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