Job Description:
Champion Petfoods is expanding! We are excited to announce we are looking for a Senior Engineering Manager to join our rapidly growing company.
Champion Petfoods is an award-winning pet food maker with a reputation of trust spanning 35+ years. Founded in a small town in Alberta, Canada, Champion – with its ORIJEN® and ACANA® brands – is a key player in the global premium pet food industry across three major geographic regions.
We would love to hear from you if you are passionate about personal and professional growth and see yourself as a key player contributing to our continued success as an award-winning company.
Here's the Scoop – Summary
The Senior Engineering Manager is responsible for leading a small, high-performing engineering team (3 direct reports) while managing approximately $30MM in annual capital expenditures.
This role focuses on planning, execution, and delivery of capital projects, ensuring alignment with business objectives, operational efficiency, safety, and financial targets.
The ideal candidate combines strong technical expertise with project management discipline and people leadership capabilities to drive successful project outcomes.
What a typical day looks like:
Capital Project Management- Plan, prioritize, and oversee execution of ~$30MM annual capital project portfolio.
- Develop and manage multi-year capital plans aligned with company OGSM and operational needs.
- Ensure projects are delivered on time, within scope, and within budget.
- Lead project justification, including ROI analysis, cost estimation, and risk assessments.
- Manage vendor selection, contractor performance, and contract negotiations.
- Drive rigorous project governance, including milestone tracking, reporting, and issue resolution.
- Provide technical direction and review for project designs, specifications, and execution plans.
- Ensure compliance with engineering standards, regulatory requirements, and safety guidelines.
- Oversee design reviews, risk assessments, and commissioning activities.
- Drive standardization, best practices, and engineering excellence across projects.
- Develop and manage capital budgets, forecasts, and expenditure tracking.
- Ensure accurate financial reporting and variance analysis.
- Identify cost-saving opportunities and improve capital efficiency.
- Partner with finance to develop business cases and ensure financial discipline.
- Partner with operations, supply chain, finance, and other stakeholders to define project requirements and priorities.
- Communicate project status, risks, and outcomes to leadership.
- Align capital investments with operational strategies and long-term growth plans.
- Identify opportunities to improve project delivery processes, tools, and methodologies.
- Implement best practices in project management (e.g., stage-gate processes, lean principles).
- Drive lessons learned and knowledge sharing across projects.
What are we looking for?
Education- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Electrical, Industrial, or related field required)
- Master’s degree or MBA preferred
- 7–12+ years of engineering experience, including capital project management
- Proven experience managing capital budgets in the range of $10MM–$50MM annually
- Experience in industrial, manufacturing, supply chain, or operations environments preferred
- Strong project management and organizational skills
- Financial acumen and experience building capital justifications
- Leadership and team development capabilities
- Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills
- Ability to balance strategic planning with hands-on execution
- Strong problem-solving and decision-making skills
- Familiarity with engineering design tools, project management systems, and ERP platforms
- Capital project delivery (schedule, cost, scope)
- Return on investment (ROI) for capital projects
- Budget adherence and forecasting accuracy
- Team performance and engagement
- Safety and compliance performance
- Continuous improvement and cost savings achieved
Work Environment
- Mix of office and on-site project environments
- May require periodic travel to project sites 35-45%
What can you expect from Champion?
- Safety: a strong commitment to ensure all people are provided with a safe, healthy and respectful environment.
- Earnings: Competitive Wages that give financial peace of mind, 401k with Company, and donation matching.
- Industry Competitive Benefits: Medical, Dental, Vision and Employee Assistance Programs to meet your individual or family needs.
- Continuing Education: In House & Online Learning & Development, as well as an Education Assistance Program.
- Quality: a dedication to uphold the highest standards of authenticity, nutritional integrity, and food safety, to earn the trust of Pet Lovers everywhere.
- Other Perks: Free Bag of Premium Pet Food each month, Free Parking and more!
What are you waiting for? Join the pack!
Come as you are.
We value diversity in all forms and know the power it can bring. Workplace equality allows for creative ideas to bloom, diverse points of views to be heard, and increases overall happiness. That sounds pretty good to us.
Champion is an equal opportunity employer. Regardless of your race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, age, veteran status, or any other creed, you are wanted here.
#cpfind
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Electrical, Industrial, or related field)
- Master's degree or MBA
- 7-12+ years of engineering experience including capital project management
- Proven experience managing capital budgets in the $10MM-$50MM annually range
- Experience leading and developing engineering teams (managing direct reports)
- Experience in industrial, manufacturing, supply chain, or operations environments
- Strong project management and organizational skills
- Financial acumen and experience building capital justifications, ROI analysis, and variance reporting
- Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills
- Familiarity with engineering design tools, project management systems, and ERP platforms
Mars Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Mars and has not been reviewed or approved by Mars.
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Healthcare Strength — The benefits package is positioned as comprehensive, with broad medical coverage and additional protections like life insurance and short- and long-term disability. Mental health support is emphasized, including free mental health services and wellbeing programming under initiatives such as Mars Be Well.
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Parental & Family Support — Paid parental leave is highlighted as market-leading in the U.S., with an example of 18 weeks fully paid for both parents. Additional family-related leave types such as sick time for caregiving and bereavement leave are also described as part of the overall package.
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Retirement Support — Retirement offerings are described as strong, including 401(k) matching (with a 6% match cited) and pension plans in some cases. The broader package also references retirement savings options and contributions aligned to local market practice, supporting long-term financial security.
Mars Insights
What We Do
For more than a century, Mars, Incorporated has been driven by the belief that the world we want tomorrow starts with how we do business today. This idea is at the center of who we have always been as a global, family-owned business. Today, Mars is transforming, innovating and evolving in ways that affirm our commitment to making a positive impact on the world around us. Across our diverse and expanding portfolio of confectionery, food, and petcare products and services, we employ 133,000 dedicated Associates who are all moving in the same direction: forward. With $40 billion in annual sales, we produce some of the world’s best-loved brands including DOVE®, EXTRA®, M&M’s®, MILKY WAY®, SNICKERS®, TWIX®, ORBIT®, PEDIGREE®, ROYAL CANIN®, SKITTLES®, WHISKAS®, COCOAVIA®, and 5™; and take care of half of the world’s pets through our pet health services AniCura, Banfield Pet Hospitals™, BluePearl®, Linnaeus, Pet Partners™, and VCA™. We know we can only be truly successful if our partners and the communities in which we operate prosper as well. The Mars Five Principles – Quality, Responsibility, Mutuality, Efficiency and Freedom – inspire our Associates to take action every day to help create a world tomorrow in which the planet, its people and pets can thrive.
