Senior Manufacturing Engineering Lead – Food & Bakery

Dessert Holdings Inc.; Saint Paul (MN); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Dessert Holdings is seeking a Senior Manager, Manufacturing Engineering to lead engineering initiatives across its network of food manufacturing facilities in North America. You will provide technical leadership for major capital projects, drive manufacturing optimization, and promote standardization and best practices across sites.

The role partners with Operations, Reliability, Quality, Supply Chain, and R&D to improve manufacturing performance, enable product commercialization, and advance

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering required; Mechanical, Industrial, Manufacturing, Chemical, or related disciplines preferred.
• 8+ years of engineering experience within food, beverage, CPG, or similar manufacturing environments, with a preference for food experience and GMP/FSMA facilities.
• 3+ years of leadership experience managing engineers, technical teams, or cross-functional initiatives.
• Experience supporting manufacturing operations through process optimization, manufacturing engineering, capital project execution, continuous improvement, or operational excellence initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop a high-performing Manufacturing Engineering team, providing coaching, mentoring, and technical leadership across multiple manufacturing facilities.
• Establish and drive manufacturing engineering standards, best practices, methodologies, and technical governance to ensure consistency and operational excellence.
• Partner with plant and business leaders to identify improvement opportunities, prioritize engineering resources, and support strategic business objectives.
• Serve as the Manufacturing Engineering lead for major capital projects, guiding scope development, design reviews, equipment selection, commissioning, startup, and performance validation.
• Collaborate with Operations, Maintenance, Reliability, Quality, Supply Chain, R&D, contractors, and OEMs to ensure successful project execution and operational readiness.
• Lead product commercialization efforts, including manufacturing feasibility assessments, process scale-up, validation activities, and launch readiness planning.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives focused on productivity, throughput, yield, labor efficiency, quality, and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).
• Analyze manufacturing processes, equipment performance, and operational constraints to identify root causes and implement sustainable performance improvements.
• Lead capacity planning, manufacturing studies, and network optimization efforts to support business growth, expansion strategies, and long-term operational planning.
• Develop manufacturing roadmaps, business cases, and technical recommendations for future capital investments and capacity expansion opportunities.
• Promote equipment standardization, process consistency, and replication of best practices across the manufacturing network.
• Act as a key cross-functional technical leader, supporting initiatives that improve safety, quality, service, cost performance, and long-term manufacturing capability.

Skills

Leadership

Manufacturing Engineering

Capital Projects

Continuous Improvement

Lean Six Sigma

Cross-functional

Project Management

Food Industry

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering

Job description

Dessert Holdings is seeking a Senior Manager, Manufacturing Engineering to lead engineering initiatives across its network of food manufacturing facilities in North America. You will provide technical leadership for major capital projects, drive manufacturing optimization, and promote standardization and best practices across sites.

The role partners with Operations, Reliability, Quality, Supply Chain, and R&D to improve manufacturing performance, enable product commercialization, and advance