Project Engineer

The Project Engineer is responsible for leading and supporting capital projects across multiple food manufacturing facilities. This role manages projects from concept through design, procurement, installation, startup, and closeout, ensuring projects are completed safely, on time, within budget, and in compliance with food safety and quality standards.

The ideal candidate will have strong experience in food manufacturing environments and possess the technical, organizational, and communication skills necessary to successfully manage cross-functional projects involving production equipment, packaging systems, utilities, facility improvements, automation, and process optimization. This individual must be comfortable working independently and driving projects forward with minimal oversight.

This position requires the candidate to have a home base in one of our manufacturing sites: Conley, OR, Atlanta, GA or Vineland, NJ. This is an in-office position with some travel based on project locations.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead capital and continuous improvement projects from initial scope development through final implementation.
• Develop project charters, budgets, timelines, schedules, and resource plans.
• Coordinate with operations, maintenance, quality, sanitation, safety, procurement, and external vendors to ensure successful project execution.
• Manage equipment selection, vendor evaluations, bid processes, purchase orders, and contractor oversight.
• Oversee installation, commissioning, startup, and validation of new equipment and systems.
• Support projects involving processing equipment, packaging lines, material handling systems, utilities, refrigeration, wastewater, facility upgrades, and automation.
• Ensure compliance with food safety, GMP, OSHA, USDA, FDA, SQF, HACCP, and company quality standards.
• Identify and mitigate project risks related to safety, downtime, cost, quality, and schedule.
• Track project costs and provide regular status updates to leadership.
• Create and maintain engineering documentation including layouts, specifications, equipment standards, SOPs, and project reports.
• Support plant reliability and operational efficiency initiatives through process improvements and equipment upgrades.
• Assist with troubleshooting and root cause analysis during equipment startup and post-installation support.
• Travel to manufacturing facilities across the United States as needed based on project requirements.