Senior Process Engineer - Pet Food Plant (On-Site)

The J.M. Smucker Company; United States; On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

The J. M. Smucker Co.

in Decatur, AL seeks a Senior Engineer, TSO to drive a high-performance culture by coaching floor technicians, solving problems, and enabling self-reliance. This on-site role partners with plant leadership to advance master plans and the long-term vision, with 8-hour day shifts and occasional off-shift needs. You will lead plant trials, coordinate ingredient changes, and optimize processes across pet food manufacturing, R&D, and operations, while advancing Smucker

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering or Food Science.
• 2+ years of Engineering, Operations, R&D and/or TSO experience.
• Ability to define a problem statement, identify root cause, and implement corrective actions.
• Ability to lead work independently with basic coaching.
• Ability to collaborate across the organization.
• Willingness to travel 20%.

Responsibilities

• Support technical efforts to evaluate and improve processes and formulations in pet food manufacturing to boost production rates, efficiencies and yield while maintaining safety.
• Provide technical guidance between operations and R&D on new product/process development; liaise between R&D and Operations for plant test runs.
• Own Commissioning, Qualification and Verification (CQV) for new projects.
• Serve as the main point of contact between engineering, R&D and operations to ensure project involvement and smooth turnover.
• Support Smucker Continuous Improvement methods and promote a zero-loss culture.
• Manage time and resources effectively to complete projects.
• Work within specification systems, focusing on recipe creation, ingredient substitutions, cost optimization, and plant trials.
• Coordinate and lead plant trials to evaluate new ingredients or processing/packaging parameters.
• Design and execute experiments at supplier sites and in plant operations.
• Validate improvements and corrective actions that deliver benefits.
• Develop understanding of unit operations at the primary plant and other pet manufacturing locations.

Skills

Problem solving

Root cause analysis

Cross-functional teamwork

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering or Food Science

Job description

The J. M. Smucker Co.

in Decatur, AL seeks a Senior Engineer, TSO to drive a high-performance culture by coaching floor technicians, solving problems, and enabling self-reliance. This on-site role partners with plant leadership to advance master plans and the long-term vision, with 8-hour day shifts and occasional off-shift needs. You will lead plant trials, coordinate ingredient changes, and optimize processes across pet food manufacturing, R&D, and operations, while advancing Smucker