Plant Engineering & Capital Projects Manager

Plant Based Innovations; Portland (OR); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Plant Based Innovations, based in Portland, Oregon, seeks a hands-on Plant Engineering & Capital Projects Manager to lead capital projects, equipment sourcing, and plant-wide engineering efforts across Dairy/Food manufacturing.

You will collaborate with Operations and Maintenance to identify opportunities, solve technical problems, and drive projects from concept through startup, ensuring safety, reliability, and sanitary design excellence.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of progressively responsible engineering or manufacturing experience.
• Experience in dairy, food, beverage, or another sanitary manufacturing environment.
• Significant experience leading capital projects and managing OEMs, contractors, and engineering firms.
• Strong understanding of manufacturing equipment, processes, and sanitary/hygienic practices.
• Working knowledge of PLC, HMI, and industrial automation systems.
• Ability to read and understand P&IDs, electrical drawings, and equipment specifications.
• Strong troubleshooting, analytical, project management, organizational, communication, and vendor-management skills.
• Ability to manage multiple projects and priorities simultaneously.
• Willingness to spend significant time on the plant floor.

Responsibilities

• Lead capital projects from concept through installation, commissioning, startup, and final acceptance.
• Source and evaluate equipment; develop budgets, schedules, specifications, and bid packages.
• Coordinate construction, installation, commissioning, startup; maintain documentation.
• Provide engineering support to manufacturing operations; optimize process performance and sanitary design.
• Provide technical leadership for plant automation and controls; define requirements with integrators.
• Partner with Production and Maintenance to improve reliability and address recurring problems.

Skills

Capital projects

Equipment sourcing

Automation & controls

Vendor management

Plant floor experience

Problem solving

Multidisciplinary engineering

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical, Industrial Engineering

Tools

Allen-Bradley/Rockwell

Siemens

Job description

PBI is a growing food manufacturer specializing in cultured dairy and plant-based products, including yogurt, Greek yogurt, drinkable yogurt, sour cream, butter, and other refrigerated foods.

PBI is investing in new processing capacity, automation, equipment, and plant infrastructure. We are seeking a highly capable, hands-on Plant Engineering & Capital Projects Manager to lead and execute these initiatives.

This is not a traditional corporate engineering management role. We are looking for someone who enjoys being on the plant floor, solving technical problems, working with equipment and controls, managing vendors, and getting projects built.

Position Overview

The Plant Engineering & Capital Projects Manager will lead capital projects, equipment sourcing, plant engineering, automation, infrastructure, and technical improvements across PBI.

Working closely with Operations, Maintenance, and other teams, this person will identify opportunities, solve technical problems, and drive projects from concept through startup.

The ideal candidate is a hands-on, multidisciplinary engineer and practical problem solver with experience in food, dairy, beverage, pharmaceutical, or other sanitary manufacturing environments.

Key Responsibilities

Capital Projects & Equipment

• Lead capital projects from concept through installation, commissioning, startup, and final acceptance.
• Identify capital needs; develop project scopes, budgets, schedules, financial justifications, specifications, and bid packages.
• Source and evaluate new and used manufacturing equipment based on suitability, condition, capacity, lifecycle cost, and overall economics.
• Obtain and compare vendor proposals; select OEMs, contractors, and engineering firms; and negotiate pricing, warranties, installation, and service terms.
• Coordinate construction, installation, commissioning, and startup activities while maintaining project documentation, drawings, and specifications.
• Establish project acceptance criteria and verify equipment performance against agreed specifications.
• Projects may include processing and packaging equipment, automation systems, utilities, refrigeration, electrical systems, tanks, sanitary piping, CIP systems, and facility infrastructure.

Areas of responsibility include:

• Electrical distribution, transformers, switchgear, and panels
• Refrigeration and ammonia systems
• Boilers and steam systems
• Compressed air
• Water and wastewater systems
• HVAC and process utilities
• CIP systems and process piping
• Tanks and processing equipment
• Building, flooring, drainage, and sanitary infrastructure
• Controls and automation systems

The objective is to identify aging, undersized, obsolete, or unreliable assets and develop solutions before they become significant production, safety, quality, or cost issues.

Process & Manufacturing Engineering

Provide engineering support to manufacturing operations and help optimize process performance, equipment capability, and sanitary design.

The role requires experience or strong working knowledge of:

• Dairy and food processing
• Cultured products, including yogurt and sour cream
• Mixing, batching, fermentation, and culturing
• Pumps, valves, heat exchangers, and process tanks
• Sanitary piping and instrumentation
• Filling and packaging equipment
• Experience with sanitary and hygienic design is strongly preferred.

Automation & Controls

Provide technical leadership for plant automation and controls systems, including troubleshooting, requirements definition, system improvements, and coordination with controls integrators and programmers.

