Sr. Product Development Engineer

Georgia-Pacific is seeking a Senior
Product Development Engineer for the Consumer Products Group R&D team. This role will provide technical leadership for Dixie® cutlery and related food service products across Retail and Professional channels. The position will support existing products, product and process improvements, material and supplier qualifications, and new product innovation. It is based at the Neenah Technical Center in Neenah, Wisconsin.

This opportunity is well suited for an experienced engineer who enjoys hands-on development work and collaboration across laboratories, manufacturing locations, suppliers, and business teams. The successful candidate will turn technical uncertainty into practical development plans and strengthen organizational capability through effective documentation and knowledge sharing.

You’ll be part of a multidisciplinary R&D team focused on paper cups and food service solutions for Retail and Professional channels. The team partners closely with product development, mill operations, converting, consumer research, suppliers and 3rd-party manufacturers to mitigate technical risk, run pilot and mill trials, and move winning concepts from pilot to commercial scale.

• Provide technical leadership for product development, commercialization, and lifecycle support for cutlery and related food service products.
• Apply plastics processing, product design, materials, tooling, and manufacturing knowledge to develop and improve products.
• Plan and execute experiments, prototypes, trials, and data analysis to guide technical decisions.
• Lead or support qualifications of products, materials, tools, suppliers, and manufacturing processes while balancing performance, quality, cost, and supply needs.
• Diagnose and resolve product, process, quality, and customer-use issues using structured problem solving and practical experimentation.
• Collaborate with business, innovation, sourcing, quality, operations, engineering, product stewardship, suppliers, and customers.
• Support the development of sustainable and regulatory-relevant product and material solutions.
• Maintain appropriate technical documentation, specifications, test methods, and development records.
• Share expertise and help build R&D capability through coaching and knowledge transfer.
• Travel as needed to support suppliers, manufacturing, customers, and commercialization activities.
• Work safely and effectively in laboratory, pilot, manufacturing, and supplier environments.

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Plastics Engineering, Polymer Engineering, Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, or a related discipline, with at least 7 years of relevant experience; or an equivalent combination of education and directly relevant experience.
• Hands-on experience with injection molding and thermoforming, including product development, tooling, materials, process optimization, troubleshooting, and commercial scale-up.
• Experience developing or commercializing high-volume consumer, food service, packaging, or molded products.
• Experience leading product, material, supplier, tooling, or manufacturing qualifications using clear test plans and acceptance criteria.
• Demonstrated ability to solve complex technical problems through data analysis, experimentation, root-cause analysis, and cross-functional implementation.
• Experience working directly with suppliers and manufacturing operations.
• Ability to communicate technical information clearly and influence decisions across technical and non-technical audiences.
• Willingness and ability to travel and work in laboratory and manufacturing environments.

• 10+ years in R&D or manufacturing with demonstrated results in…