Dairy Process Engineer

Why choose us?

Are you ready to take the next step in your career? Join us for an exciting opportunity at Albertsons Companies, where innovation and customer service go hand-in-hand! At Albertsons Companies, we are looking for someone who’s not just seeking a job, but someone who wants to make an impact. In this role, you’ll have the opportunity to lead, innovate, and contribute to the growth of a company that values great service and lasting customer relationships.

This position offers the chance to work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment that’s constantly evolving.

ACI is seeking an experienced Dairy Process Engineer to support manufacturing line optimization, process standardization, and continuous improvement initiatives across its operations. This is a corporate position that will work directly with plant leadership, operations, and engineering teams to improve throughput, reduce variability, and establish scalable, best‑practice process standards. The Dairy Process Engineer will take a hands‑on, data‑driven approach to evaluating current‑state operations, identifying performance gaps, and supporting the design and execution of practical improvements.

The role will report to the Director of Corporate Engineering. This is a full-time role, intended to accelerate near‑term operational results while building sustainable process capabilities within ACI. The position requires regular travel to ACI sites as business needs dictate. This role owns process standards and standard work for assigned process areas and is expected to influence capital, automation/controls, and operating strategy decisions through technical leadership and change management.

• Assess existing manufacturing lines and process flows to identify constraints, inefficiencies, and sources of variability (including CIP, changeovers, and transition losses)
• Lead and support process optimization initiatives focused on throughput improvement, yield enhancement, and cycle‑time reduction
• Develop, document, and standardize best‑practice operating procedures, process parameters, and control strategies
• Support process definition and requirements for capital projects, including scope development and user requirements
• Participate in equipment selection, commissioning/FAT support where applicable, and startup optimization for new or modified lines
• Collaborate with plant engineering managers on line modifications and process/controls changes to improve performance and reliability
• Partner with controls/automation resources to define recipes, process control limits, and data collection needs; leverage PLC/SCADA and historian tools to extract and analyze process data
• Optimize CIP circuits, recovery, and sanitation effectiveness; ensure process improvements maintain or improve food safety and sanitation performance
• Ensure process changes comply with safety standards and safe-work practices; participate in risk assessments where applicable and champion safe implementation of process changes
• Partner with operations, maintenance, quality, and engineering teams to implement process improvements with minimal disruption to production
• Support line balancing, capacity analysis, and performance benchmarking across sites or production areas
• Apply continuous improvement methodologies to drive measurable operational gains
• Analyze production and performance data to track results, identify trends, and inform decision‑making
• Assist in root‑cause analysis for chronic process issues, quality defects, or reliability challenges
• Support operator training and change management associated with new or updated process standards
• Contribute to the development of scalable process templates and playbooks deployable across ACI operations

• Bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, industrial engineering, or a related discipline
• 5 plus years of experience in dairy or refrigerated food manufacturing environments, supporting fluid milk, cultured products, cheese, ice cream, or related dairy processes
• Hands on experience with dairy unit operations, including pasteurization (HTST/UHT),…