Engineering Project Manager – Food & Beverage (35750)

Location: Cedar Rapids, IA (On-site)

About the role

Seeking an experienced Engineering Project Manager to support a large-scale food manufacturing facility in Cedar Rapids, IA. This is a hands-on engineering and project management role focused on enhancing plant productivity, efficiency, quality, and manufacturing processes.

Responsibilities

• Lead engineering and capital projects within a high-volume food manufacturing environment.
• Manage projects involving production equipment, production lines, packaging systems, conveyors, material flow, and ingredient handling.
• Partner closely with Engineering, Operations, Production, Packaging, Maintenance, and Supply Chain teams.
• Identify opportunities to improve productivity, quality, efficiency, throughput, and overall plant performance.
• Evaluate existing manufacturing processes and equipment and recommend improvements.
• Manage project scope, schedules, budgets, resources, vendors, contractors, and implementation.
• Work directly on the production floor to understand processes, identify issues, and develop practical solutions.
• Support continuous improvement initiatives throughout the manufacturing operation.
• Help improve material flow, production processes, equipment performance, and line efficiency.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to implement process and equipment improvements.
• Provide technical and project leadership while supporting the day-to-day needs of the manufacturing operation.
• Ensure projects meet safety, quality, productivity, cost, and schedule objectives.
• Support the selection, installation, modification, and commissioning of capital equipment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering Manufacturing, Industrial Technology, or a related field is preferred. Experience can be supplemented for degree.
• 3+ years of engineering project management, manufacturing engineering, process engineering, or closely related plant experience.
• Proven experience working inside a manufacturing/production facility is required.
• Food or beverage manufacturing experience is strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated experience managing capital projects and capital equipment.
• Experience working with production lines and manufacturing equipment.
• Understanding of material flow, conveyors, ingredient handling, production equipment, and/or packaging lines.
• Experience partnering with Operations, Production, Packaging, Maintenance, Engineering, and/or Supply Chain.
• Experience with continuous improvement, Lean Manufacturing, or Six Sigma is preferred.
• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to work effectively with both technical and non-technical teams.

Benefits

• Standard Medical
• Dental
• 401(k)