Engineering Manager

Actalent; Philadelphia (Philadelphia County); Hybrid; USD 99,000 - 132,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental & vision

401(k) Retirement Plan

PTO/Time Off

Disability coverage

Job summary

Actalent is seeking an Engineering Manager to serve as the Owner's Representative, leading engineering activities through the project life cycle. You will coordinate with design firms, contractors and internal teams to ensure compliant, constructible, and operable solutions.

The role requires strong leadership, cGMP knowledge, and experience delivering complex capital projects in regulated industries. This is a hybrid role based in Philadelphia with travel to Alabama and Virginia.”

Qualifications

• Minimum 15 years of progressive engineering experience in regulated manufacturing.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary capital projects (pharma, biotech, or related industries).
• Strong knowledge of cGMP, equipment qualification, validation, and utilities.
• Ability to balance Owner oversight with contractual responsibilities.

Responsibilities

• Act as Owner's primary engineering representative and single point of coordination.
• Translate business, manufacturing, safety, quality, and regulatory requirements into project criteria.
• Establish and maintain the engineering execution strategy and interfaces.
• Direct and coordinate engineers, contractors, vendors, and specialists while maintaining accountability.
• Monitor scope, budget, schedule, quality, and risk; drive timely mitigations.
• Facilitate timely technical decisions and secure Owner approvals with clear options.

Skills

Engineering leadership

cGMP knowledge

Project management

Executive presentation

Negotiation

Microsoft Project

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering

Professional engineer license preferred

Tools

Microsoft Office

Microsoft Project

Document management systems

Project controls tools

Job description

Job Title: Engineering Manager Job Description

The Engineering Manager will serve as the Owner's Representative, providing leadership, governance, and technical oversight for engineering activities throughout the project life cycle. This role is crucial in protecting the Owner's business, operational, safety, quality, cost, schedule, and regulatory interests, while coordinating with design firms, contractors, vendors, site stakeholders, and internal functions. The Engineering Manager ensures that technical solutions are fit for purpose, compliant, constructible, maintainable, and aligned with approved project objectives.

Responsibilities

• Act as the Owner's primary engineering representative and single point of coordination for multidisciplinary engineering matters.
• Translate the Owner's business, manufacturing, operational, maintenance, safety, quality, and regulatory requirements into clear project criteria and engineering priorities.
• Establish and maintain the engineering execution strategy, design-governance process, decision authorities, review gates, deliverable requirements, and technical interfaces.
• Direct and coordinate the activities of engineering consultants, the engineer of record, construction partners, vendors, and specialist advisors while preserving clear contractual accountability.
• Monitor engineering performance against approved scope, budget, schedule, quality, and risk objectives; identify variances and lead timely recovery or mitigation actions.
• Facilitate timely technical decisions, document Owner approvals, and escalate material issues with clear options, impacts, and recommendations.
• Lead alignment among operations, maintenance, automation, quality, validation, EHS, procurement, construction, commissioning, and project controls stakeholders.
• Promote a collaborative, accountable, and safety-focused project culture while representing the Owner's interests in all technical discussions.

Essential Skills

• Minimum 15 years of progressive engineering experience, including substantial responsibility for multidisciplinary capital projects in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, biopharmaceutical, specialty chemical, or other regulated manufacturing industries.
• Experience with design-bid-build, design-build, EPCM, construction-management, or integrated project-delivery models.
• Demonstrated experience serving as an Engineering Manager, Owner's Representative, Design Manager, or comparable technical leader on complex projects.
• Strong working knowledge of cGMP requirements, equipment qualification and validation, process and clean utilities, automation interfaces, facility systems, construction, commissioning, and operational readiness.
• Ability to distinguish Owner oversight from the contractual responsibilities of designers, the engineer of record, contractors, and vendors.
• Strong commercial awareness and the ability to evaluate technical decisions in relation to cost, schedule, risk, procurement, contracts, and lifecycle value.
• Excellent leadership, facilitation, negotiation, written communication, and executive-presentation skills.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office, Microsoft Project, document-management systems, scheduling and project-controls tools, and common engineering collaboration platforms.

Additional Skills & Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or higher in Chemical, Mechanical, Electrical, Civil, or another relevant engineering discipline.
• Professional engineer license preferred but not required.
• Proven ability to manage competing priorities, resolve multidisciplinary interfaces, make timely decisions with incomplete information, and maintain disciplined documentation.
• Commitment to safety, quality, ethics, inclusion, and continuous improvement in all aspects of project delivery.

Work Environment

This position is remote, based out of Philadelphia, with required travel of 25-50% to sites in Alabama and Virginia.

Job Type & Location

This is a Contract to Hire position based out of Philadelphia, PA.

Pay and Benefits

The pay range for this position is $72.11 - $96.15/hr. Individual compensation offered for this position within this range will depend on many factors, including qualifications, skills, relevant experience, job knowledge, geographic location, internal equity, and other pertinent job-related factors. Eligibility requirements apply to some benefits and may depend on your job classification and length of employment. Benefits are subject to change and may be subject to specific elections, plan, or program terms. If eligible, the benefits available for this temporary role may include the following:

• Medical, dental & vision
• Critical Illness, Accident, and Hospital
• 401(k) Retirement Plan Pre-tax and Roth post-tax contributions available
• Life Insurance (Voluntary Life & AD&D for the employee and dependents)
• Short and long-term disability
• Health Spending Account (HSA)
• Transportation benefits
• Employee Assistance Program
• Time Off/Leave (PTO, Vacation or Sick Leave)

Workplace Type

This is a hybrid position in Philadelphia, PA.

Application Deadline

This position is anticipated to close on Oct 5, 2026.

The company is an equal opportunity employer and will consider all applications without regard to race, sex, age, color, religion, national origin, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information or any characteristic protected by law.

If you would like to request a reasonable accommodation, such as the modification or adjustment of the job application process or interviewing process due to a disability, please email [e-mail] for other accommodation options.

San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, for all positions located in the city and county of San Francisco, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Massachusetts Lie Detector

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

We may use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support parts of our hiring process, including sourcing, screening, and evaluating candidates. AI helps assess applications and qualifications, but final decisions are made by our hiring team. By applying, you acknowledge and agree that your application may be reviewed using AI tools.