Forward Deployment Engineer Manager - Manufacturing

Socket.dev; Toronto; On-site; CAD 103,000 - 137,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health coverage

Retirement savings benefits

Leave support including vacation and a

Hybrid work model

Job summary

McCain Foods (Canada) is seeking a Forward Deployment Engineer Manager - Manufacturing to lead and grow the FDE practice across McCain’s Yellow AI portfolio. This hands-on player-coach role develops senior practitioners while participating in select AI engagements to translate complex business needs into scalable solutions.

You will partner with Manufacturing teams to promote consistent practices, drive measurable outcomes, and ensure adherence to security and Responsible AI standards.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.
• Advanced degree preferred.
• At least 10 years of experience leading complex business, technology, consulting, or customer engagements.
• At least 3 years of experience leading a practice or team of senior individual contributors.
• At least 3 years of experience supporting Manufacturing business functions (e.g., Manufacturing Operations, Supply Chain, Production Planning).
• Demonstrated ability to operate as a player-coach by delivering personally while developing others.
• Experience establishing and maintaining high standards across a community of senior practitioners.
• Ability to influence senior sponsors without relying solely on formal authority.
• Strong customer focus, executive presence, sound judgment in ambiguous environments.
• Record of driving adoption and measurable business impact at scale.

Responsibilities

• Establish and maintain FDE skill standards, role definitions, career pathways, and development practices.
• Build and strengthen the FDE community through coaching and feedback.
• Lead hiring, assignment, performance management, and development for the Yellow-portfolio FDE pool.
• Assign FDEs to Yellow portfolio clusters based on priorities and capabilities.
• Lead selected Yellow portfolio engagements each quarter to model delivery practices.
• Embed with FDEs in active use cases to provide coaching and strengthen execution.
• Collaborate with Manufacturing FDEs to promote consistent standards.
• Coordinate with AI Platform and Engineering, Knowledge Engineering, and Use Case Governance leaders to enable execution.
• Develop reusable FDE playbooks and engagement patterns with clear accountability.
• Represent FDE practice with executives to resolve resource conflicts and advance outcomes.
• Improve FDE effectiveness, throughput, and measurable business value across the portfolio.
• Ensure engagements comply with security, governance, and Responsible AI standards.

Skills

Leadership

People management

AI leadership

Manufacturing domain

Stakeholder management

Player-coach

Travel readiness

Responsible AI

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field

Advanced degree preferred

Job description

Position Title: Forward Deployment Engineer Manager - Manufacturing

Position Type: Regular - Full-Time

Grade:Grade 06

Requisition ID:44033

In every role, McCainers are ambitious, curious, and passionate about creating exceptional work experiences - together. With a customer-first mindset, we make doing business with McCain easy.

About the role.

The FDE Manufacturing Manager establishes and maintains the standard of excellence for McCain’s Forward Deployed Engineering practice. Reporting to the VP, Artificial Intelligence, this role leads the development, deployment, and performance of the FDE community supporting McCain’s Yellow AI portfolio across Snacking, B2B, Finance, Cross-functional, and Data and AI use cases.

This is a hands-on player-coach role. In addition to developing senior practitioners and managing the Yellow-portfolio FDE pool, you will personally participate in selected AI engagements, helping teams translate complex business needs into scalable solutions and measurable outcomes. You will also partner with the FDEs supporting Commercial, Marketing, and Manufacturing to strengthen standards and practices without managing their day-to-day delivery.

What you’ll be doing.

• Establish and maintain McCain’s FDE skill standards, role definition, career pathways, and development practices.
• Build and strengthen the FDE community through coaching, mentoring, calibration, and structured feedback.
• Lead hiring, assignment, performance management, and professional development for the Yellow-portfolio FDE pool.
• Assign FDEs to Yellow portfolio clusters based on business priorities, practitioner capabilities, and individual development objectives.
• Personally lead one or two selected Yellow portfolio engagements per quarter, modeling the delivery practices and outcome accountability expected across the FDE community.
• Embed alongside FDEs in active use cases to provide in-the-moment coaching and strengthen execution.
• Partner with the FDEs supporting Manufacturing to promote consistent practices and standards while respecting their ownership of delivery.
• Collaborate with AI Platform and Engineering, Knowledge Engineering, AI Deployment and Enablement, and Use Case Governance and Operations leaders to enable effective execution.
• Develop reusable FDE playbooks, engagement patterns, and secondment agreements, including clear accountability for priorities, deliverables, technical craft, and standards.
• Represent the FDE practice with senior functional sponsors and executive leaders, helping resolve resource conflicts and advance business outcomes.
• Improve FDE effectiveness, use-case throughput, solution adoption, and measurable business value across the portfolio.
• Ensure all FDE-led engagements comply with McCain’s security, governance, risk-classification, and Responsible AI standards.

What you’ll need to be successful.

