Principal Packaging & Printing Engineer

Leadingnation; Hong Kong; On-site; HKD 1,200,000 - 2,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Leadingnation seeks a Principal Packaging & Printing Engineer to lead the technical strategy, standards, and cross‑functional execution for packaging across global supply chain operations. You will drive manufacturability, vendor execution, regulatory compliance, cost efficiency, and sustainability while aligning product development with packaging design.

The ideal candidate has deep packaging engineering expertise in printing and labeling technologies, and can translate requirements into

Qualifications

• 12–15+ years in packaging engineering, packaging development, print/labeling, manufacturing engineering, quality, or supply chain engineering.
• Experience leading global or regional packaging programs across manufacturing vendors, logistics partners, and distribution operations.
• Demonstrated expertise in packaging specifications, print quality, labeling compliance, technical documentation, and supplier execution.
• Experience translating product, brand, compliance, transportation, and DC handling requirements into scalable packaging standards.
• Experience building business cases using packaging cost, cube, damage, labor, sustainability, and operational performance data.
• Experience leading pilots, vendor rollouts, capability assessments, training, and post‑implementation performance reviews.

Responsibilities

• Lead global packaging engineering strategy and standards across footwear, apparel, accessories for e-commerce, wholesale, and retail channels.
• Own technical standards for printed packaging, labels, hangtags, cartons, corrugate, inserts, RFID‑enabled labels, product identifiers, care labels, barcodes, and other materials.
• Develop data-driven dashboards to evaluate packaging performance, cube utilization, freight efficiency, and sustainability impact.
• Lead cross‑functional programs from concept through pilot, vendor rollout, and post‑launch review, mentoring teams on standards and compliance.
• Scale future‑ready packaging capabilities, advocate for sustainability, and drive governance for packaging changes and new market requirements.

Skills

Packaging Engineering

Printing & Labelling

Testing & Quality

Supply Chain & Distribution

Data & Analytics

Systems & Documentation

Sustainability

Program Management

Tools

Excel

Power BI/Tableau

PLM

ERP

Job description

About the Role

We are looking for a Principal Packaging & Printing Engineer to lead the technical strategy, engineering standards, and cross-functional execution for packaging, printed materials, labeling, and distribution-ready, Store-ready, E-comm ready packaging solutions across global supply chain operations. This role will ensure packaging design is built for manufacturability, vendor execution, transportation, warehousing, regulatory compliance, consumer experience, cost efficiency, automation-readiness, e-commerce and sustainability.

The ideal candidate brings deep packaging engineering expertise, strong knowledge of printing and labeling technologies, and the ability to connect product development, manufacturing vendors, distribution centers, logistics, trade compliance, quality, sourcing, and commercial teams. The role requires hands‑on technical judgment, enterprise program leadership, data‑driven decision making, and the ability to standardize packaging specifications across brands, regions, products, and channels.

Essential Functions & Responsibilities:

Lead global packaging engineering strategy and standards (25%)

- Define packaging, printing, labeling, and distribution-ready engineering standards across footwear, apparel, accessories for e-commerce, wholesale, and retail channels - Translate business, product, vendor, and distribution requirements into scalable packaging specifications and technical guidelines - Ensure design decisions account for manufacturability, container utilization, DC handling, automation, last-mile execution, damage prevention, compliance, cost, and sustainability - Build and maintain standard work, technical libraries, packaging playbooks, test protocols, and approval workflows

- Lead enterprise packaging governance forums and provide technical direction to regional and cross‑functional stakeholders

Print Tech, data compliance, and packaging/ manufacturing vendor execution (20%)

- Own technical standards for printed packaging, labels, hangtags, cartons, corrugate, inserts, RFID‑enabled labels, product identifiers, care labels, barcodes, and other customer or regulatory-facing materials - Partner with legal, trade compliance, quality, product creation, sourcing, and vendors to ensure label content, print quality, country‑specific requirements, and serialization standards are executed accurately - Establish clear specification control, artwork handoff, version management, proofing, and change‑control practices - Support vendor onboarding, capability assessments, root‑cause investigations, and corrective action plans for print, packaging, and labelling defects - Improve supplier readiness through technical training, audits, scorecards, and execution feedback loops - Own the artwork files and the storage / version controls behind; Also own the packaging BOM data with version control for inner and outer cases

Packaging analytics, testing, standardization and continuous improvement (25%)

