diverse teams perform better, we’d especially love to hear from you if you’re from an under-represented demographic.

Here’s a taster of how our recruitment process works:

• Once you have applied your CV will be reviewed by the Hiring Manager.
• If selected, you will then have a call with the Hiring Manager to understand more about your skills and experience (30 mins).
• If successful, you will be invited to present a task back to a panel of interviewers (60 mins).
• The final stage is a video call with our Operations Director (30 mins).
  
  

Our Commitment

We’re proud to be an active equal-opportunity employer. We want to give everyone a fair chance to join us in changing the world of pet food for good. We do this by conducting a structured recruitment process for all candidates, as well as actively promoting our roles to communities that are under-represented at Tails.com.

During your interview process you’ll meet some of our team with varying levels of responsibility and experience. We want to give every candidate a fair interview process and if you need any reasonable adjustments made, please let us know.