Senior Manager, Packaging

Danone•Louisville, CO

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

Danone North America (NA) is looking for a Senior Manager - Packaging, for their North American based Division, to be located in Louisville, Colorado. The Senior Manager is responsible for working with cross functional partners to identify and scope innovation, renovation, sustainability, and productivity projects for Yogurt within the SKY (Shakes, Kids, Yogurt) business unit within Danone North America. They will lead a team of packaging engineers with responsibility to deliver on assigned packaging projects.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree minimum, master’s degree in sciences or engineering ideal (Packaging, Mechanical, Chemical or related engineering science)
7+ years’ experience in a packaging engineering field (preferably in the food or beverage industry
Demonstrated Leadership in cross functional teams involving operations, supply chain, procurement, PMO.
Technical competency with rigid plastics (PS, PP, PET, HDPE), flexibles (lids, pouches, sachets) and paper-based packaging (corrugated, compact, liquid paper packaging)
Extensive experience designing solutions for sustainability and improved package recyclability
Demonstrated ability to deliver results by working autonomously with minimal supervision
Ability to create a roadmap for short term and long-term results
Ability to efficiently balance strategic thinking and technical expertise/deep dive
Excellent Project Management skills
Excellent verbal and written communication skills
Excellent business skills and understanding of the levers of R&D
Ability to engage effectively with internal and external stakeholders
Self-starter, autonomous and demonstrated ability to bring new unsolicited ideas
Ability to deliver continuous improvement in ways of working, to drive technical rigor

Nice To Haves

Experience in the use of statistical tools for problem solving a plus

Responsibilities

Scope development and initiation of innovation, renovation, sustainability, business continuity/capacity expansion and productivity projects.
Partner with Operations and Procurement to identify and deliver multi-year packaging pipelines, according to Danone NA Business Goals.
Partner with Brand to integrate packaging innovation into strategic growth plans to meet business unit objectives.
Lead development, execution, and optimization of processes and documentation to better identify, mitigate and communicate developmental risks and to enhance technical rigor of the packaging development approach, to ensure a right-first-time output that exceeds consumer expectations.
Collaborate with User Experience department to build consumer testing protocols to inform innovation launches and specification development.
Develop future packaging roadmaps inclusive of innovation, productivity, and sustainability goals and align with key stakeholders.
Manage a team of packaging engineers to ensure all projects delivered in scope and on time
Ensure development of new technical & material concepts for packaging solutions via collaboration with internal and external experts to drive value and growth within programs.
Collaborate with companywide packaging internal network to drive program efficiencies and share best practices.
Collaborate with Procurement to introduce new capacity as needed, and with Operations to unlock new supply/manufacturing options
Drive the selection of key new vendors and maintain strong relationships, partnering with Procurement to continuously identify and deliver on packaging ideas.
Collaborate closely with all relevant stakeholders to support operational excellence within launch initiatives across both internal and external manufacturing facilities.