Sr Director, Engineering

Winland Foods

1d•Remote

About The Position

The Sr Director of Engineering is a senior enterprise leader responsible for engineering strategy, process standardization, and end-to-end asset reliability across Winland Foods’ multi-site manufacturing network. This role partners directly with Operations, Supply Chain, Maintenance, Quality, EHS, Finance, and Procurement to ensure that engineering systems enable consistent execution, predictable performance, and sustainable growth. This leader will move the organization from site-specific solutions to standardized, scalable, and repeatable engineering practices, while ensuring capital investments, technology decisions, and reliability strategies are tightly aligned to business priorities. This role is both strategic and highly operational—a visible leader who shapes direction while remaining deeply connected to plant realities.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Industrial, Chemical, or related discipline)
15+ years of progressive engineering leadership experience in manufacturing
Significant experience leading multi-site engineering organizations
Proven success driving process standardization and reliability improvements at scale
Strong executive-level partnership with Operations and Finance
Deep understanding of food manufacturing, sanitary design, and regulatory requirements

Nice To Haves

Food or Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) manufacturing experience
Experience with automation, controls, and industrial digitalization
Capital portfolio management experience at the enterprise level
Advanced degree or formal project/program management training

Responsibilities

Establish enterprise engineering standards that drive safety, quality, cost, and service consistency
Build a strong operating partnership with Operations to ensure engineering enables throughput, uptime, and capacity reliability
Own end-to-end asset lifecycle performance, from concept and design through installation, commissioning, maintenance strategy, and long-term reliability
Lead capital strategy that balances growth, cost discipline, risk mitigation, and return on investment
Define and execute a company-wide engineering strategy aligned to Winland Foods’ operational, financial, and growth objectives
Establish and govern engineering standards, design criteria, and best practices across all manufacturing sites
Create clear decision frameworks for technology selection, equipment design, automation, and scalability
Serve as the executive owner for engineering policies, stage-gate processes, and technical governance
Drive standardization of manufacturing processes, equipment platforms, and engineering approaches across the network
Partner with Operations leadership to ensure engineering solutions support consistent run strategies, staffing models, and performance expectations
Translate operational needs into engineered solutions that are repeatable, maintainable, and operator-friendly
Reduce variability between plants while respecting unique site constraints
Own the end-to-end reliability strategy for manufacturing assets, from design and installation through maintenance and lifecycle optimization
Partner closely with Maintenance and Operations to reduce downtime, extend asset life, and improve overall equipment effectiveness
Ensure reliability, maintainability, and safety are designed into all capital projects—not retrofitted later
Champion data-driven decision making related to asset health, failure modes, and performance trends
Lead development and governance of the multi-year enterprise CAPEX strategy, ensuring alignment with operational priorities and financial targets
Oversee capital portfolio prioritization, trade-off decisions, and risk management across sites
Ensure disciplined execution of capital projects through robust scoping, business case development, stage-gating, and post-implementation review
Partner with Finance to ensure capital investments deliver measurable value and predictable returns
Evaluate and deploy automation, controls, and emerging manufacturing technologies that enhance reliability, safety, throughput, and sustainability
Ensure technology choices are scalable, supportable, and aligned to long-term operating models
Collaborate with Procurement and key suppliers to optimize total cost of ownership and long-term performance
Build and lead a high-performing, enterprise-level engineering organization with clear roles, expectations, and development paths
Develop engineering leaders capable of influencing across Operations, Maintenance, and corporate functions
Serve as a visible culture carrier, reinforcing accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement
Coach leaders to think systemically, not site-by-site
Ensure employee safety and food safety are non-negotiable design principles in all engineering work
Maintain compliance with applicable OSHA, EPA, FDA, and GMP requirements
Partner with EHS and Quality to embed risk prevention into equipment and process design