Manager Engineering – Sandfire Motheo

Reporting directly to the General Manager, the role provides executive-level engineering oversight across:

• Process Plant Maintenance
• Engineering Projects (Mechanical, Structural, Civil, Piping, E&I)
• Administration Maintenance (Facilities & Fleet)
• Reliability and Asset Management
• Oversight of Outsourced Mining Maintenance (AMS)

The role ensures plant reliability, asset integrity, capital project execution, contractor governance, compliance with statutory requirements, and alignment with production and safety objectives.

This is a senior leadership role responsible for integrating engineering disciplines into a single, high-performing function aligned to business strategy.

Key Performance Areas:

Safety, Health, Environment, and Compliance

• Lead and promote a strong safety-first culture, ensuring compliance with all statutory regulations and the Mines, Quarries, Works and Machinery Act.
• Enforce adherence to OHSE procedures, risk assessments, Safe Work Procedures (SWPs), and critical control verifications.
• Champion proactive risk management and continuous improvement in safety performance across all maintenance teams.
• Drive compliance with environmental standards, achieving zero reportable incidents through effective planning and control of maintenance activities.

Engineering Strategy, Governance & Execution

• Develop and own the site-wide Engineering Strategy aligned to production, safety, cost, and capital discipline objectives.
•  Provide executive oversight of maintenance and engineering execution across plant, infrastructure, and outsourced functions.
• Ensure integration between maintenance planning, reliability engineering, project delivery, and operational requirements.
• Chair engineering performance and risk review forums to ensure structured execution discipline.
• Provide governance over shutdown strategy, scope optimisation, and performance assurance.
• Ensure reliability methodologies (RCM, risk-based maintenance, asset criticality analysis) are embedded across departments.
• Establish engineering standards and ensure consistent application across site functions.

Site wide Asset Management & Reliability Oversight

• Own the Asset Management Framework for all fixed and mobile assets across the operation.
• Provide oversight of plant reliability across mechanical, electrical, instrumentation, and control systems.
• Oversee governance of mobile and support fleet maintenance (including contractor-managed assets such as AMS).
• Ensure infrastructure assets (workshops, utilities, water systems, buildings, dewatering systems) are managed within statutory and operational standards.
• Monitor and review asset health dashboards and reliability KPIs at executive level.
• Ensure life-of-asset planning aligns with long-term mine plan and capital strategy.
• Approve critical spares strategy and working capital optimisation frameworks.

Projects, Capital Delivery & Engineering Improvement

• Provide executive oversight of all sustaining and capital projects.
• Approve scope definition, engineering design standards, and capital prioritisation.
• Ensure project governance frameworks are applied (cost, schedule, QA/QC, safety).
• Integrate project execution with operational readiness and commissioning plans.
• Oversee contractor performance and commercial compliance.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives across engineering and maintenance disciplines.
• Promote engineering innovation, technology upgrades, and productivity enhancement initiatives.

Outsourced Maintenance Governance (Contractors)

• Provide governance oversight of outsourced maintenance providers.
• Review contractor performance against SLA, safety, reliability, and cost metrics.
• Ensure alignment of contractor maintenance strategy with site engineering standards.
• Escalate performance gaps and implement corrective action frameworks.
• Maintain oversight of contractor workforce capability and compliance standards.

Financial & Commercial Accountability

• Develop and control the consolidated Engineering OPEX and CAPEX budgets.
• Ensure disciplined capital allocation aligned to asset risk and return.
•  Monitor engineering cost performance and variance analysis at executive level.
• Lead lifecycle cost modelling and long-term asset replacement strategy.
• Ensure resource optimisation across plant, projects, and infrastructure functions.
• Review and approve major procurement and engineering commercial decisions.

Systems, Reporting & Executive Assurance

• Ensure effective utilisation of CMMS (Pronto/SAP) for governance visibility and decision support.
• Review reliability performance metrics (MTBF, MTTR, availability, cost per tonne).
• Provide structured engineering performance reporting to GM and Executive Team.
• Ensure statutory compliance documentation is current and audit ready.
• Drive data-driven engineering decision-making through dashboards and predictive analytics.
• Establish audit and assurance frameworks across engineering functions.

Leadership, Culture & Capability Development

• Lead and develop Section Heads across Maintenance, Projects, Facilities, and Reliability.
• Build succession depth across engineering disciplines.
• Promote a culture of safety leadership and operational discipline.
• Strengthen collaboration between Engineering, Mining, Processing, HSES, and Finance.
• Drive accountability culture and high-performance standards within engineering teams.

The Engineering Manager is responsible for:

• Integrating all engineering disciplines under one governance structure
• Protecting plant reliability and capital discipline
• Providing executive-level engineering advice to the GM
• Reducing operational risk through structured asset management
• Driving cost optimisation and long-term asset sustainability
• Ensure data-driven decision-making through effective use of planning and condition monitoring tools.

Technical Competencies

• Advanced technical and diagnostic skills across process plant and mobile maintenance disciplines.
• Financial acumen and commercial awareness in managing maintenance budgets.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Strategic thinker capable of driving performance improvement initiatives.
• High proficiency in MS Office, CMMS platforms, and reliability analysis tools.

Behaviours/Personal Attributes

• Strong leadership and coaching abilities with a collaborative management style.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Strategic thinker capable of driving performance improvement initiatives.

Qualification & Experience

• Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical, Electrical, or Maintenance Engineering (or equivalent trade background with extensive management experience)
• Registration with or eligibility for registration with the Engineers Registration Board (ERB), Botswana (or equivalent body).
• Additional qualifications in Project Management, Reliability Engineering, or Business Management will be advantageous.
• Minimum 15 years’ experience in maintenance management within the mineral processing or heavy industrial sector, including at least 7 years at Senior Superintendent or Manager level.
• Demonstrated experience managing multidisciplinary maintenance functions including mechanical, electrical, and instrumentation teams.
• Proven track record in:
  • Process plant and mobile equipment maintenance
  • CMMS systems (Pronto or SAP) implementation and optimization
  • Shutdown planning and execution
  • Project and contractor management
  • Reliability and condition monitoring programs
  • Infrastructure and dewatering system maintenance