Director, Production Engineering

This individual is a critical member of our manufacturing team who is responsible for leading and championing the Manufacturing/Engineering space for our production operations. They will lead a team that will identify, prioritize, and execute opportunities to improve core manufacturing competencies that drive broad impact for the organization. They will champion manufacturing engineering excellence, performance measurement, engineering methods, problem resolution, and process discipline. We are looking for this individual to bring/develop a level of technical business expertise to the plant engineering teams.  Will be working on Strategic projects to hit 2030 Sustainability Goals.  

The ideal person will have a solid working knowledge of applying a variety of engineering concepts, capital execution, process/production optimization, methods, tools, practices, and procedures as well as how it connects to our manufacturing environment and other parts of the business. This individual will be self-driven and motivated while executing with a wide degree of latitude in creative behaviors and influential leadership. This newly added position will report to the Senior Director Strategic Operations and Engineering.

This role can be Virtual/Remote and located anywhere in the United States. However, candidates local to MSP will be hybrid work arrangement at our Arden Hills, MN corporate office each week.

Salary is negotiable based on experience: $178,940.00 – 210,060.00

What You’ll Do:

• Build, lead and develop a top performing manufacturing engineering team instilling a culture of accountability, results and continuous improvement.

• Develop manufacturing engineers - Train, coach, evaluate and reinforce Manufacturing & Engineering principles with partners and Team Members.

• Assist with oversight and execution of capital and process improvements for the optimization of new and existing processes.

• Owns the single source of the truth for opportunities in the manufacturing category around opportunities to optimize, reduce risk, improve process capability, innovate, and maximize performance of the entire system of operation.

• Provide strong leadership to the overall engineering team working together to complete projects, assigning team members roles in which they’re most likely to succeed, and maintaining team productivity.

• Actively involved in oversight of current production performance for the overall Dairy Foods business providing technical solutions to meet Safety, Quality, Delivery, Inventory, and Production targets.

• Actively working with companywide maintenance and reliability teams to improve equipment reliability and prevent major downtime.

• Financial analysis and tracking capital spend to provide justification and confirm that capital projects meet or exceed ROI.

• Strategic planning - Provide recommendations regarding process improvements, automation, design for manufacturability, and new product/process development.

• Customer Collaboration - Work with Company and Plant Leadership in identifying and communicating customer requirements and updating engineering process controls to reflect best practices.

• Governmental Regulations -Knowledgeable of various government regulations that must be complied with, i.e., OSHA, USDA, FDA, EPA, EEOC, OFCCP, etc.

• Program leadership and deployment management at dairy foods level in multiple locations.

• Daily Operation - Be involved in the learning, understanding, and functioning of the daily operational challenges. Understand the core functions of the business and the equipment utilized in the manufacturing space.

• Financial Stewardship: Oversee the portfolio budget for both expenses and capital expenditures, ensuring every dollar counts towards our mission. $50-100MM

Requirements needed for this role:

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering or related field, Master’s degree is a plus

• 10+ years of progressive manufacturing environment experience in Engineering, technical or related experience required.

• Food Manufacturing or Dairy industry experience is required.

• Desire to grow and take on new challenges and opportunities.

• Six-Sigma training and/or certification a plus

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Project Management trained/experience or willingness to acquire the basic skills/training within 1 year.

• Ensure timely communication, execution, and delivery within budget of capital projects

• Strong ownership, a self-starter, self-led, strong servant mindset

• A strong bias to action with a track record of superior results

• Proven and sound people management skills with the ability to train and develop others

• Experience working in a fortune 500 company environment.  

Travel:  Travel varies depending on the type of work occurring at any given time, and your base location. Ability to travel up to 30% - 50% over the course of a year. Travel could be higher for short intervals of time depending on business needs. If not located at our corporate office in Arden Hills, MN or one of our larger plant locations, annual travel requirements will be 75% - 90%. Primarily local, regional, national.  Highly prefer individual live near a major airport. 

About Land O'Lakes, Inc.

Join us and be part of a Fortune 250, farmer- and member-owned cooperative that is reimagining the business of food. We have been named a Top Workplace by Indeed and LinkedIn, and to the TIME 100 Most Influential Companies list.

Benefits for most full-time roles include medical, dental, vision, PTO, life & disability insurance, education assistance, a 401k and a variety of well-being resources. Most part-time employees are eligible for prorated PTO, holiday pay, employee development programs, prorated education assistance, and a 401(k).

Land O'Lakes, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE) M/F/Vets/Disabled. The company maintains a drug-free workforce, including post-employment substance abuse testing pursuant to a Drug and Alcohol Policy.

Neither Land O’Lakes, nor its search firms, will ever contact you and ask for confidential information over the phone or in email. If you receive a call or email like this, please do not provide the information being requested.