Plant Engineer – Pharmaceutical Manufacturing

About the role

We are seeking an experienced Plant Engineer to lead Engineering & Maintenance at a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in Kinshasa. The role ensures reliable, safe, and GMP‑compliant operation of critical equipment, utilities and facilities supporting LVP/SVP production.

Key responsibilities

• Lead engineering and maintenance activities, managing utilities such as WFI, purified water, pure steam, compressed air/nitrogen, HVAC, boilers, DG sets and ETP.
• Oversee preventive and breakdown maintenance of filling/sealing machines, autoclaves, sterilizers, mixing vessels and packaging lines.
• Monitor equipment performance, uptime, maintenance schedules and critical spare parts.
• Support DQ, IQ, OQ, PQ and equipment/utility qualification activities.
• Lead installation, commissioning and qualification of new equipment and production lines.
• Drive root‑cause analysis, equipment reliability, energy efficiency and cost‑reduction initiatives.
• Ensure compliance with GMP, safety and DRC statutory requirements.
• Develop and lead Assistant Engineer, Maintenance and Electrical teams, building local technical capability through training.

Required profile

• Degree or postgraduate qualification in Mechanical, Electrical, Instrumentation or Chemical Engineering.
• 10–12 years of engineering/maintenance experience in pharmaceutical manufacturing, preferably sterile/parenteral.
• Hands‑on experience with WFI systems, pure steam, HVAC for classified areas, autoclaves/sterilizers.
• Experience in equipment qualification, validation and pharmaceutical engineering projects.
• Strong leadership and team‑development skills; previous international/expatriate experience is highly preferred.
• Fluent English; French proficiency is an advantage.

Required skills

• WFI and pure steam system operation
• HVAC for classified areas
• Autoclave and sterilizer maintenance
• PLC/automation
• CMMS usage
• Utility optimization
• BFS (Blow‑Fill‑Seal) technology (preferred)