Location: Mtwara Plant, Tanzania Company: Dangote Industries Limited Job Type: Full-Time Industry: Cement Manufacturing / Heavy Industry Maintenance
About the Role
Dangote Cement Tanzania is looking for an experienced and results-driven Head of Mechanical Maintenance to lead all mechanical maintenance operations at its integrated cement plant in Mtwara. This is a senior leadership position for a hands-on engineering professional who can combine strategic reliability planning with strong field leadership to keep the plant running safely, reliably, and at design capacity.
If you have deep expertise in cement plant maintenance, kiln mechanical systems, reliability engineering, and shutdown management, and you’re ready to take full ownership of mechanical performance across a large-scale industrial operation, this role offers the opportunity to make a direct, visible impact.
Position Purpose
The Head of Mechanical Maintenance provides strategic and hands-on leadership for all mechanical maintenance activities across the plant, ensuring safe, reliable, and cost-effective operation of production assets. The role owns equipment availability, reduces unplanned downtime, strengthens preventive and predictive maintenance programs, and builds a high-performing maintenance team capable of sustaining stable production.
Ideal candidate profile: An energetic, visible leader who takes full ownership, thrives under pressure, spends significant time in the field, develops people, and consistently turns technical analysis into timely action.
Key Responsibilities
1. Maintenance Strategy & Reliability
- Develop and execute the plant’s mechanical maintenance strategy in line with production targets, OEM guidelines, statutory requirements, and Dangote standards.
- Lead preventive, predictive, condition-based, and corrective maintenance programs with disciplined planning, scheduling, and close-out.
- Drive equipment reliability improvements through root-cause analysis (RCA), failure elimination, bad-actor management, and life-cycle planning.
- Set standards for lubrication, alignment, balancing, vibration monitoring, thermography, oil analysis, and inspection routines.
- Maintain accurate equipment history, BOMs, and maintenance records in CMMS/SAP.
2. Plant Equipment & Technical Scope
- Oversee mechanical maintenance of crushers, stackers/reclaimers, raw mills, coal mills, rotary kiln, preheater, clinker cooler, cement mills, separators, packing plants, and bulk-loading systems.
- Ensure reliability of gearboxes, girth gears, pinions, bearings, couplings, hydraulics, fans, compressors, pumps, conveyors, and dust collectors.
- Maintain kiln mechanical integrity — shell, tyres, rollers, drive train, seals, and cooler systems.
- Direct precision maintenance: hot/cold alignment, laser alignment, balancing, welding, fabrication, machining, and NDT.
- Coordinate with OEMs and specialists on major technical issues, upgrades, and overhauls.
3. Shutdown & Project Management
- Lead annual shutdowns and major overhauls end-to-end — scope, resourcing, risk assessment, execution, quality control, and commissioning.
- Ensure full readiness before execution: drawings, methods, manpower, tools, lifting plans, permits, materials, and spares.
- Manage mechanical CAPEX and improvement projects within scope, schedule, and budget.
- Participate in design reviews, FATs, installation, and commissioning of new equipment.
4. Safety, Compliance & Work Quality
- Demonstrate visible safety leadership; enforce permit-to-work, LOTO, confined-space, hot-work, and lifting requirements.
- Ensure risk assessments, method statements, and quality checkpoints support every job.
- Maintain compliance with Tanzanian law, environmental obligations, and engineering best practices.
- Investigate incidents/near misses and ensure corrective actions are sustained.
5. Cost, Spares & Contractor Control
- Prepare and manage the mechanical maintenance budget with continuous cost optimization.
- Optimize critical-spares holdings based on criticality, lead time, and failure consequence.
- Review technical specifications, bids, and vendor proposals for quality and timely delivery.
- Manage contractors through clear scopes, competency checks, and performance monitoring.
6. Leadership & Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Lead, coach, and hold the mechanical maintenance team accountable through clear objectives and performance reviews.
- Build succession plans and competency matrices for engineers, supervisors, technicians, and fitters.
- Collaborate closely with Production, Process, Electrical, Automation, Quality, and HSE teams.
- Lead reliability reviews and communicate risks with clear recovery plans and owners.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
| KPI Area | Expected Outcome |
|---|---|
| Equipment Availability | Meet agreed availability and reliability targets for critical sections |
| Unplanned Downtime | Reduce breakdown hours, repeat failures, and production losses |
| Maintenance Compliance | High PM/PdM completion, schedule adherence, quality work-order closure |
| Shutdown Performance | Safe, on-scope, on-time, on-budget shutdowns with reliable start-up |
| Cost Control | Optimized maintenance cost per ton and budget variance |
| Asset Health | Strong critical-equipment condition and backlog management |
| Safety Performance | Zero fatalities/LTIs; strong permit and isolation compliance |
| People Development | Improved competency, succession readiness, and engagement |
Minimum Qualifications & Experience
- Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering (master’s degree or professional certification an advantage).
- Minimum 20 years of progressive mechanical maintenance experience in heavy industry, including at least 15 years in a cement plant and 6+ years in senior leadership.
- Proven experience in an integrated cement plant of comparable scale — kiln, mills, crushers, material handling, packing, and utilities.
- Track record managing major shutdowns, reliability programs, budgets, contractors, and multidisciplinary teams.
- Strong knowledge of CMMS/SAP, maintenance planning, condition monitoring, and RCA/FMEA methodologies.
- Fluent professional English; Kiswahili is an advantage.
Technical Competencies
Rotating equipment & precision maintenance • Kiln mechanical systems & alignment • Grinding, crushing & conveying equipment • Hydraulics, pneumatics & lubrication • Predictive maintenance & condition monitoring • Welding, fabrication, machining & NDT • Shutdown planning & commissioning • RCA, FMEA & reliability improvement • Maintenance budgeting & contractor management
Leadership & Behavioural Attributes
- Energetic, proactive, and highly visible in the field
- Strong sense of ownership and follow-through
- Calm, decisive decision-maker under pressure
- Data-driven problem solver with sound engineering judgement
- Clear communicator across management, contractors, and frontline teams
- Committed to coaching and building local technical capability
Working Conditions
Plant-based role requiring regular presence in operational areas, workshops, and shutdown work fronts. Availability required outside normal hours during breakdowns and emergencies. Must be able to work safely around heat, dust, noise, heights, and confined spaces using appropriate PPE.
Dangote Cement Tanzania is an equal opportunity employer, hiring based on merit, competence, and organizational requirements. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
Apply now to lead mechanical reliability at one of Tanzania’s largest integrated cement plants.