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field. An advanced degree is preferred.
• At least 10 years of experience leading complex business, technology, consulting, or customer engagements.
• At least 3 years of experience leading a practice or team of senior individual contributors.
• At least 3 years of experience supporting Manufacturing business functions, including areas such as Manufacturing Operations, Supply Chain, Production Planning, Quality Management, Continuous Improvement, Industrial Engineering, Plant Operations, or Operational Excellence.
• Demonstrated ability to operate as a player-coach by delivering personally while developing the capabilities of others.
• Experience establishing and maintaining high standards across a community of senior practitioners.
• Ability to influence senior business sponsors, functional leaders, and engineering leaders without relying solely on formal authority.
• Strong customer focus, executive presence, sound judgment, and comfort operating in ambiguous or rapidly evolving environments.
• A demonstrated record of driving adoption and measurable business impact at scale, beyond technical delivery alone.
• Experience navigating resource priorities, complex stakeholder relationships, and cross-functional delivery models.
• Strong commitment to ethical and responsible AI practices, information security, and enterprise governance.
• Experience in the commercial, consumer packaged goods, food-service, consulting, or AI technology sectors is an asset.
• Familiarity with McCain’s technology environment or experience developing forward-deployed practices within consulting firms or AI-native organizations is an asset.
• Ability to travel to the point of work, including regular engagement with teams in Toronto, Chicago, and Gurgaon.

About the team.

The FDEManufacturing Manager is part of McCain’s Artificial Intelligence organization and reports to the VP, Artificial Intelligence. This role directly leads the FDE pool supporting McCain’s Yellow AI portfolio, including Manufacturing clusters.

You will work closely with the FDEs supporting Manufacturing, as well as leaders across AI Platform and Engineering, Knowledge Engineering, AI Deployment and Enablement, and Use Case Governance and Operations. The role combines people leadership, practice ownership, executive partnership, and direct participation in selected AI-enabled business engagements.

About McCain.

Click Here to learn more about McCain and how we provide opportunities to make an impact that matters.

Leadership principles.

At McCain, our leadership principles guide how we engage with customers, collaborate as a team, and achieve success. We focus on understanding customer needs, driving innovation, empowering people, and taking ownership to clear obstacles and deliver results.

AI & Digital Capabilities.

At McCain, AI and digital capabilities are part of how we work and innovate. We value curiosity toward emerging technologies and the thoughtful, responsible use of AI-enabled tools to improve outcomes as part of our future-ready culture.

The McCain experience.

We are McCain. This statement is a testament to our collective strength and our individual value. Your contributions play a vital role in our success. Our winning culture is rooted in authenticity and trust, empowering us to bring out the best in one another. Here, you’ll find opportunities to learn, grow, and thrive. Join us and experience why we’re better together.

Our purpose is grounded in building meaningful relationships. We’re big believers in the power of working together in person—it helps us stay connected, collaborate more effectively, and grow as a team. At the same time, we recognize the importance of flexibility. Most office-based roles follow a hybrid model, with the option to work remotely two days a week. There may be exceptions depending on the role and location, so we encourage you to speak with your recruiter for more details.

#LI-MG1 #LI-Hybrid

Compensation Package:$102,700.00 -$137,000.00 . CAD annually + Bonus Eligibility

The above reflects the target compensation range for the position at the time of posting. Hiring compensation will be determined based on experience, skill set, education and training, and other organizational needs. This posting is for an existing vacancy.

Benefits: At McCain, we’re on a mission to create a winning culture that puts employee safety and well-being at the heart of what we do, every day. We understand and appreciate that each person’s needs are unique and ensure our benefits & well-being programs reflect that. Employees are eligible for the following benefits: health coverage (medical, dental, vision, prescription drug), retirement savings benefits, and leave support including medical, family and bereavement. Well-being programsinclude vacation and holidays, company-supported volunteering time, and mental health resources. Coverages are aligned with applicable law and can vary by work level, location, and nature of the role. Additional benefit detail available during the application process.

Your well-being matters to us, and we’re here to provide you with the necessary resourcesto support you in being your best self at work — and at home.

McCain Foods is an equal opportunity employer. As a global family-owned company, we strive to be the employer of choice in the diverse communities around the world in which we live and work. We recognize that inclusion drives our creativity, resilience, and success and makes our business stronger. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard torace, religion, color, national origin, sex, age, veteran status, disability, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law.

McCain is an accessible employer. If you require an accommodation throughout the recruitment process (including alternate formats of materials or accessible meeting rooms), please let us know, and we will work with you to find appropriate solutions.

Your privacy is important to us. By submitting personal data or information to us, you agree this will be handled in accordance with McCain’s Global Privacy Policy and Global Employee Privacy Policy, as applicable. McCain leverages AI in the hiring process, though all final decisions are made by humans. You can understand our approach to AI and how your personal information is being handled here.

Job Family:Information Technology
Location(s): CA - Canada : Ontario : Toronto

Company: McCain Foods (Canada)