Application Engineering Manager, Food Service Packaging

Sealed Air; Charlotte (NC); Hybrid; USD 103,000 - 177,000; Full time

Job summary

Sealed Air is seeking an Application Engineering Manager, Food Service Packaging in Charlotte, NC. The role reports to the Director of Food Service R&D and focuses on advancing R&D by delivering innovative, sustainable packaging solutions aligned with corporate strategy.

The ADS team collaborates across Commercial, Supply Chain and R&D, working with customers to transition new products to scalable solutions.

Qualifications

• Experience managing teams.
• Strong presentation and communication skills, including the ability to break down projects into actionable work blocks.
• Strong project management skills.
• Creative and resourceful, pulls together the necessary tools, equipment, and people, to get the job done.
• Flexible to travel domestically and internationally, at least 10%.
• Understanding of food service and liquid packaging, vertical form-fill-seal application and equipment

Responsibilities

• Safety: Ensure adherence to safety protocol and promote safety culture.
• Execution: Allocate team resources for timely delivery of project with various delivery horizons and impact.
• Planning: Maintain a data-driven forecast of resources and talent needs.
• People leadership: Coach team members, follow through on development plans, training and knowledge sharing in the community of practice.
• Strategic leadership: Discover and explore new business, unmet market needs, and technology opportunities in partnership with Business teams, technical experts, and leadership.
• Cross-functional support: Support Business, Supply chain, and Quality teams to support business maintenance and growth.
• Communication: Collaborate and communicate effectively in a cross functional organization.
• Act as a technical reference: Serve as the team's technical expert, guiding engineers on the best technical approach, problem-solving methods, and execution strategies to ensure successful project delivery.

Skills

Team leadership

Presentation skills

Project management

Communication

Travel willingness

Education

BSc/MSc/PhD Packaging Eng or Food Sci

Job description

Application Engineering Manager, Food Service Packaging

SEE Headquarters - Charlotte

Sealed Air designs and delivers packaging solutions that protect essential goods transported worldwide, preserve food, enable e-commerce and digital connectivity, and help create a global supply chain that is touchless, safer, less wasteful, and more resilient. We strive to foster a caring, high-performance growth culture that will deliver consistent, sustainable profitable growth and accelerate our performance - a culture where accountability is clear and aligned, and where we reward business outcomes and impact. That culture guides everything we do, including how we partner with our customers and suppliers, how we attract and retain top talent, and how we create and deliver value to our stakeholders. In 2025, Sealed Air generated $5.4 billion in sales and has approximately 16,100 employees who serve customers in 119 countries/territories. To learn more, visit www.sealedair.com.

Sealed Air is looking to hire an Application Engineering Manager, Food Service Packaging who will be reporting to the Director of Food Service R&D, this role is responsible for advancing the R&D mission by developing and delivering innovative, sustainable, robust, and cost-effective product solutions aligned with corporate strategy.

The Application Development Engineering team evaluates new products and adapts existing solutions for new applications. It partners with the Commercial, Supply Chain and R&D organizations to grow and defend our vertical packaging systems (material and equipment).

Externally, ADS team collaborates closely with customers to ensure smooth transition of new products or applications into scaled commercial solutions. Moreover, ADS team gathers valuable insight into future innovation via collaboration and discussion and purposeful observation at our customer sites.

The ADS Manager plays a pivotal role in leading and coaching Food Service ADS engineers while collaborating closely with internal and external customers.

This role is located in Charlotte, NC and will be hybrid in office Monday - Thursday and flexible to be remote on Fridays.

Key Responsibilities

• Safety: Ensure adherence to safety protocol and promote safety culture.
• Execution: Allocate team resources for timely delivery of project with various delivery horizons and impact.
• Planning: Maintain a data-driven forecast of resources and talent needs.
• People leadership: Coach team members, follow through on development plans, training and knowledge sharing in the community of practice.
• Strategic leadership: Discover and explore new business, unmet market needs, and technology opportunities in partnership with Business teams, technical experts, and leadership. Integrate coherently the voice-of-customer and competitive landscape into future projects and product roadmap.
• Cross-functional support: Support Business, Supply chain, and Quality teams to support business maintenance and growth
• Communication: Collaborate and communicate effectively in a cross functional organization. Use strong presentation skills to present to audiences with diverse backgrounds and connect technical concepts to business outcomes.
• Act as a technical reference: Serve as the team's technical expert, guiding engineers on the best technical approach, problem-solving methods, and execution strategies to ensure successful project delivery.

Qualifications

• BSc, MSc or PhD in Packaging Engineering or Food Science
  • With suitable exposure to packaging material and systems: Chemical, Mechanical or Materials Engineering,
• 5 to 10 years of industrial and/or research and development experience in food packaging evaluation, design, or development.

Additional Qualifications

• Experience managing teams.
• Strong presentation and communication skills, including the ability to break down projects into actionable work blocks.
• Strong project management skills
• Creative and resourceful, pulls together the necessary tools, equipment, and people, to get the job done.
• Flexible to travel domestically and internationally, at least 10%.
• Understanding of food service and liquid packaging, vertical form-fill-seal application and equipment

Pay Transparency

Base Compensation Range: $102,600 - $176,755

The range disclosed complies with applicable state and local pay transparency laws. Offers within this range will be determined by considering relevant factors including education, experience, and internal alignment. This position may also be eligible for annual performance bonuses and other incentive programs. Sealed Air offers a competitive benefits package that includes health, dental, vision, 401(k), paid time off, and other benefits designed to promote well-being.

Relocation: Yes

Sealed Air is committed to attracting, selecting, and developing talent that reflects the diversity of the communities and customers we serve. We take pride in our selection process to identify, infuse, and grow talent to align with our culture, values, and norms. Sealed Air prioritizes talent development, fostering a culture of continuous growth and career progression. The company is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all applicants for employment and to all employees, without regard to race, color, religion, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, protected disability, veteran status, or any other protected status in accordance with applicable federal, state and local laws.

WHY WORK AT SEALED AIR?

It is our responsibility to leverage what we have to affect positive and meaningful change for our communities and planet using Sealed Air's global resources and expertise.

Corporate sustainability - it's about improving the lives of people around the world by addressing pressing needs in the communities where we and our customers operate.

Customer Success - meeting our customers' needs. At Sealed Air it's more than a goal, it's an integral part of our business practices, our innovative solutions, and our values.

Leaving our communities better than we found them through dedication of time, talent and resources.