Biyinzika Poultry Uganda Limited
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Feed Mill

Mechanical Engineer (Feed Mill)

The Mechanical Engineer (Feed Mill) is the resident mechanical engineering authority at Biyinzika Poultry Uganda Limited (BPUL)'s Katega Feed Mill, accountable for the safe, reliable and efficient operation, maintenance and improvement of all mechanical equipment and systems within the mill. The primary objective of the role is to maximise equipment availability, minimise unplanned downtime, control maintenance cost, and ensure that all mechanical equipment is maintained to the required safety and operating standards.

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Duty station
Permanently site-based
Reports to
Feed Mill Operations Manager (solid line); Maintenance Manager (dotted line)
Employment
Full-time
Posted
8 September 2026
Applications close
22 September 2026

What you'll do

Key position responsibilities

30 items

  • Maintain all raw material intake equipment, pre-cleaning plant, conveying networks, silos, bins and hoppers to ensure intake capacity and material flow do not constrain the milling programme.
  • Maintain magnet systems, destoners, drum sifters and vibrating screens to protect downstream equipment from tramp metal and stone damage.
  • Own the mechanical condition and performance of hammer mills, including hammer wear and rotation schedules, screen condition and change-out, rotor balance, main shaft bearings, drive alignment, and door seal integrity.
  • Manage hammer and screen change-out as a planned activity, recording wear-part life per unit to establish predictable replacement intervals.
  • Monitor and manage the relationship between hammer and screen condition, grind particle size, throughput and specific energy consumption.
  • Maintain roller mills where fitted, including roll condition, corrugation, gap setting and drive systems.
  • Maintain batching systems, mixers and liquid addition systems to ensure mechanical accuracy, mix uniformity and accurate, unblocked application.
  • Support periodic mixer uniformity testing with Quality Assurance and act on any mechanical cause identified.
Show 22 more responsibilities
  • Maintain the steam conditioner and the interface with the boiler and steam distribution system.
  • Own the mechanical performance of the pellet mill, including dies, rollers, assemblies, drives, couplings, alignment, protection systems, and discharge assemblies.
  • Establish and maintain a die and roller management regime, including recording hours and tonnes per die, managing inventory and re-work, monitoring wear, and correlating condition against throughput, energy draw and pellet quality.
  • Establish vibration monitoring and preventive replacement of pellet mill wear components before failure.
  • Maintain coolers, discharge mechanisms, air systems, cyclones, crumblers, graders, fines recycling and pellet conveying systems.
  • Work closely with Production to improve pellet mill reliability, capacity and operating efficiency as a standing joint objective.
  • Maintain bagging plant, bulk outloading systems, finished product bins, loading spouts and dust control at loading points to ensure dispatch capacity matches production output.
  • Coordinate with the Transport function on the mechanical availability of loading infrastructure and vehicle access equipment.
  • Maintain utilities and ancillary plant including boiler and steam systems, compressed air systems, pneumatic conveying systems, pumps, fans, blowers, cooling systems, chillers or HVAC plant, and water supply and reticulation infrastructure.
  • Maintain the complete aspiration and dust control system as a safety-critical system.
  • Ensure the mechanical integrity of combustible-dust safety provisions and prevent avoidable ignition sources by monitoring and responding promptly to abnormal temperature, vibration, friction, dust accumulation and faulty extraction.
  • Enforce rigorous housekeeping and dust accumulation control across all levels of the mill.
  • Own confined space entry discipline for silos, bins, hoppers, mixers and conveyor housings, ensuring permit, isolation, atmospheric testing and standby attendance requirements are met.
  • Enforce safe systems of work across all mechanical activity, including lockout/tagout, permit-to-work, control of stored mechanical energy, working at height, lifting and rigging, hot work, and safe work on steam, pressure and pneumatic systems.
  • Maintain machine guarding to standard and personally verify guarding before equipment is returned to production.
  • Lead the mechanical response to equipment breakdowns and production interruptions, diagnose failures, direct repairs, and restore production in the shortest safe time.
  • Ensure equipment is correctly and completely repaired before return to service.
  • Record every breakdown with cause, corrective action, parts consumed and downtime incurred.
  • Conduct structured root cause analysis on major and recurring failures, implement permanent corrective actions, and verify their effectiveness after an agreed period.
  • Maintain vigilance over recurring feed mill failure modes including bearing and gearbox failures, shafts, conveyors, elevators, belts, chains, vibration, overheating, misalignment, blockages, and pellet mill, hammer mill, fan and pump failures.
  • Develop and maintain a comprehensive preventive maintenance programme aligned to OEM specifications, running hours and asset criticality, in conjunction with the Maintenance Planner.
  • Ensure lubrication schedules are defined and followed for every lubricated point in the mill, with correct grades, quantities and intervals.

