Sr Regional Engineering Manager

T. Marzetti Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lancaster Colony Corporation (NASDAQ: LANC), is a manufacturer and marketer of specialty food products for the retail and foodservice markets. Our retail brands include Marzetti^®, New York Bakery™ and Sister Schubert’s^®, in addition to exclusive license agreements for Olive Garden^® dressings, Chick-fil-A^® sauces and Buffalo Wild Wings^® sauces. Our foodservice business supplies many of the top restaurant chains in the United States. 

The Senior Engineering Manager plays a strategic leadership role in implementing transformational change within and across one or more manufacturing sites.  These changes will come through capital projects execution, new product introductions, reliability centered maintenance, food safety programs, employee safety programs, and continuous improvement initiatives.   

This position will lead a team of engineers, technicians, and support staff to oversee all engineering functions across one or more facilities.  Leadership responsibility includes a direct staff of 4-7 employees, and several indirect staff that will support a 24/7 operation. 

Successful candidates for this position are skilled in project management, automation/digital transformation, reliability-centered maintenance, and continuous improvement.  They must clearly understand supply chain and manufacturing within the Food and Beverage Industry.  Candidates must be strategic and logical thinkers, data-driven, curious learners, and experienced professionals.  

• Provide leadership direction to the engineering team, aligning department goals with overall business objectives.  Collaborate with senior management to define and prioritize engineering projects and initiatives. 
• Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing engineering team, fostering a culture of accountability, teamwork, and continuous learning.  Set clear performance expectations, provide regular feedback, and facilitate professional development opportunities for team members.  
• Evaluate existing manufacturing processes to identify opportunities for optimization, automation, and cost reduction. 
• Works with the project teams to develop commissioning and qualification execution strategies with a focus on defining intended use and measuring process capability against critical quality acceptance criteria. 
• Specifies methods, process steps, and equipment required to execute a new or improve an existing manufacturing process 
• Leads project start up, commissioning, and validation as needed to ensure vertical startups. 
• Troubleshoots the root causes of common-cause and special cause variance.   
• Partners internally with cross-functional teams and manufacturing personnel, and externally with suppliers and consultants to identify and develop solutions to protect product quality, reduce risk to employee safety, and improve operational efficiency.   
• Oversee and support manufacturing site team related to maintenance, repair, and upgrade of production equipment to ensure optimal performance.  Develop and implement strategies to minimize unplanned downtime. 
• Manage the supplier relationship for critical equipment, parts, and services.   
• Understand P&L levers that contribute to business case creation.  Understand trade-offs between opportunities and risks.  Provide recommendations based on cost-benefit analysis. 
• Ensure compliance with regulatory requirements, industry standards, safety protocols, and quality policy.  Participate in regular audits, risk assessments, and incident investigations to help drive appropriate corrective and preventive actions.   
• Champion initiatives to improve environmental sustainability, energy efficiency, and waste reduction within the manufacturing facility. 

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering (Mechanical, Chemical, Industrial, Electrical, or related field).  Advanced degrees are preferred.   
• Minimum of 10 years of progressive experience in Engineering Management roles within a manufacturing environment, with demonstrated leadership capabilities. 
• Strong technical expertise in manufacturing processes and equipment, automation systems, and maintenance. 
• Experience with continuous improvement, TPM, Lean, or Six Sigma programs. 
• Relevant certifications (e.g., PMP Certification) are a plus. 
• Consumer packaged goods or food processing experience is preferred. 

Leadership Competencies:  

• Manages complexity: Analyzes multiple and diverse sources of information to define problems accurately before moving to solutions. Readily distinguishes between what is relevant and what is unimportant to make sense of complex situations. 
• Plans and aligns: Looks for obstacles and develops excellent contingency plans. 
• Communicates effectively: Delivers messages in a clear, compelling, and concise manner. 
• Optimizes work processes: Focuses efforts on continuous improvement; has a knack for identifying and seizing opportunities for synergy and integration. 
• Ensures accountability: Promotes a sense of urgency and establishes and enforces accountability within a project team. 
• Project management: Uses expertise to develop and refine the framework for managing projects and/or programs within the desired cost, time, and quality parameters. 
• Risk management: Uses knowledge and skills to guide and train others to identify, assess, prioritize, and manage project-related risks. 
• Decision Quality: Actively seeks input from pertinent sources to make timely and well-informed decisions.  Relies on a mixture of analysis, wisdom, experience, and judgement when making decisions. 

Technical Competencies: 

• Deep understanding of food safety principles, including Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP).  A Sr. Engineering Manager must ensure that all engineering processes and equipment adhere to strict sanitation and hygiene standards. 
• Familiarity with food processing equipment, such as mixers, pumps, valves, heat exchangers, and packaging machinery.   
• Familiarity with automation and control systems such as Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, and other automation technologies. 
• Fundamental understanding of packaging materials for food packaging, such as barrier properties and their impact on shelf life and food safety. 
• Fundamental understanding of food chemistry and microbiology.  A Sr. Engineering Manager should be aware of how processing conditions and equipment design can affect food composition, flavor, texture, and microbiological safety. 
• Engineering Technical Operations Support: Provides technical leadership when identifying and diagnosing operational problems and developing solutions to resolve issues. 
• Compliance: Uses comprehensive knowledge and skills to act independently to achieve full compliance with applicable rules and regulations. 
• Strong business and financial acumen. 

Works in both an office and manufacturing environment where the employee is regularly required to speak, see, hear, sit, stand, talk, type, walk and bend while working in a production environment.  The employee will regularly be exposed to odors, dust, oil, slippery floors, moving parts/equipment and non-toxic industrial waste and scrap.  The noise level in the plant is loud. 

Slip resistant steel-toed shoes, earplugs, safety glasses, hairnets, beard nets (if facial hair exists) are required to be worn/used in accordance with company GMP and safety standards.  Condition of these items must be inspected by the employee daily and replaced when no longer providing the optimal protection of the employee. 

Occasional travel (1-2 times annually) to the corporate office in Columbus, Ohio, may be requested.