Engineering Project Manager

Lyons Magnus•Fresno, CA

4d•Onsite

About The Position

The Engineering Project Manager is responsible for leading capital improvement, reliability, process optimization, and manufacturing support projects at the Lyons Magnus Fresno, CA facility. The role supports projects from business case development through design, procurement, installation, startup, validation, and handoff while applying strong project management, practical engineering judgment, and clear communication. The ideal candidate has strong engineering fundamentals, practical project experience, and the ability to lead cross-functional teams in a highly active food manufacturing environment. This role supports projects that improve safety, quality, reliability, capacity, and overall manufacturing performance.

Requirements

Demonstrated responsibility for project scope, schedule, budget, vendors, contractors, installation, commissioning, and startup.
Ability to read and develop equipment layouts, process flow diagrams, P&IDs, construction drawings, and technical specifications.
Strong written, verbal, analytical, organizational, and stakeholder-management skills.
Ability to work effectively on the plant floor and communicate with operators, technicians, engineers, vendors, plant leaders, and executives.
Food or beverage manufacturing experience, especially liquid processing, thermal processing, aseptic systems, high-speed packaging, bottling, canning, or related operations.
Familiarity with process, packaging, sanitation, and utility system design.
Experience with AutoCAD or Autodesk Inventor, Microsoft Project, Excel, PowerPoint, ERP systems, and CMMS platforms.
Experience developing Capital Requests, managing project forecasts, and presenting technical recommendations to leadership.
Bachelor’s degree in mechanical, Chemical, Electrical, Industrial, Manufacturing Engineering, or a closely related technical discipline.
3–5 years of progressive engineering and project experience in food, beverage, CPG, pharmaceutical, chemical, or comparable process manufacturing.

Nice To Haves

The strongest candidate is a hands-on project or manufacturing engineer who has helped deliver several capital projects, participated directly in installation and commissioning, managed suppliers or contractors, and learned how decisions affect Production, Maintenance, Quality, and Food Safety.
The candidate does not need to be an expert in every discipline, but must know how to define the problem, engage the right resources, challenge assumptions, manage risk, and drive work to verified completion.

Responsibilities

Lead capital and major maintenance projects from concept through closeout.
Develop clear scopes, budgets, schedules, execution plans, risk reviews, and success criteria.
Support Capital Requests and business cases, manage scope, cost, schedule, quality, and change control, and provide concise status updates that identify risks and decisions early.
Develop equipment specifications, RFQs, bid comparisons, technical recommendations, utility requirements, layouts, and installation plans.
Coordinate packaging, process, electrical, controls, civil, structural, utility, and facility needs.
Evaluate equipment for performance, sanitary design, usability, maintainability, reliability, and lifecycle cost.
Ensure final designs are complete, practical, maintainable, and compatible with existing plant systems and operating limits.
Lead technical bid reviews and coordinate with OEMs, engineering firms, fabricators, contractors, integrators, and internal teams.
Review proposals, exclusions, submittments, schedules, invoices, and change orders for technical and commercial accuracy.
Maintain clear scope boundaries, hold vendors and contractors accountable, and plan site access, permits, safety requirements, shutdown work, staging, installation, and turnover.
Support FAT, SAT, commissioning, startup, punch-list, performance verification, and acceptance activities.
Coordinate operator and maintenance training, spare parts, PM inputs, manuals, drawings, controls backups, asset data, and startup support.
Partner with Operations, Maintenance, Quality, Food Safety, IT/OT, and Supply Chain to stabilize performance, confirm project requirements are met, and complete closeout, documentation, and handoff to the asset owner.
Support investigations into manufacturing constraints and recurring losses that affect safety, quality, performance, or downtime.
Help identify root causes, develop corrective actions, use data to prioritize improvements, and verify results.
Determine whether issues require capital investment or can be resolved through maintenance, operations discipline, process control, training, or lower-cost changes.
Include employee safety, contractor safety, GMP, sanitary design, allergen control, cleanability, and foreign-material prevention in project decisions.
Involve Quality, Food Safety, EHS, Regulatory, and Process Authority resources when needed.
Support compliance with company standards and ensure project changes are documented in the proper procedures, drawings, training materials, maintenance plans, and food safety programs.