Sr Packaging Engineer

Schwan's Company•La Palma, CA

1d•$140,774 - $141,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Senior Packaging Engineer – Asian Food Product Line. Schwan’s Shared Services, LLC, a subsidiary of Schwan’s Company, seeks a Senior Packaging Engineer – Asian Food Product Line in La Palma, California. Responsible for supporting package development projects that meet business unit needs. This position will work under limited supervision to research, develop, document, and test innovative packaging solutions. Responsible for providing project leadership for both packaging led projects and as the expert packaging resource on Business Unit led projects. The incumbent will also be an expert subject matter consultant to help support product development, Packaging Sourcing, Packaging Equipment Engineering, and Purchasing to help optimize and reduce total packaging costs. Execute packaging engineering projects (new to Schwan’s, new to the world, etc.) in alignment with business units and new product platforms to drive company revenue and profitability with limited supervision. Implement innovative packaging engineering solutions resulting in new consumer desired features, improvements in performance of existing packaging and features, reduced packaging costs from new materials/processes, and faster execution and simplified processes. Provide strong leadership in support of marketing and consumer research initiatives to contribute to the understanding of why consumers buy products and how packaging innovation can affect purchase decisions. Initiate concept tests around new and innovative packaging concepts that help fulfill unmet consumer needs and drive the company into new white space. Provide innovative packaging concepts and prototype packages in support of Business Unit consumer research. Contribute to ideation sessions, qualitative consumer research, and deep dive initiatives to further understand consumers and market opportunities for the purpose of driving innovation throughout the company. Work with leadership to maintain a strong world-wide packaging technology monitoring system. Work with packaging innovation team to make deep dives into relevant new packaging technologies and present to Business Unit Innovation and Marketing Managers to create awareness and understanding of the evolving world of packaging technology. Develop a network of internal and external contacts and resources for the purpose of teaching innovation concepts and creating a web of inputs that are used to solve the unmet consumer needs as identified by consumer research in support of business unit strategy. Lead by example to help drive Schwan’s Culture of Innovation initiative. Coordinate and conduct packaging performance testing for the purpose of determining shelf life, product protection, merchantability, and specification tolerance. Interact with vendors and outside developers to raise technology standards within the packaging organization. Document all work according to established procedures and guidelines and prepare various presentations and test reports for business and technical leaders to ensure complete communication of project status, progress, issues, solutions, timeline, and accountability with limited supervision. Manage, train and develop subordinates, if applicable. Other duties as assigned. Must have proof of legal authority to work in the U.S.

Requirements

Must have proof of legal authority to work in the U.S.
Education: Bachelor’s degree (U.S. or foreign equivalent) in Chemical Engineering, Packaging Engineering or a closely related field.
Experience: For candidates with the qualifying bachelor’s degree, at least seven years of experience as a Packaging Engineer, Engineer 2 – Packaging, Senior Packaging Engineer, Packaging Development Manager, Manager of Packaging Engineering Design Team or similar packaging engineering or manager of packaging engineering position, which must include at least one year and six months of experience as a packaging engineer or similar position such as Manager of Packaging Engineering Design Team, at a food manufacturer and distributor on an Asian food product line.
All experience can be gained in the same seven-year period.
Education: Bachelor's degree or equivalent preferably in Packaging Engineering.
Years of Related Experience: Typically 7+ years of food packaging with a proven track record of successful packaginginnovation.
Knowledge/Skills/Abilities: Advanced knowledge of food product/package development flow from ideation to productlaunch in a consumer goods environment.
Highly creative individual with proven ability to create new-to-the-worldpackages and packaging concepts.
Ability to bring together diverse technologies and concepts to create new to theworld package innovation.
Ability to work with Marketing and Consumer Research to understand unmet consumer needs andtranslate those into successful packaging innovations.
Strong working knowledge of ASTM and ISTA package testmethods.
Strong knowledge of food processing and flow operations as well as strong working knowledge ofproduct/package needs and interactions.
Good knowledge of government agencies pertaining to the food industry.
Strongworking knowledge of a wide variety of packaging materials, automated packaging equipment, and processing equipment.
Strong technical problem solving skills using statistics and modeling techniques.
Good computer skills includingMicrosoft Office, Project, and CAD software.
Strong written and oral communication skills.
Ability to present to andinteract with all levels of the company.

Responsibilities

Supporting package development projects that meet business unit needs.
Research, develop, document, and test innovative packaging solutions.
Providing project leadership for both packaging led projects and as the expert packaging resource on Business Unit led projects.
Expert subject matter consultant to help support product development, Packaging Sourcing, Packaging Equipment Engineering, and Purchasing to help optimize and reduce total packaging costs.
Execute packaging engineering projects (new to Schwan’s, new to the world, etc.) in alignment with business units and new product platforms to drive company revenue and profitability with limited supervision.
Implement innovative packaging engineering solutions resulting in new consumer desired features, improvements in performance of existing packaging and features, reduced packaging costs from new materials/processes, and faster execution and simplified processes.
Provide strong leadership in support of marketing and consumer research initiatives to contribute to the understanding of why consumers buy products and how packaging innovation can affect purchase decisions.
Initiate concept tests around new and innovative packaging concepts that help fulfill unmet consumer needs and drive the company into new white space.
Provide innovative packaging concepts and prototype packages in support of Business Unit consumer research.
Contribute to ideation sessions, qualitative consumer research, and deep dive initiatives to further understand consumers and market opportunities for the purpose of driving innovation throughout the company.
Work with leadership to maintain a strong world-wide packaging technology monitoring system.
Work with packaging innovation team to make deep dives into relevant new packaging technologies and present to Business Unit Innovation and Marketing Managers to create awareness and understanding of the evolving world of packaging technology.
Develop a network of internal and external contacts and resources for the purpose of teaching innovation concepts and creating a web of inputs that are used to solve the unmet consumer needs as identified by consumer research in support of business unit strategy.
Lead by example to help drive Schwan’s Culture of Innovation initiative.
Coordinate and conduct packaging performance testing for the purpose of determining shelf life, product protection, merchantability, and specification tolerance.
Interact with vendors and outside developers to raise technology standards within the packaging organization.
Document all work according to established procedures and guidelines and prepare various presentations and test reports for business and technical leaders to ensure complete communication of project status, progress, issues, solutions, timeline, and accountability with limited supervision.
Manage, train and develop subordinates, if applicable.
Other duties as assigned.