R&D Engineering Manager

Position Description

Title:                                 R&D Engineering Manager

Department:                    Research and Development         

Immediate Supervisor:   R&D Director

Status:                              Exempt

Position Purpose:           Responsible for leading the development, transition, and integration of new technologies and process platforms from R&D into production. The R&D Engineering Manager will provide engineering leadership and people leadership to the R&D process team as well as leading process and product development projects.

Principle Accountabilities

Create and sustain a safe work environment; support safety programs, encourage incident reporting, and support investigations/corrective actions.

Lead, coach, and develop the R&D process team; set direction, expectations, and an execution rhythm

Provide performance feedback and career development support to the R&D process team; build a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and professional growth

Partner across R&D, Operations, Quality, Sales, EHS, Supply Chain, Finance, and other stakeholders to align priorities and execute project plans in support of strategic corporate initiatives

Build strong vendor relationships; lead vendor evaluations, technical reviews, and collaboration to accelerate prototyping and problem-solving

Oversee R&D’s technology pipeline and ongoing capabilities including capital deployment and asset management

Drive continuous innovation by evaluating new technologies and processes, making recommendations, and initiating proof of concept testing

Apply Design of Experiments (DoE), statistics, and advanced analytics to plan experiments, interpret results, and guide decisions

Establish strong technical documentation practices; experimental plans, run logs, interpretive reports, work instructions, and clear recommendations

Utilize project management skills to define, plan, schedule and control the tasks that must be completed to reach project goals

Ability to work with a union and facilitate teamwork, open communication and compliance to the current collective bargaining agreement

Essential Skills and Experience

Bachelor’s degree in a related engineering field

Master’s degree in engineering or management is preferred

10+ years of engineering experience and 3+ years supervisory experience

Strong competency with digital tools that support digital transformation and data analysis

Strong mechanical aptitude with industrial mechanical process systems

Experience with extrusion, mixing, coating, and packaging process experience is preferred

Innovative, organized, self-starter with great problem-solving skills

Collaborative interpersonal style

Strong technical and non-technical communication skills, including written and verbal reports, and presentations to diverse audiences