Lead Engineer

Your Opportunity as the Lead Engineer This role sits at the center of manufacturing performance—turning data, process knowledge, and cross-functional influence into safer operations, stronger yields, faster throughput, and better product consistency. You'll be a hands-on technical leader who translates problems on the floor into practical improvements, while also shaping how engineers and technicians learn, troubleshoot, and deliver results.

Location:

Scottsville, KY Work Arrangements:

7 am to 4 pm Monday-Friday with flexibility to support operations during occasional evenings, nights, or weekends, based on operational and business needs.

In this role you will:

Serve as Process Engineer onboarding lead, mentoring/managing engineers and interns, building skills in troubleshooting, project management, and effective use of Operations Excellence tools. Can perform gap analysis on key production metrics and demonstrate deep understanding of the 7-Step Process. Lead failure analysis using Operations Excellence tools. Owns, executes, reports on, and can develop department and site Masterplan items. Perform a key role in building the fundamental understanding within the operating technicians in pursuit of a high-performance culture. Support technical efforts to evaluate and improve on processes and formulations in manufacturing plant to improve production rates, efficiencies, and yield while maintaining reliable and safe manufacturing systems by collaborating with production teams and leadership. Provide technical guidance between operations and R D/Engineering on new product/process development, act as liaison between R D/Engineering and Operations for scheduling and conducting plant test runs. Coordinate and lead plant trials to evaluate new ingredients and/or new processing parameters. Identify, Develop, and Execute savings projects, can include developing the funding request, managing the capital and engineering through start up. Provide technical leadership within cross functional teams to deliver initiatives and departmental projects. Serves as an expert within the plant in a key business area or discipline. Employs effective interpersonal time and resource management skills to complete projects assignments Leads multiple projects simultaneously, using best practices and knowledge of internal or external business issues to drive improvements Build and leverage strong internal/external network to gain insight, influence and information. Solve complex problems; take a broad perspective to identify creative and innovative solutions. Develop and improve process documentation. Help organization stay current with applicable new technologies/ingredients. Support and provide guidance to operations/engineering organizations on evaluation of new production opportunities, improving existing operations, cost-saving ideas, and troubleshooting of major problems. Monitor new products trends/competitive trend and activities.

What we are looking for:

Minimum Requirements:

Bachelor's degree in Engineering required, Mechanical, Chemical, or Industrial preferred Manufacturing experience, preferably in food At least 3 years of experience in project management/construction management is required Additional skills and experience that we think would make someone successful in this role: Familiarity with food ingredient chemistry, food processing and packaging equipment is desirable Willingness to have a workload balance that includes systems tasks as well as laboratory, pilot plant, and manufacturing plant tasks. Problem solving ability Strong inter-personal skills Ability to teach and lead others, working independently, with guidance in only the most complicated situations An understanding of the Capital Delivery Process is desired Open to managing operating teams as needed (as backup or future assignment) Can support off shift or weekends as needed #LI-TJ1 #INDSA The Right Place for You We are bold, kind, strive to do the right thing, we play to win, and we believe in a strong community that thrives together. Our culture is rooted in our Basic Beliefs, and we believe in supporting every employee by meeting their physical, emotional, and financial needs. Stay connected with us on LinkedIn® We're an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, age, national origin, disability status or protected veteran status. We're a community of passionate, talented professionals dedicated to creating food people and pets love—while supporting the communities in which we work and live. We value what makes each person unique, champion growth and development, and foster collaboration that fuels productivity and drives our shared success. Learn more about our Thrive Together purpose At Smucker, we're passionate about creating a workplace where you truly belong. With a culture rooted in our Basic Beliefs and a competitive Total Rewards program, we aim to support every employee by meeting their physical, emotional, and financial needs. Learn more about working at Smucker Our culture is sustained and brought to life every day by the people of Smucker and our hiring process is designed to identify the right candidate for every position at our company. Learn more about our hiring process The J. M. Smucker Co. (the "Company") is an Equal Opportunity Employer. No person will be discriminated against in hiring or in any other aspect of their employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), age, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, transgender status, marital status, familial status, disability, genetic information, protected veteran/military status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local law.