Sr. Director, Business Unit Engineering

Novolex; Lake Forest (IL); On-site; USD 230,000 - 270,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) match

Medical, dental, vision insurance

Paid vacation and holidays

Parental leave

Wellness program

Job summary

Novolex is seeking a Senior Director, Business Unit Engineering to lead engineering across multiple manufacturing units, driving reliability, capability, and enterprise standards. You will partner with Operations, Centers of Excellence, and leadership to align priorities, improve performance, and scale engineering across the organization.

You will develop leadership capability, manage cross-functional teams, and drive value through capital projects and process improvements, ensuring safety and

Qualifications

• 15+ years of progressive experience in manufacturing engineering, process engineering, reliability engineering, technical operations, or related leadership roles.
• 8+ years of leadership experience leading multi-site engineering, technical operations, or manufacturing support organizations.
• Proven track record of improving operational performance (throughput, uptime, reliability, yield, scrap reduction).
• Experience leading engineering standardization, governance adoption, and capability building across complex manufacturing ops.
• Strong executive leadership, stakeholder management, and cross-functional alignment capabilities.

Responsibilities

• Champion a safety-first engineering culture and ensure compliance with safety standards and regulatory requirements.
• Lead Business Unit Engineering teams across assigned manufacturing units with strategic direction and priorities.
• Develop leadership and technical capability through coaching, succession planning, and performance management.
• Align engineering initiatives across units to focus resources on high-value priorities.
• Drive improvements in uptime, throughput, yield, Scrap reduction, process capability, and readiness.
• Provide executive escalation support for complex operational and technical issues.
• Partner with Centers of Excellence to accelerate adoption of enterprise engineering standards and tools.
• Coordinate with Capital Project Engineering and Operations Strategy to align priorities and benefits realization.
• Build cross-functional partnerships with Operations, Quality, Maintenance, EH&S, Supply Chain, Finance, and Commercial teams.

Skills

Executive leadership

Stakeholder management

Cross-functional leadership

Operations improvement

Coaching & mentoring

Strategic direction

Communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering

Tools

MS Office

Job description

Company Overview

Why Choose Us?

Novolex is a leading manufacturer of food, beverage, and specialty packaging that supports multiple industries including foodservice, restaurant delivery and carryout, food processing, grocery and retail, and industrial sectors. Novolex manufacturing and sourcing expertise spans a diverse range of substrates including resin, paper, molded fiber, aluminum and more. We provide customers a broad array of stock and customized solutions with 120 product categories, 250 brands and over 39,000 SKUs.

Our Sustainability Commitment

The Novolex sustainability vision is built upon three pillars: our products, our operations and our people. Each is critically important to our growth and future as a business. These pillars form the foundation of our company-wide commitment to sustainability, helping us achieve our ambitious goals through our wide-ranging initiatives.

Job Description

Position Summary

The Senior Director, Business Unit Engineering provides enterprise leadership for Business Unit Engineering across multiple manufacturing business units, operating units, and substrates. This role is accountable for advancing engineering performance, operational reliability, manufacturing capability, and adoption of enterprise engineering standards across Novolex manufacturing operations. The Senior Director partners closely with Operations, Capital Project Engineering, Centers of Excellence, and business leadership to align engineering priorities, strengthen technical execution, improve operating performance, and build scalable engineering capability across the organization.

Key Responsibilities

• Champion a safety-first engineering culture and ensure compliance with company safety standards, engineering standards, operating procedures, and applicable regulatory requirements.
• Lead Business Unit Engineering teams across assigned manufacturing business units, providing strategic direction, operating priorities, and performance expectations.
• Build organizational capability through leadership development, coaching, succession planning, technical capability building, and performance management for BU Engineering leaders and Operating Unit Engineers.
• Establish alignment and prioritization of engineering initiatives across business units and plants to ensure resources are focused on the highest-value operational and strategic priorities.
• Drive measurable engineering and operational performance improvements across business units, including uptime, throughput, yield, scrap reduction, process capability, reliability, and manufacturing readiness.
• Provide executive-level escalation support for complex operational, technical, process, reliability, and manufacturing performance issues across business units.
• Partner with Centers of Excellence to accelerate adoption of enterprise engineering standards, tools, governance, best practices, and technical capabilities across business units.
• Partner with Capital Project Engineering, Operations Strategy, and business leadership to align capital priorities, project execution approach, manufacturing readiness, startup stabilization, and benefits realization.
• Develop and maintain strong cross-functional partnerships with Operations, Quality, Maintenance, EH&S, Supply Chain, Finance, and Commercial teams to support enterprise priorities and business unit performance objectives.
• Perform additional duties as assigned.

Qualifications

Essential

• 15+ years of progressive experience in manufacturing engineering, process engineering, reliability engineering, technical operations, or related manufacturing leadership roles.
• 8+ years of leadership experience leading multi-site engineering, technical operations, or manufacturing support organizations.
• Demonstrated success improving operational performance, including throughput, uptime, reliability, yield, scrap reduction, process capability, and manufacturing readiness.
• Experience leading engineering standardization, governance adoption, best-practice deployment, and capability building across complex manufacturing operations.
• Strong executive leadership, organizational agility, communication, stakeholder management, and cross-functional alignment capabilities.
• Proven ability to coach, mentor, develop, and hold accountable engineering leadership teams across a matrixed operating environment.
• Ability to influence and drive execution across matrixed manufacturing organizations with competing priorities and multiple stakeholder groups.
• Proficiency with business communication, reporting, presentation, and common office technology tools.

Preferred

• Experience supporting packaging, plastics, extrusion, thermoforming, molded fiber, paper, and/or related manufacturing operations.
• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or related technical discipline highly preferred.

A reasonable estimate of the current range is $230,000-$270,000 - $PQR + bonus + benefits. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target salaries for the position across all US locations. Within the range, individual pay is determined by job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. At Novolex, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at the top of the range for their role and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case.

The benefits for this role include 401(k) plan with company match, comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance, flexible spending and health savings accounts, paid vacation, and sick days, paid parental leave, paid holidays and wellness program.

#LI-Remote

Company Benefits

What You\'ll Get From Us

Benefits

With safety as our top priority and a commitment to employee well-being an important focus, we offer comprehensive and competitive benefits that include medical, dental and vision insurance as well as a variety of other well-being resources focused on mental, physical and financial health. Specific benefits and well-being programs may vary depending on where you work.

Community Engagement

At Novolex, giving back to the local communities that support us is important. Our Focused Giving Program prioritizes support for organizations whose missions promote sustainability initiatives or address food and hunger needs. We also encourage facility level support of activities in the communities where our employees live and work.

Training and Development

We offer constant opportunities for advancement. From skills development to advanced education programs, training and development programs and courses are available through MyLearning. Programs include company and industry training curricula, support for formal education through the Tuition Reimbursement Program (Non-Union), and a Learning Management System that supports and enhances employee skills at all levels of the organization.

Novolex is committed to providing equal employment opportunity in all employment practices, including but not limited to selection, hiring, promotion, transfer, and compensation to all qualified applicants and employees without regard to age, race, color, national origin, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, handicap or disability, genetics, citizenship status, service member or veteran status, or any other category protected by federal, state, or local law. Any individual who, because of his or her disability, needs an accommodation in connection with an aspect of the Company\'s application process should contact [e-mail].

Formerly Pactiv Evergreen