Senior Process Engineer

Inabia Software & Consulting Inc.; Sterling (VA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Inabia Software & Consulting Inc. seeks a Senior Process Engineer in Sterling, VA to lead plant engineering and reliability efforts within a highly regulated food manufacturing facility.

You will drive safety, quality, and throughput, oversee capital projects and commissioning, partner with QA and regulatory teams, and champion continuous improvement across engineering, maintenance, and utilities.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in an engineering field.
• 15+ years of engineering, maintenance, or operations experience.
• Experience in highly regulated food manufacturing environments.
• 7+ years leading engineering/maintenance or facilities teams in 24/7 plants.
• Experience with capital projects, expansions, and commissioning.
• Knowledge of preventive/predictive maintenance, CMMS, RCA, and spare parts management.
• Working knowledge of HACCP, GMP, GFSI/SQF/BRC, and OSHA requirements.
• Experience with refrigeration, boilers, PLCs, HMIs, SCADA, conveyors, and utilities.
• Strong financial and project management skills (CAPEX, ROI, vendor mgmt).

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute engineering strategies focused on safety, quality, and throughput.
• Lead capital projects including budgeting, vendor selection, and startup.
• Provide technical leadership for food-processing systems and automation.
• Collaborate with QA/Food Safety to meet HACCP and regulatory standards.
• Drive continuous improvement using RCA, Lean, Six Sigma, and data-driven problem solving.
• Ensure OSHA, electrical safety, and environmental regulatory compliance.
• Provide leadership across engineering, maintenance, and facilities.
• Manage budgets, CAPEX, and contractor oversight.
• Support product introductions, process validation, and capacity expansions.
• Establish engineering standards and training programs.
• Provide technical recommendations and project updates to senior leadership.

Skills

Engineering Leadership

Capital Projects

Project Management

PLC/SCADA

Quality & Compliance

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering

Tools

AutoCAD

Bluebeam

Procore

Excel

MS Project

Job description

Senior Process Engineer

Location: Sterling, VA

About the Organization

Our client is a leading food manufacturing organization specializing in prepared and refrigerated foods, with a strong focus on quality, food safety, operational excellence, and innovative food-processing solutions. The organization operates sophisticated manufacturing facilities and is committed to maintaining high standards across engineering, automation, reliability, sanitation, and production operations.

The Sterling, Virginia facility operates within a highly regulated food manufacturing environment, where engineering teams support advanced processing, cooking, chilling, packaging, refrigeration, utilities, automation, and facility infrastructure.

Position Overview

We are seeking a Senior Process Engineer to provide strategic and hands‑on engineering leadership across engineering, maintenance, reliability, automation, utilities, facilities, and capital projects within a food manufacturing environment.

The individual will work closely with Operations, Quality Assurance, Food Safety, Sanitation, Supply Chain, Finance, HR, Procurement, vendors, contractors, and regulatory/auditing partners to improve safety, quality, productivity, reliability, and overall plant performance.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and execute plant engineering strategies focused on safety, quality, food safety, throughput, labor efficiency, equipment uptime, sanitation, and cost performance.
• Lead and support capital projects, including project scope development, budgeting, vendor selection, contractor management, installation, commissioning, startup, and validation.
• Provide technical leadership for food-processing systems, cook tanks, chilling systems, vacuum packaging, boilers, refrigeration, compressed air, water/wastewater systems, conveyors, PLCs, HMIs, automation, and facility infrastructure.
• Partner with QA and Food Safety teams to support HACCP, GMP, GFSI/SQF or BRC requirements, USDA/FDA expectations, allergen controls, sanitation design, hygienic zoning, environmental monitoring, and food defense.
• Drive continuous improvement using Root Cause Analysis, 5-Why, A3, Lean, Six Sigma, standard work, and data-driven problem solving.
• Ensure compliance with OSHA, LOTO, electrical safety, refrigeration/ammonia safety, environmental regulations, building codes, and company standards.
• Provide leadership across engineering, maintenance, reliability, facilities, utilities, and automation functions.
• Manage engineering budgets, capital expenditures, contractors, utilities, MRO inventory, and cost-reduction initiatives.
• Support new product introductions, process validation, packaging changes, capacity expansions, and automation improvements.
• Establish engineering standards, project management practices, sanitation-ready equipment design, documentation controls, and technical training programs.
• Provide technical recommendations, risk assessments, project updates, and engineering support to senior leadership.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 15+ years of progressive engineering, maintenance, reliability, or technical operations experience.
• Experience in food manufacturing, refrigerated foods, ready‑to‑eat foods, protein processing, sous vide, aseptic, pharmaceutical, or another highly regulated manufacturing environment.
• 7+ years of leadership experience managing engineering, maintenance, reliability, automation, or facilities teams in a 24/7 manufacturing environment.
• Strong experience with capital projects, plant expansions, equipment installation, automation upgrades, commissioning, and startup.
• Knowledge of preventive/predictive maintenance, CMMS, maintenance planning, RCM, RCA, and spare parts management.
• Working knowledge of HACCP, GMPs, sanitation design, allergen control, environmental monitoring, GFSI/SQF/BRC, and OSHA requirements.
• Experience with refrigeration, boilers, thermal processing, chilled water, vacuum packaging, cook/chill operations, PLCs, HMIs, SCADA, conveyors, utilities, and plant infrastructure.
• Strong financial and project management skills, including CAPEX, ROI analysis, vendor management, and cost control.

Additional Technical Requirements

• ROI‑based capital analysis and project justification.
• Standardized subcontractor RFQ development.
• Technical OEM approval and drawing reviews.
• OEM FAT and PAT experience.
• Subcontractor competitive bid review and analysis.
• Plant material selection and equipment installation standards.
• Ability to read and interpret PFD, P&ID, ISO, and DWG drawings.
• Working knowledge of AutoCAD, Bluebeam, Procore, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Project, and related engineering/project management software.
• Strong continuous improvement and process‑standardization experience.

Physical & Work Requirements

• Ability to work in both office and food manufacturing environments, including refrigerated, wet, hot, and high‑noise areas.
• Must be able to regularly walk production floors and access equipment, utility, and mechanical areas.
• Availability outside normal business hours may be required for downtime events, installations, audits, inspections, or emergencies.
• Travel: 40–60% as needed.
• Must follow all company safety, GMP, food safety, PPE, and sanitation requirements.

Ideal Candidate Profile

• The ideal candidate will bring a strong combination of:
• Food Manufacturing + Engineering Leadership + Capital Projects + Refrigeration/Utilities + Automation/PLC + Food Safety/Regulatory Compliance + Continuous Improvement.
• Candidates with hands‑on experience leading engineering functions within a 24/7 food or highly regulated manufacturing facility are strongly preferred.

Best Regards

Rohit Rawat

Delivery Manager