Staff Engineer – Product Engineering

Staff Engineer – Product Engineering

As a member of the Product Engineering team, you'll play a pivotal role in introducing groundbreaking products for both leading brands and private label partners. Your work will directly shape Niagara's success and growth, driving the launch of new beverages that delight customers and set industry trends. This is your opportunity to lead high-impact projects, collaborate with talented teams, and make a visible difference in a fast-paced, dynamic environment where your ideas and expertise fuel the future of beverage manufacturing.

The Staff Product Engineer is a recognized technical and program leader who independently manages complex, multi-site new product development (NPD) programs from concept through commercialization. With a proven record of successful launches, this role blends advanced project leadership, systems-level technical expertise, and commercial acumen to inform strategy and accelerate outcomes. The Staff Product Engineer anticipates cross-functional impacts, influences decisions across technical and business disciplines, and steps into ambiguity to drive results.

They model ownership and integrity, streamline processes responsibly, and mentor the team to raise the bar.

Essential Functions

• Program Ownership & Delivery:
  Independently lead multiple high-impact programs, owning scope, capital plans, timelines, and cross-functional alignment; set execution standards and hold teams accountable.
• Strategic Technical Influence:
  Use deep experience across Product, Process, and Packaging to shape program strategy and change outcomes; frame trade-offs for senior leaders with clear technical and commercial implications.
• Commercial Insight & Advising:
  Partner with Finance, Commercial, and Procurement to evaluate proposals (COGS, capex, yields, run rates, MOQs/lead times). Quickly advise what's feasible, what isn't, and the business impact.
• Systems-Level Integration:
  Understand how product characteristics, processing technologies (e.g., beverage processing, thermal/non-thermal, CIP/SIP), and packaging lines (filling, capping, labeling, secondary/tertiary) interact; design plans that optimize end-to-end flow, quality, and cost.
• Manufacturing Partnership & Commercialization:
  Lead rigorous technical reviews and readiness assessments across the full manufacturing process; perform site assessments to identify gaps (capacity, capability, utilities, tooling, quality systems) and co-create mitigation plans.
• Quality & Science Advocacy:
  Translate development science and quality guidelines into practical manufacturing controls (CTQs, process windows, sampling/inspection, SPC), explaining "why it matters" to drive adoption and compliance.
• Risk & Decision-Making:
  Drive structured risk management (FMEA-style thinking, decision logs), escalate early with options and recommendations, and make tough calls for the good of the business.
• Tooling & Process Modernization:
  Build and standardize tools, templates, and dashboards that improve forecasting, capacity planning, and issue resolution; share broadly and train teams.
• Supplier Strategy & Acceleration:
  Cultivate supplier partnerships, qualify alternates, and creatively compress lead times while transparently communicating risk, contingencies, and change control.
• NPD Process Improvement:
  Refine Stage-Gate/Governance, propose policy and KPI updates, and streamline workflows without compromising ethics, safety, or quality.
• Mentorship & Role Modeling:
  Coach Senior/Level II/Level I engineers in program leadership, technical depth, commercialization excellence, and professional ownership; model respectful influence and integrity.
• Stakeholder Communication:
  Provide succinct, insight-rich updates to senior leaders; convert technical complexity into clear choices with quantified impact.

Please note this job description is not designed to contain a comprehensive list of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without prior notice. This position is targeted at the Staff Engineer level; however, level may be adjusted based on…