- Develop and use data to evaluate packaging performance, damage rates, cube utilization, freight efficiency, material usage, cost, labor touchpoints, and carbon‑impact opportunities - Define laboratory and field‑testing protocols including compression, drop, vibration, scuff, humidity, print durability, barcode scanability, and handling tests; partner with manufacturing vendors in regard to packaging solutions - Partner with Distribution, Transportation, Finance, Quality, Sustainability, and Analytics teams to quantify trade‑offs and build business cases for packaging standardization - Identify opportunities for packaging optimization, standardization, right‑sizing, print consolidation, waste reduction, and vendor productivity - Maintain dashboards and reporting that convert technical packaging data into actionable leadership recommendations

Program leadership, stakeholder alignment, CF partnership and technical mentorship (15%)

- Lead complex cross‑functional programs from concept through pilot, vendor rollout, DC implementation, and post‑launch performance review - Serve as the principal technical authority for packaging and printing decisions and work across the supply chain network with other players including labelling experts - Mentor packaging engineers, project managers, sourcing partners, vendor teams, and operational leaders on engineering standards, government regulations, sustainability standards and the changing global ecosystem of packaging regulations - Facilitate structured decision‑making with clear options, risks, costs, benefits and owners - Build trusted relationships with brand and product dev teams, supply chain operations, manufacturing, compliance, technology, sustainability, and external supplier stakeholders

Scale future‑ready packaging capabilities & design for global compliance & sustainability (15%)

- Build packaging capabilities that support automation, RFID, traceability, AI‑enabled quality checks, machine‑readable labels, digital product data, omnichannel fulfillment while meeting corporate sustainability goals - Develop repeatable governance for packaging changes, exception management, SKU/channel segmentation, and new market requirements - Advance sustainable packaging principles including material reduction, recyclability, responsible sourcing, and consumer‑friendly disposal guidance and drive this change from factories to retail stores - Evaluate new materials, print technologies, labeling methods, vendor capabilities, and equipment solutions that improve speed, quality, cost and scalability - Create measurable KPIs for adoption, savings, quality improvement, vendor performance, sustainability impact, and operational readiness - Be an expert and partner with all global and regional business partners and CFTs for EPR compliance and find ways to continuously meet the sustainability standards while maintaining and lowering costs

Required Skills

• Packaging Engineering: corrugate, paperboard, molded pulp, polybags, labels, inserts, hangtags, cartons, retail/e‑commerce packaging, cushioning, right‑sizing, structural packaging design
• Printing & Labelling: flexographic, offset, digital, thermal transfer, variable data printing, barcode/QR/RFID/ NFC labeling, artwork proofing, color standards, print quality controls
• Testing & Quality: ISTA‑style distribution testing, compression, drop, vibration, humidity, abrasion/scuff, barcode scanability, label adhesion, defect analysis, CAPA
• Supply Chain & Distribution: vendor manufacturing, DC handling, transportation, container loading, automation readiness, omnichannel fulfillment, reverse logistics, carrier requirements
• Data & Analytics: Excel, Power BI/Tableau, packaging cost modeling, cube analysis, KPI dashboards, root‑cause analysis, SKU/channel segmentation
• Systems & Documentation: PLM, ERP, specification management, artwork/version control, supplier portals, change control, SOPs, technical playbooks
• Sustainability: material reduction, recyclability, responsible sourcing, packaging waste reduction, carbon and cost trade‑off analysis
• Program Management: milestone planning, stakeholder governance, vendor readiness, risk management, business case development, executive communication

Required Experience

• 12–15+ years in packaging engineering, packaging development, print/labeling, manufacturing engineering, quality, or supply chain engineering.
• Experience leading global or regional packaging programs across manufacturing vendors, logistics partners, and distribution operations.
• Demonstrated expertise in packaging specifications, print quality, labeling compliance, technical documentation, and supplier execution.
• Experience translating product, brand, compliance, transportation, and DC handling requirements into scalable packaging standards.
• Experience building business cases using packaging cost, cube, damage, labor, sustainability, and operational performance data.
• Experience leading pilots, vendor rollouts, capability assessments, training, and post‑implementation performance reviews.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in footwear, apparel, consumer goods, retail, e‑commerce, or global distribution environments.
• Familiarity with RFID, serialization, digital product data, machine‑readable labels, and supply chain traceability.
• Experience with packaging automation, cartonization, print inspection, barcode verification, and DC material handling constraints.
• Experience dealing with global packaging regulatory requirements, country‑of‑origin marking, care/content labeling, and packaging waste regulations.
• Experience with sustainability programs, recycled content, recyclable materials, packaging scorecards, and supplier capability development.
• Ability to use AI or analytics tools to improve specification control, packaging optimization, defect detection, and vendor execution.
• Strong understanding of manufacturing and end‑of‑line production processes to skillfully design and fit packaging solutions end‑to‑end