Director Engineering

Refresco Careers • Maryland Heights, MO

5d • Onsite

About The Position

Reporting to the Vice President of Engineering and Project Management, the Director of Engineering drives improvements within the operations maintenance organization across 5+ facilities in the assigned region of Refresco NA. This role is responsible for advancing production technologies by applying sound maintenance and reliability principles. This role also ensures the effective execution of capital projects, equipment reliability, and continuous improvement initiatives to drive operational excellence. The Director of Engineering directly manages a team of Project Engineering Managers, each responsible for overseeing engineering efforts across multiple facilities within their assigned regions.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Electrical, Industrial, or related field); advanced degree preferred.
• 10+ years of engineering leadership experience in a manufacturing environment, preferably in the beverage or food industry.
• Proven experience managing multi-site engineering teams and large-scale capital projects.
• Strong understanding of TPM, Lean Manufacturing, and Six Sigma methodologies.
• Excellent leadership, communication, and project management skills.
• Ability to travel as needed to support regional engineering teams and facilities.
• Knowledgeable of infrastructure systems (nitrogen, electrical, steam, compressed air).
• Comply with applicable regulatory requirements including OSHA, SQF.
• Knowledgeable of emergency planning and response team operations.
• Excellent Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint, MS Project skills, AutoCAD.

Nice To Haves

• Lean Manufacturing background preferred.

Responsibilities

• Develop a support organization capable of managing plant maintenance operations regionally in US and Canada.
• Deliver criteria to determine whether the Maintenance Organization is fulfilling the needs of each Plant.
• Develop and manage engineering and maintenance budgets across all locations, ensuring effective resource allocation for seasonal rebuilds, equipment needs, and capital projects.
• Monitor expenses to optimize costs and maintain alignment with company financial objectives.
• Oversee the planning, execution, and prioritization of plant-driven capital projects to ensure alignment with company standards, cost-effectiveness, and business needs.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to develop and implement new initiatives that enhance capacity, flexibility, cost efficiency, and quality across facilities.
• Provide strategic oversight on staffing, performance management, and workforce planning to meet business objectives.
• Lead the implementation of SAP Maintenance throughout the system.
• Work as an integral member of the engineering, maintenance and Infrastructure design and installation teams to ensure the timely design, infrastructure and installation and insuring delivery is on-time and within project budgets.
• Creates and maintains planning and execution models for site/line startups by working with Process Improvement and Learning communities to clarify and Refresco Supply Chain Procedures to ensure best practice and standard work is appropriately valued and leveraged to support rapid Supply Expansion.
• Assess project requirements and workload.
• Allocate resources within the Engineering teams at each location.
• Provide guidance to plant assigned engineers by defining scope of work, critical milestones and expected project completion dates.
• Establish strong cross-functional collaboration by communicating project plans, milestones, and results to stakeholders at all levels.
• Engage with plant leadership to align resources and adapt processes to meet evolving business needs.
• Establish and maintain adequate departmental staffing and manage consultant services to make possible the construction of equipment and facilities that conform to approved specifications and regulatory requirements.
• Clearly define and align department goals, communicate the goals to the team and hold yourself and your team accountable for achieving the goals.
• Coordinates maintenance aspects of new product launches and new or modified operational processes.
• Leads and directs the work of other employees and has responsibility for personnel actions including hiring, performance management, and termination.
• Supervision is often provided through a team of subordinate managers.
• Coaches and develops staff to enhance functional and leadership skills and expertise.
• Accountable for planning and evaluating performance, staff training and development, recruitment and may contribute to pay recommendations, subject to policies.
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement through mentoring, coaching, and leadership development.
• Carries out supervisory responsibilities in accordance with the organization's principles, policies and applicable laws.
• Foster an environment in which responsibilities and results are achieved with the highest level of commitment to quality.
• Follows all policies, procedures, ergonomic standards and safety requirements directed by Refresco and the department.
• Other duties as assigned, including special projects that may require significant travel to manufacturing plant locations.

Benefits

• Medical/Dental/Vision Insurance
• Health Savings Accounts and Flexible Spending Accounts
• Life and AD&D Insurance, critical illness, hospital indemnity, and accident insurance
• Short-term disability and long-term disability
• Pet Insurance
• Legal Benefits
• 401(k) Savings Plan with Company Match
• 12 Paid Holidays
• Vacation Days and Paid Sick Time Off Days
• Well-being Benefit Discount and Total Reward Programs

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director