MFG PLANT SENIOR ENGINEERING LEADER

Lead the plant engineering and maintenance organization with full accountability for the site’s capital portfolio, asset reliability, infrastructure readiness, and technical execution. Own the development, prioritization, governance, and delivery of capital investments that improve safety, quality, reliability, cost, capacity, compliance, and long-term business performance. Serve as the site leader for the Early Management Pillar, ensuring new equipment, processes, and technologies are designed, installed, commissioned, and transitioned into operations with strong vertical startup discipline, operator readiness, maintainability, and sustainable results. Provide leadership for project management, maintenance strategy, utilities, facility systems, engineering standards, and continuous improvement while building the technical capability, leadership skills, and career development of engineering and maintenance associates. Demonstrate the company’s core values of respect, honesty, integrity, diversity, inclusion, and safety.

• Provide strategic engineering and maintenance leadership aligned to plant safety, quality, reliability, cost, capacity, compliance, and business objectives.
• Own the plant’s multi-year capital portfolio, including loss-based prioritization, business case development, funding, budget control, execution, and delivery of approved project objectives.
• Lead project management discipline for site capital and expense projects, ensuring scope, schedule, cost, risk, safety, commissioning, training, documentation, and startup deliverables are achieved.
• Serve as site leader for the Early Management Pillar, ensuring new equipment, processes, utilities, and technologies are launched with strong vertical startup, operator readiness, maintainability, and sustainable performance.
• Develop and implement equipment, process, utility, infrastructure, and facility improvements that reduce losses, improve asset performance, support growth, and advance modernization priorities.
• Lead maintenance and reliability systems, including preventive and predictive maintenance, planning and scheduling, work order management, spare parts strategy, and asset life-cycle management.
• Manage engineering, maintenance, capital, and expense budgets while communicating financial risks, opportunities, and project performance.
• Build, coach, and develop engineering and maintenance associates through selection, onboarding, training, performance management, succession planning, feedback, and career development.
• Apply current manufacturing, automation, controls, maintenance, utility, energy, and food processing technologies to improve plant performance.
• Maintain and govern engineering records, including equipment files, manuals, drawings, inspection reports, legal records, project documentation, commissioning records, and training materials.
• Lead energy management, sustainability, utility efficiency, and conservation initiatives in support of plant, division, and company goals.
• Partner with plant leadership, operations, sanitation, quality, safety, finance, procurement, corporate engineering, vendors, and contractors to align priorities, remove barriers, and deliver results.
• Ensure compliance with OSHA, EPA, FDA, state inspectors, and other regulatory requirements related to plant systems, projects, records, and operating practices.
• Lead and support Process Safety Management (PSM) for covered processes and high-risk utility systems, including PHA, MOC, mechanical integrity, procedures, training, contractor safety, PSSR, incident investigation, audits, corrective actions, and risk reduction.
• Follow established programs, policies, and practices to produce safe, quality foods that meet regulatory and company requirements.
• Accountable to the Kroger Manufacturing Food Safety and Quality Principles.
• Supervise and coach direct reports in the performance of their duties; complete performance reviews and provide feedback to direct reports.
• Must be able to perform the essential functions of this position with or without reasonable accommodation

Minimum

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering or 10+ years of related relevant experience in lieu of a bachelor’s degree+ years of technical experience in the food industry.
• Knowledge of Food Safety Principles, Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), EPA and OSHA requirements
• Strong attention to detail, with high degree of accuracy and precision
• Strong analytical and strategic thinking ability
• Proven leadership skills

• Ability to foster positive working relationships with key stakeholders

  
  

Desired 

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical, electrical or chemical engineering or 20+ years of related relevant experience in lieu of a bachelor’s degree
• 6+ years of experience in the food industry dealing with capital project development and management, preventative maintenance administration, maintenance workforce management, budget responsibility and federal regulations/requirements