Areas include:

• PLCs and HMIs
• VFDs and servo systems
• Instrumentation and process controls
• Machine controls and industrial networks
• Experience with Allen-Bradley/Rockwell and/or Siemens systems is strongly preferred.

The successful candidate does not need to be a PLC programmer but understand well ladder logic and must be capable of troubleshooting PLC/HMI systems, defining control requirements, and effectively managing outside controls resources.

Reliability & Plant Improvement

• Partner with Prodcution and Maintenance to improve equipment reliability, reduce downtime, and address recurring technical problems.
• Identify chronic equipment failures and perform root-cause analysis.
• Develop practical engineering solutions and equipment replacement strategies.
• Identify obsolete equipment, controls, and components and establish lifecycle plans.
• Help define critical spare-parts requirements and support preventive and predictive maintenance improvements.
• Standardize equipment and components were practical across facilities.
• Develop and manage effective relationships with equipment manufacturers, OEMs, contractors, engineering firms, and technical service providers.
• Identify qualified vendors and technical resources.
• Develop technical specifications and evaluate competing technologies and solutions.
• Obtain competitive proposals and negotiate commercial and technical terms.
• Manage vendor performance and hold suppliers accountable for schedules, quality, and agreed deliverables.
• Build a strong network of technical resources and industry contacts.
• Established relationships within the food, dairy, process equipment, automation, or engineering industries are a significant advantage.

This is a hands-on position. The Engineering Manager will regularly work with Operations and Maintenance personnel to troubleshoot and resolve issues involving processing and packaging equipment, pumps and valves, heat exchangers, CIP systems, electrical systems, instrumentation, PLCs/HMIs, VFDs, sensors, and industrial networks.

We are not looking for someone who simply identifies a problem and delegates it to someone else. We are looking for someone who can understand the problem, determine the appropriate solution, bring in the right resources when necessary, and drive the issue through to resolution.

Required Qualifications

• 7+ years of progressively responsible engineering or manufacturing experience.
• Experience in dairy, food, beverage, or another sanitary manufacturing environment.
• Significant experience leading capital projects and managing OEMs, contractors, and engineering firms.
• Strong understanding of manufacturing equipment, processes, and sanitary/hygienic practices.
• Working knowledge of PLC, HMI, and industrial automation systems.
• Ability to read and understand P&IDs, electrical drawings, and equipment specifications.
• Strong troubleshooting, analytical, project management, organizational, communication, and vendor-management skills.
• Ability to manage multiple projects and priorities simultaneously.
• Willingness to spend significant time on the plant floor.

Preferred

• Dairy or cultured dairy manufacturing experience, particularly yogurt, sour cream, or similar products.
• Pasteurization or HTST processing experience.
• Allen-Bradley/Rockwell and/or Siemens automation experience.
• CIP system experience.
• PLC or controls programming experience.
• Experience managing multi-million-dollar capital projects.Experience sourcing and evaluating used manufacturing equipment.
• Established relationships with food or dairy equipment suppliers and engineering firms.

The ideal candidate may currently be a:

• Plant Engineering Manager
• Process Engineering Manager
• Maintenance & Engineering Manager
• Capital Projects Manager
• Senior Plant Engineer
• Senior Process Engineer
• Controls/Automation Engineer or Manager

We are particularly interested in candidates who have grown through hands-on engineering and plant experience and are comfortable wearing multiple hats. One day may involve developing a capital project for new processing equipment; the next may involve troubleshooting a PLC with a controls integrator, evaluating equipment, negotiating with an OEM, or walking the plant with Maintenance to identify infrastructure improvements.

You don't need to know everything. You need to be the type of engineer who can say:

"I don't know. Let me figure it out." And then figure it out.

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical, Industrial, or related Engineering preferred.
• Equivalent hands-on engineering and manufacturing experience will be considered.
• A Professional Engineer (PE) license is not required.

What Success Looks Like

During the first 6-12 months, the successful candidate will:

• Complete a comprehensive assessment of PBI's plant infrastructure.
• Develop a prioritized 3-5 year capital and infrastructure plan.
• Identify the highest-risk equipment and infrastructure and establish replacement or lifecycle strategies.
• Identify major automation and controls opportunities.
• Improve plant reliability and reduce downtime.
• Strengthen relationships with key OEMs, vendors, contractors, and technical resources.
• Improve capital project planning and execution.
• Most importantly, this person will become a key technical problem solver for PBI and a trusted partner to Production and Maintenance and operations in general in building and improving the company's manufacturing capabilities.

Location & Travel

This position is based in the Portland / Clackamas, Oregon area and requires regular presence in PBI's manufacturing facilities. Travel to other PBI facilities, suppliers, equipment vendors, and project locations will be required as needed.