Principal Packaging & Printing Engineer

Deckers International HK Limited; Hong Kong Island; On-site; HKD 900,000 - 1,200,000; Full time

Job summary

Deckers International HK Limited is seeking a Principal Packaging & Printing Engineer to lead the technical strategy for packaging, printing, labeling, and distribution-ready solutions across global supply chains.

The role demands 12-15+ years in packaging engineering, strong vendor collaboration, and the ability to standardize specifications across brands and channels. Candidates should drive data-based improvements while ensuring sustainability and cost efficiency.

Qualifications

• Deep expertise in packaging engineering and printing technologies.
• Ability to translate requirements into scalable packaging specs and guidelines.
• Strong data-driven decision making and analytics skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead global packaging engineering strategy and standards across channels.
• Own technical standards for printed packaging, labels, and cartons.
• Develop and maintain test protocols, workflows, and version control for assets.
• Mentor engineers and cross-functional partners on packaging standards and sustainability.
• Scale packaging capabilities for automation, RFID, and omnichannel fulfillment.
• Build governance and partnerships with brand, product, and supply chain teams.

Skills

Packaging engineering

Printing & labeling

Vendor management

Data-driven decisions

Cross-functional collaboration

Technical leadership

Tools

Excel

Power BI/Tableau

Job description

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.

Key responsibilitiesLead 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

About you

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

Expertise in corrugate, paperboard, molded pulp, polybags, labels, inserts, hangtags, cartons, retail/e-commerce packaging, cushioning, right-sizing, structural packaging design

Knowledge of flexographic, offset, digital, thermal transfer, variable data printing, barcode/QR/RFID/NFC labeling, artwork proofing, color standards, print quality controls

Proficiency with ISTA-style distribution testing, compression, drop, vibration, humidity, abrasion/scuff, barcode scanability, label adhesion, defect analysis, CAPA

Proficiency with Excel, Power BI/Tableau, packaging cost modeling, cube analysis, KPI dashboards, root-cause analysis, SKU/channel segmentation