Your Opportunity as the Senior Process Engineer
At The J.M. Smucker Co., we make food people and pets love—and few brands are as loved as Uncrustables®. As a Senior Process Engineer, you'll play a key role in helping us meet growing consumer demand by optimizing processes, leading innovation, developing talent, and driving operational excellence across our manufacturing operation.
This is an opportunity to make a tangible impact on one of the fastest-growing brands in our portfolio. You'll partner with Operations, Maintenance, Quality, Supply Chain, and Engineering teams to improve safety, quality, reliability, and efficiency while leading capital projects and continuous improvement initiatives that help shape the future of the plant.
If you're passionate about solving complex manufacturing challenges, developing people, and delivering meaningful business results, we'd love to hear from you.
Why You'll Love Working Here
At Smucker, you'll have the opportunity to work on iconic brands while making a meaningful impact every day. At our Uncrustables® manufacturing facility, you'll join a team focused on innovation, continuous improvement, and operational excellence. We invest in our people, encourage growth, and empower employees to bring new ideas forward as we continue to expand one of the most exciting brands in our portfolio.
The ideal candidate is a hands-on technical leader who thrives in a fast-paced manufacturing environment, enjoys developing people, and is energized by solving complex challenges that drive business results.
Location: Scottsville, KY
Work Arrangements: 100% On-Site
- Willingness to flow to the work as business needs require.
In This Role You Will
Lead and Develop Engineering Talent
- Serve as a coach and mentor to Process Engineers, new engineering hires, and engineering interns.
- Help onboard and develop engineering team members while fostering a culture of continuous learning.
- Provide technical leadership and guidance across cross-functional teams.
- Serve as a subject matter expert within the plant for key manufacturing processes and technologies.
Drive Operational Excellence
- Eliminate process losses, reduce variability, and improve productivity, safety, quality, and reliability.
- Lead continuous improvement initiatives focused on reducing waste, increasing throughput, and improving overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).
- Identify and advance cost savings opportunities through process optimization and operational improvements.
- Lead root cause investigations, failure analyses, and corrective action implementation.
- Develop, improve, and standardize process documentation and operating procedures.
Own Capital and Improvement Projects
- Lead capital projects from concept through execution, ensuring projects are delivered safely, on time, and within budget.
- Manage multiple projects simultaneously while balancing competing priorities.
- Conduct project reviews and track project performance against business objectives.
- Evaluate emerging technologies and equipment solutions that support future growth and operational excellence.
- Develop and implement engineering solutions that improve plant performance and capability.
Support Product and Process Innovation
- Partner with cross-functional teams to support new product introductions and manufacturing commercialization efforts.
- Optimize manufacturing processes to improve product quality, consistency, efficiency, and profitability.
- Support formula, ingredient, and process evaluations when needed to drive business objectives.
- Leverage consumer insights, operational data, and technical expertise to improve existing products and processes.
- Monitor industry trends and emerging technologies to identify opportunities for innovation and competitive advantage.
Shape the Future of the Plant
- Help create and drive the long-term technical vision for the department and manufacturing operation.
- Build strong internal and external partnerships to identify best practices and accelerate results.
- Influence decisions and drive change through collaboration, technical expertise, and leadership.
- Support manufacturing organizations in evaluating new production opportunities, troubleshooting complex challenges, and improving existing operations.
What we are looking for:
Minimum Requirements:
- Bachelor's Degree in Engineering required.
- Preferred disciplines include Mechanical, Chemical, Industrial, or related Engineering fields.
- Minimum 2 years of manufacturing experience.
- Minimum 2 years of project management and/or capital project experience.
Additional skills & experience that we think would make someone successful in this role:
- Food manufacturing experience preferred.
- Experience leading continuous improvement initiatives in a manufacturing environment.
- Previous experience coaching, mentoring, or developing others preferred.
- Strong project management skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously.
- Knowledge of capital project delivery processes.
- Demonstrated ability to solve complex technical and operational problems using data-driven approaches.
- Experience with root cause analysis, failure investigation, and corrective action implementation.
- Strong leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills.
- Ability to influence across all levels of the organization and work effectively in cross-functional teams.
- Ability to work independently while providing leadership in complex situations.
- Open to managing operating teams as business needs require or as part of future development opportunities.
The Right Place for You
We are bold, kind, strive to do the right thing, we play to win, and we believe in a strong community that thrives together. Our culture is rooted in our Basic Beliefs, and we believe in supporting every employee by meeting their physical, emotional, and financial needs.
Stay connected with us on LinkedIn®
We're an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, age, national origin, disability status or protected veteran status.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's Degree in Engineering
- Degree in Mechanical, Chemical, Industrial, or related Engineering (preferred disciplines)
- Minimum 2 years of manufacturing experience
- Minimum 2 years of project management and/or capital project experience
- 100% on-site work in Scottsville, KY
- Willingness to flow to the work as business needs require
- Food manufacturing experience
- Experience leading continuous improvement initiatives
- Previous experience coaching, mentoring, or developing others
- Knowledge of capital project delivery processes
- Experience with root cause analysis, failure investigation, and corrective action implementation
- Strong leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills
The J.M. Smucker Co. Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about The J.M. Smucker Co. and has not been reviewed or approved by The J.M. Smucker Co..
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Retirement Support — Retirement programs are described as strong, with a company 401(k) match, immediate vesting in some materials, and access to an Employee Stock Purchase Plan. These elements contribute to a favorable view of total compensation value.
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Parental & Family Support — Paid parental leave for all parents and on-site childcare at key locations signal a family-forward approach. Additional supports such as adoption assistance and pet-related leave reinforce this emphasis.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Paid time off, seasonal compressed schedules, and flexibility options are highlighted across materials. The ability to start with substantial PTO and buy additional time enhances perceived time-off breadth.
The J.M. Smucker Co. Insights
What We Do
Each generation of consumers leaves their mark on culture by establishing new expectations for food and the companies that make it. At The J.M. Smucker Co., it is our privilege to be at the heart of this dynamic with a portfolio that appeals to each generation of people and pets with products found in 90 percent of U.S. homes and countless restaurants. This includes a mix of iconic brands consumers have always loved such as Folgers®, Jif® and Milk-Bone® and new favorites like Café Bustelo®, Smucker’s® Uncrustables® and Rachael Ray® Nutrish®. By continuing to immerse ourselves in consumer and pet parent preferences for food, how it’s purchased and how the companies that make it should operate, we will maintain the important role we play in their lives. This will allow us to continue growing our business and the positive impact we have on all of those who count on us.
