Forward Deployment Engineer Manager - Manufacturing

''•Toronto, ON

8d•CA$102,700 - CA$137,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The FDE Manufacturing Manager establishes and maintains the standard of excellence for McCain’s Forward Deployed Engineering practice. Reporting to the VP, Artificial Intelligence, this role leads the development, deployment, and performance of the FDE community supporting McCain’s Yellow AI portfolio across Snacking, B2B, Finance, Cross-functional, and Data and AI use cases. This is a hands-on player-coach role. In addition to developing senior practitioners and managing the Yellow-portfolio FDE pool, you will personally participate in selected AI engagements, helping teams translate complex business needs into scalable solutions and measurable outcomes. You will also partner with the FDEs supporting Commercial, Marketing, and Manufacturing to strengthen standards and practices without managing their day-to-day delivery.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field. An advanced degree is preferred.
At least 10 years of experience leading complex business, technology, consulting, or customer engagements.
At least 3 years of experience leading a practice or team of senior individual contributors.
At least 3 years of experience supporting Manufacturing business functions, including areas such as Manufacturing Operations, Supply Chain, Production Planning, Quality Management, Continuous Improvement, Industrial Engineering, Plant Operations, or Operational Excellence.
Demonstrated ability to operate as a player-coach by delivering personally while developing the capabilities of others.
Experience establishing and maintaining high standards across a community of senior practitioners.
Ability to influence senior business sponsors, functional leaders, and engineering leaders without relying solely on formal authority.
Strong customer focus, executive presence, sound judgment, and comfort operating in ambiguous or rapidly evolving environments.
A demonstrated record of driving adoption and measurable business impact at scale, beyond technical delivery alone.
Experience navigating resource priorities, complex stakeholder relationships, and cross-functional delivery models.
Strong commitment to ethical and responsible AI practices, information security, and enterprise governance.
Ability to travel to the point of work, including regular engagement with teams in Toronto, Chicago, and Gurgaon.

Nice To Haves

Experience in the commercial, consumer packaged goods, food-service, consulting, or AI technology sectors is an asset.
Familiarity with McCain’s technology environment or experience developing forward-deployed practices within consulting firms or AI-native organizations is an asset.

Responsibilities

Establish and maintain McCain’s FDE skill standards, role definition, career pathways, and development practices.
Build and strengthen the FDE community through coaching, mentoring, calibration, and structured feedback.
Lead hiring, assignment, performance management, and professional development for the Yellow-portfolio FDE pool.
Assign FDEs to Yellow portfolio clusters based on business priorities, practitioner capabilities, and individual development objectives.
Personally lead one or two selected Yellow portfolio engagements per quarter, modeling the delivery practices and outcome accountability expected across the FDE community.
Embed alongside FDEs in active use cases to provide in-the-moment coaching and strengthen execution.
Partner with the FDEs supporting Manufacturing to promote consistent practices and standards while respecting their ownership of delivery.
Collaborate with AI Platform and Engineering, Knowledge Engineering, AI Deployment and Enablement, and Use Case Governance and Operations leaders to enable effective execution.
Develop reusable FDE playbooks, engagement patterns, and secondment agreements, including clear accountability for priorities, deliverables, technical craft, and standards.
Represent the FDE practice with senior functional sponsors and executive leaders, helping resolve resource conflicts and advance business outcomes.
Improve FDE effectiveness, use-case throughput, solution adoption, and measurable business value across the portfolio.
Ensure all FDE-led engagements comply with McCain’s security, governance, risk-classification, and Responsible AI standards.