What you'll bring

Qualifications, skills & experience

30 items

  • Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) – O-Level with strong passes in Mathematics, Physics and English.
  • Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) – A-Level with Physics and Mathematics, or an equivalent post-O-Level technical qualification from a UBTEB-accredited institution.
  • Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Agricultural Engineering, or Industrial Engineering from Makerere University, Kyambogo University, Busitema University, or a recognised equivalent institution.
  • A Diploma in Mechanical Engineering combined with substantial and demonstrable feed mill operating experience will be accepted as an alternative to a degree, subject to verified technical depth at interview and practical assessment.
  • Combustible dust safety and dust explosion prevention training covering hazard identification, housekeeping standards, ignition source control, and explosion protection systems.
  • Confined space entry and rescue training.
  • Working at height and lifting/rigging competency training, including slinging, chain block operation and lifting appliance inspection.
  • Boiler and steam system safety awareness, and familiarity with statutory pressure vessel inspection requirements.
Show 22 more qualifications
  • Occupational Health & Safety training covering lockout/tagout, permit-to-work, machine guarding, and incident investigation.
  • Root Cause Analysis methodology training.
  • Condition monitoring training covering vibration analysis, laser shaft alignment, and lubrication management.
  • Welding and fabrication competency, and mechanical fitting fundamentals.
  • Feed safety awareness, including HACCP principles as applied to feed manufacturing and the maintenance practices that support them.
  • Advanced Microsoft Excel and CMMS platform competency is mandatory for maintenance reporting and work order management.
  • At least 5–8 years of hands-on mechanical engineering and maintenance experience in a continuous-process industrial environment, with a minimum of 3 years in a senior or supervisory engineering role.
  • Strong demonstrable knowledge of rotating machinery, and direct working experience with bearings, gearboxes, conveyors, pumps and mechanical drive systems.
  • Sound working knowledge of preventive and predictive maintenance methodology, and experience operating within a formal work order regime.
  • Ability to read and interpret mechanical drawings, general arrangements, process flow diagrams and OEM manuals.
  • Strong troubleshooting and structured problem-solving capability, demonstrated on complex plant.
  • Experience leading a team of fitters, welders or mechanical artisans in a shift-operating plant.
  • Rotating equipment competence including bearing selection, mounting and failure analysis; shaft alignment including laser alignment; belt, chain and gearbox drive systems; coupling selection and maintenance; and vibration interpretation.
  • Knowledge of hammer mill construction, hammer and screen selection and wear management, rotor balancing, and the relationship between grind, throughput and energy.
  • Knowledge of pellet mill mechanical construction, die specification, roller adjustment, conditioning and steam interface, and pellet quality troubleshooting from a mechanical standpoint.
  • Knowledge of elevator and conveyor design principles, blockage and spillage control, wear management, and material flow behaviour in bins and hoppers.
  • Knowledge of boiler and steam system operation and maintenance, compressed air systems, pumps, and pneumatic conveying.
  • Knowledge of cyclone and bag filter operation, fan performance, ducting design, and airlock function.
  • Ability in welding, machining, fitting, and the ability to specify, inspect and supervise fabricated replacement parts.
  • Working understanding of the electrical, instrumentation and automation systems interfacing with mill mechanical plant, sufficient to supervise site electricians on routine work and collaborate effectively with the Electrical Engineer on complex faults.
  • Ability to plan, schedule and prioritise maintenance work in a continuously operating plant with limited maintenance windows.
  • Strong analytical capability to interrogate downtime, wear-part life, and energy data to identify root causes and quantify improvement.

Helpful experience

Additional advantages

13 items

  • A Postgraduate qualification in Maintenance Management, Engineering Management, or Industrial Engineering.
  • Registration with the Uganda Engineers Registration Board (ERB) as a Graduate or Registered Engineer is strongly preferred.
  • Membership of the Uganda Institution of Professional Engineers (UIPE).
  • Certification in Maintenance and Reliability (SMRP CMRP or equivalent).
  • Feed milling technology training covering grinding, mixing, conditioning and pelleting.
  • Pellet mill operation and maintenance training from a recognised OEM such as Bühler, CPM/California Pellet Mill, Andritz, Van Aarsen, Muyang, or equivalent.
  • Direct experience in a feed mill, grain mill, poultry processing plant, or agricultural processing facility.
  • Hands-on pellet mill experience including die and roller management, drive systems, and pellet mill fault diagnosis.
Show 5 more advantages
  • Experience with boilers and steam systems, including statutory inspection and safe operation.
  • Experience with pneumatic conveying systems and compressed air plant.
  • Project and equipment installation, supervision and commissioning experience.
  • Experience planning and executing plant shutdowns and major mechanical overhauls.
  • Experience supervising external contractors on major mechanical work.

What happens next

A straightforward application.

  1. 1Share your details
  2. 2Add experience & CV
  3. 3Review and submit
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