Principal Engineer - Packaging Development

Mars•Franklin, TN

About The Position

The Principal Engineer – Packaging Development is a strategic technical leader responsible for advancing future-ready packaging platforms and ensuring robust packaging material governance across the enterprise. This role leads the evaluation of emerging packaging materials and technologies, establishes technical readiness frameworks, leads digital packaging platforms and drives packaging innovation from concept through commercialization. This role requires a unique blend of deep material science expertise, rigorous risk management, and commercial acumen. This role will translate emerging consumer demands and digital supply chain constraints into a robust, multi-year packaging roadmap that safeguards our products, delights our customers, and drives sustainable growth.

Requirements

Minimum of a Bachelor’s in Packaging R&D, Material Science, Chemical or Mechanical Engineering, Food Science (or relevant field) paired with deep expertise in polymer properties, material science, and early-stage innovation pipeline processes.
Minimum of 8 years' experience in similar role (Pet industry preferred).
In-depth technical knowledge of emerging packaging technologies across all formats and technology platforms, rapid prototyping, and digital packaging capabilities.
Technical rigor in every activity
Strong track record of driving results, collaborating and influencing without authority a variety of stakeholders

Responsibilities

Lead strategic packaging innovation framing aligned with enterprise growth platforms and emerging macro trends (e-commerce, digital supply chain, traceability).
Build enterprise-level packaging roadmaps and establish validation frameworks for novel packaging formats.
Identify potential technical failure modes early in the innovation funnel and design mitigation protocols prior to scale-up.
Define, govern, and implement strategy for Packaging Quality Management global standard compliance around Packaging Risk Assessments (PRAs) across all packaging materials, impacting all category technologies, ensuring packaging materials meet food safety, quality, and regulatory requirements across all category technologies.
Lead digital Packaging strategy implementation aligned with Specification Systems and digital efficiency tools.
Drive integration of packaging data, specifications, risk assessments, and technical requirements into enterprise digital platforms.
Advance digital capabilities that improve packaging development efficiency, traceability, compliance management, and decision-making.
Primary packaging interface with Science & Technology (S&T) teams, translating breakthrough material science into scalable commercial applications, align regional requirements for Technical Readiness Levels (TRLs) for packaging innovation
Scout external technology developments, suppliers, and academic partnerships to build early-stage technical pipelines.