Manager, Packaging Engineering

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Reporting to the VP, Product Development and Innovation, the Manager, Packaging Engineering leads the Packaging Engineering team responsible for packaging innovation, renovation, cost optimization, sustainability, and technical support across the business. The Manager is accountable for building the capability and effectiveness of the team through coaching, development, clear expectations, and meaningful feedback, while ensuring packaging programs are appropriately prioritized and successfully delivered from concept through commercialization.

The role provides technical and organizational leadership and partners closely with Operations, Supply Chain, Quality, Procurement, Commercial, Product Development, and external suppliers.

• Lead, coach, and develop Packaging Engineering team members by establishing clear expectations, goals, priorities, and accountability.
• Provide regular feedback, coaching, and development opportunities that build technical capability, project leadership, communication, and business judgment.
• Create meaningful development plans and stretch assignments that prepare team members for increasingly complex responsibilities.
• Assess team capacity and capability, identify skill or resource gaps, and develop or acquire the capabilities needed to support current and future business priorities.
• Build an environment of technical rigor, collaboration, ownership, continuous learning, constructive challenge, and effective knowledge sharing.
• Support talent selection, onboarding, performance management, succession planning, and recognition for the Packaging Engineering team.
• Translate business priorities into clear departmental goals and an executable packaging portfolio.
• Prioritize packaging resources and projects based on business impact, technical risk, timing, strategic fit, and organizational capacity.
• Ensure packaging programs follow the established stage-gate process and apply appropriate technical rigor, risk management, and stakeholder alignment.
• Communicate portfolio status, decisions, risks, resource constraints, and recommendations to functional and business leadership.
• Apply technical and business judgment to balance package performance, manufacturability, food safety and quality, cost, sustainability, supply continuity, and speed to market.

• Provide technical direction and coaching on complex packaging development, qualification, commercialization, and troubleshooting activities.
• Establish and continuously improve packaging specifications, test methods, qualification standards, technical documentation, and ways of working.
• Guide packaging test plans, plant trials, root-cause investigations, supplier development, and risk mitigation activities.
• Maintain awareness of emerging packaging materials, converting technologies, equipment, sustainability requirements, and industry practices, and translate relevant developments into business opportunities.
• Partner with suppliers and external technical resources to expand capability and deliver packaging solutions aligned with quality, cost, performance, and service requirements.

• Represent Packaging Engineering across Product Development, Operations, Quality, Procurement, Supply Chain, Commercial, and other business functions.
• Clarify technical decision rights, resolve cross-functional issues, and facilitate timely decisions when requirements or priorities conflict.
• Build effective relationships across manufacturing locations and with external suppliers to improve execution, standardization, and knowledge transfer.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

• Bachelor's degree in Packaging Engineering, Packaging Science, Materials Science, Mechanical Engineering, or a related engineering field; advanced degree is preferred but not required.
• Seven or more years of packaging development experience, preferably in food, beverage, consumer packaged goods, or a multi-site manufacturing environment.
• Demonstrated experience leading, coaching, and developing engineers or other technical professionals; prior direct supervisory responsibility is strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to lead complex packaging programs from concept through commercialization and to manage a portfolio of competing priorities.
• Broad working knowledge of packaging materials, converting processes, package testing, distribution requirements, and packaging…