Principal Manufacturing Process Engineer

The Principal Manufacturing Process Engineer plays a pivotal role in optimizing our production processes, ensuring the efficient and cost-effective manufacturing of our food products. You will focus on the upstream dairy process, working to optimize blending, standardization, heat treatment, filtration & sanitation. The role will collaborate with cross-functional teams, including Production Operations, Quality Assurance, Maintenance, Reliability Engineering, Controls/Capital Engineering, Operations Excellence, and Supply Chain, to drive continuous improvement, maintain product quality, and enhance overall production performance. Encompassing process optimization, improving process capability, process step-to-step enhancement, risk reduction, process & food safety, and close collaboration with various teams.

This role offers a 100% remote work schedule arrangement.

What you'll do:

• Serve as the subject matter expert in fluid-related process engineering, focusing on upstream dairy processes including blending, standardization, heat treatment, filtration & sanitation. Provide day-to-day process engineering support and lead engineering strategies around processing line capability, capacity, and optimization that align with organizational priorities. Convey advanced technical information and influence diverse stakeholders across the organization.

• Guide, mentor, and train process engineers in the mastery of process engineering tools, methodologies, and skills related to fluid processing. Provide technical guidance, ensuring clear priorities and accountability for deliverables, while fostering a culture of safety, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

• Evaluate existing manufacturing processes and identify areas for improvement in efficiency, productivity, process capability, risk, and cost reduction. Design and implement improvements to enhance yield, reduce waste, increase throughputs, improve cycle times, reduce bottlenecks, and streamline operations while maintaining strict adherence to food safety and quality standards.

• Drive high financial impact on company-wide results, leading technical teams through complex projects. Collaborate with Operations Excellence and Data Science/Analytics teams to leverage data for process optimization. Partner with cross-functional teams—including Production Operations, Quality Assurance, Maintenance, Reliability Engineering, Controls/Capital Engineering, and Supply Chain—to ensure efficient, cost-effective, and high-quality production of food products.

• Lead or assist in the development of new equipment installations or modifications, from concept to commissioning, with a focus on maximizing output, minimizing downtime, and reducing operational risk. Collaborate with Project Engineers on capital project development including scoping, budget estimates, schedule development, construction plans, downtime planning/risk mitigation, and ensuring scope and equipment qualification success criteria are met.

• Perform process capability studies to predict manufacturing process trends to meet customer specifications and create stability in day-to-day operations. Utilize advanced data analysis and statistical techniques to identify bottlenecks, process variability, and areas for improvement across multiple production processes. Implement data-driven solutions to increase overall efficiency while mitigating operational risk.

• Maintain accurate documentation, including process manuals, plant P&IDs, CCPs, standard operating procedures, and equipment specifications, with an emphasis on standardizing the process and sharing best practices. 

• May be required to perform other job-related tasks.

What you need to succeed:

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering (Chemical or Process Engineering preferred); other engineering fields acceptable. Masters degree Engineering a plus but not required.

• 10+ years technical experience with aseptic processing and heat treatment, filtration and separation, blending, CIP, heat transfer and fluid mechanics in dairy industry preferred.

• Professional Engineer license is a plus

• Strong understanding of food safety regulations and quality management systems (e.g. HACCP, GMP, QMS, FDA, USDA) is required

• Strong understanding of process safety, safe design & hazard assessments (e.g., OSHA, HAZOP, LOPA, etc.) and ability to perform FMEA to proactively identify potential failure points, risks, and weaknesses in processes and equipment.

• Solid understanding of developing P&ID diagrams (AutoCAD) and PID loop tuning related to current and new process designs. Extensive knowledge of engineering theories, practices, and design matters.

• Capable of executing medium to large size capital projects, re-design existing equipment, process flows, and design improvements. History of leading projects requiring high capital expenditure and collaborating with senior leadership.

• Collaborative approach and communication skills to work effectively with cross-functional teams. Experience creating formal networks involving key decision makers and influencing diverse stakeholders/audiences.

• Ability to travel up to 35-50% based on business needs within the US and internationally.