Sr. Manufacturing Process and Packaging Engineer - Chanhassen, MN

We exist to make food the world loves. Our company prioritizes being a force for good, expanding learning, exploring new perspectives, and reimagining possibilities. We look for bold thinkers with big hearts who challenge one another and grow together to become the undisputed leader in food.

About the role

The Sr. Manufacturing Process and Packaging Engineer (internally called a Sr. Systems Engineer) provides technical leadership and serves as a system and product specialist. They build the team’s packaging and processing technical skills through a hands-on approach, ensuring operational foundational systems across owned systems and the plant to secure basic conditions and drive out losses with the platform team.

This role focuses on continuous improvement by optimizing system performance and product quality while driving strategic productivity and capacity solutions. It involves significant floor time to understand manufacturing processes, coupled with the development of self and others. The primary focus is on improvement and loss elimination activities aligned with system targets and future state goals, including supporting team skill development, advocating for system investments, and articulating financial impacts to plant leadership.

As credibility grows, the role expands to engage more intentionally with other systems and business plans, partnering strategically with Engineering, Operations, and R&D.

Responsibilities

• Lead Food and Human Safety through leadership principles and standards, fostering a culture that reduces risk by increasing capability to identify and control critical risks. Ensure safe system designs, manage procedure changes, partner with site owners for reviews, and coach best practices while reinforcing accountability at the operational level.
• Cultivate a Food Safety Culture committed to manufacturing safe, compliant food that meets policy and regulatory requirements.
• Communicate and engage effectively with teams across the site and regularly collaborate with corporate engineering, R&D, and business teams to advocate for system current and future states.
• Provide early-level coaching to early-tenure Manufacturing Engineers and plant personnel (e.g., Junior Engineers, Operations Leaders).
• Support learning and development assessments and content development, partnering with site leadership to advocate for system investment.
• Lead the execution of Continuous Improvement efforts, building team skills around system improvements and executing loss elimination tasks to improve system and equipment reliability using continuous improvement processes and problem-solving.
• Develop training materials and coach operating team members to increase capability across the broader team.
• Identify and execute manufacturing cost savings initiatives.
• Improve system data and information to enhance modeling and prediction of opportunity areas (e.g., performance metrics, financial information, data history, maintenance management systems).
• Ensure accountability for operational foundation systems across the platform to secure basic conditions and drive out losses (e.g., Clean-Inspect-Lubricate, equipment settings, and functional descriptions of equipment).
• Provide project support, including planning and start-up.
• Develop advanced expertise in the 4M's (machine, materials, methods, human) through a physical presence on the manufacturing floor to build capability in understanding the interdependency of inputs.
• Secure material flow rates and unit operation expertise to ensure optimal production rates, parameters, and formulas.
• Engage with R&D partners on formulation impacts, cost savings efforts, and system optimization.
• Develop self through connections and learning from operators, technicians, and peers by rigorously applying continuous improvement methods.
• Clearly articulate financial impacts to the plant based on business and plant decisions in support of annual financial, capital, and capacity planning.

Requirements

• Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering or a related field with applicable experience, or extensive relevant work experience.
• Minimum 5 years of relevant manufacturing experience.
• Theory and functionality of manufacturing systems and unit operations.
• Advanced data and statistical analysis capabilities, including statistical analysis and analytical methods.
• Advanced mechanical aptitude, specifically with the technology connected to the role.
• Demonstrated ownership of continuous improvement and execution of improvement plans.
• Sound financial acumen at the plant level to define and drive cost-saving efforts.
• General Engineering Principles and Continuous Improvement knowledge.
• Proven leadership and ability to work in a highly collaborative environment.
• Success in driving results through process and teamwork.
• Proven success in reducing losses and improving performance in a manufacturing setting.
• Demonstrated technical capability and knowledge of unit operations and manufacturing machinery.
• Skilled at communicating between work groups, cross-functional resources, and other members of the plant and corporate teams.
• Working knowledge of manufacturing data analysis systems (e.g., SAP, Maximo/CMMS, historical trending, system monitoring) and Microsoft Excel.
• Proven success in decision-making for results.

Preferred Qualifications

• 6+ years of relevant food manufacturing engineering experience.
• Food science or process/packaging science experience.
• Consumer Products or Process Industry experience.

Pay

The salary range for this position is $95,300 - $143,200 annually. Pay is determined by factors such as education, skills, work experience, certifications, and role-specific requirements. Successful candidates may fall anywhere within this range.

Beyond base salary, General Mills offers a competitive Total Rewards package focusing on overall well-being, including health benefits, retirement and financial well-being, time off programs, well-being support, and perks. Benefits may vary by role, country, region, union status, and other employment factors. Eligible employees may also participate in an annual incentive program, with awards dependent on individual and organizational performance.