Packaging Engineering Manager - Frozen Food Products

Hunter the Headhunter; Columbus (OH); On-site; USD 110,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Hunter the Headhunter is seeking a Packaging Technology Manager to lead development, optimization, and commercialization of frozen food packaging, ensuring quality, safety, shelf life, and performance from production to frozen distribution.

You will oversee bench, pilot, and plant-scale trials; tackle freezer burn and texture challenges; collaborate with R&D, Operations, Quality, and Suppliers to drive cost savings, compliance with FDA/USDA, and speed to market.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Packaging Science, Packaging Engineering, Food Science, or related field.
• 7–12+ years in packaging, food R&D, commercialization, with strong frozen-food experience.
• Experience with frozen meals, entrees, vegetables, sauces, or similar categories.
• Experience taking products or packaging from development through commercial-scale production.
• Strong understanding of frozen food systems, packaging materials, ingredient functionality, processing, and shelf-life.
• Strong project management, analytical, troubleshooting, and cross-functional leadership.
• Ability to balance product quality, packaging performance, cost, manufacturability, and speed to market.

Responsibilities

• Lead packaging development and optimization for frozen entrees, meals, vegetables, snacks, sauces, and related products.
• Evaluate materials, formats, and technologies for compatibility with IQF, blast freezing, frozen storage, distribution, and reheating.
• Conduct bench, pilot, and plant-scale trials to validate packaging and product performance.
• Address challenges including freezer burn, moisture migration, ice crystal formation, seal integrity, phase separation, and texture degradation.
• Lead scale-up and commercialization from development through full production.
• Partner with Operations to troubleshoot packaging and product issues during manufacturing and startup.
• Develop and maintain packaging/product specifications and processing parameters.
• Ensure compliance with FDA/USDA regulations, HACCP, GMP, SQF, labeling, and internal quality standards.
• Conduct shelf-life and stability testing under frozen storage conditions.
• Identify cost savings and productivity improvements through packaging, ingredient, and process optimization.
• Collaborate with R&D, Operations, Quality, Procurement, Marketing, and suppliers on innovation and renovation projects.

Skills

Project management

Analytical

Troubleshooting

Cross-functional leadership

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Packaging Science/Packaging Engineering/ Food Science

Job description

The Packaging Technology Manager will lead packaging development, optimization, and commercialization initiatives within a frozen food manufacturing environment. This role combines expertise in packaging materials, food science, freezing processes, and commercialization to ensure products maintain quality, safety, shelf life, and performance from production through frozen distribution and consumer preparation.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead packaging development and optimization for frozen entrees, meals, vegetables, snacks, sauces, and related products.

• Evaluate packaging materials, formats, and technologies for compatibility with IQF, blast freezing, frozen storage, distribution, and reheating.

• Conduct bench, pilot, and plant-scale trials to validate packaging and product performance.

• Address challenges including freezer burn, moisture migration, ice crystal formation, seal integrity, phase separation, and texture degradation.

• Lead scale-up and commercialization from development through full production.

• Partner with Operations to troubleshoot packaging and product issues during manufacturing and startup.

• Develop and maintain packaging/product specifications and processing parameters.

• Ensure compliance with FDA/USDA regulations, HACCP, GMP, SQF, labeling, and internal quality standards.

• Conduct shelf-life and stability testing under frozen storage conditions.

• Identify cost savings and productivity improvements through packaging, ingredient, and process optimization.

• Collaborate with R&D, Operations, Quality, Procurement, Marketing, and suppliers on innovation and renovation projects.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Packaging Science, Packaging Engineering, Food Science, Food Engineering, or related field.

• 7-12+ years of experience in packaging, food R&D, commercialization, or related technical functions, with strong frozen-food experience.

• Experience with frozen meals, entrees, vegetables, sauces, or similar product categories.

• Proven experience taking products or packaging from development through commercial-scale production.

• Strong understanding of frozen food systems, packaging materials, ingredient functionality, processing, and shelf-life considerations.

• Strong project management, analytical, troubleshooting, and cross-functional leadership skills.

• Ability to balance product quality, packaging performance, cost, manufacturability, and speed to market.