Sr. Project Engineer

C.H. Guenther; San Antonio (TX); On-site; USD 99,000 - 158,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Retirement plan

Flexible spending accounts

Employee assistance program

Educational assistance

Parental leave

Paid time off

Company-paid holidays

Job summary

C.H. Guenther Senior Project Engineer leads capital project planning and execution for one or more sites in North America.

You partner with plant leadership, operations, maintenance, R&D, quality, and external engineers to drive manufacturing capability improvements. Responsibilities include managing capex, developing annual capital plans, delivering cost savings, and guiding projects from feasibility to handover while ensuring safety, quality, and regulatory compliance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering or related field.
• 5–10 years of capital projects experience in manufacturing.
• Experience managing multi-million dollar projects.
• Lean manufacturing or continuous improvement background preferred.
• Fluent English communication across reading/writing/speaking.

Responsibilities

• Manage capex, forecasts, and ROI targets.
• Develop and maintain annual capital plan with site leadership.
• Lead medium to large capital projects from feasibility to start-up.
• Prepare scope, cost estimates, schedules, and business cases.
• Coordinate internal/external stakeholders and vendors.
• Track status, risks, costs, and KPIs; report to leadership.
• Travel across North America up to 20%.

Skills

Project management

Capital planning

Vendor management

English communication

MS Project

Microsoft Excel

AutoCAD drawing

Team collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering

Tools

AutoCAD

MS Project

Excel

Job description

The Senior Project Engineer owns capital project planning and execution for one or multiple sites. They are accountable for delivering strategic capital projects that improve safety, reliability, capacity, quality, and operational performance. The position operates with a high degree of autonomy and partners closely with plant leadership, operations, maintenance, R&D, quality, and external engineering partners to drive long-term manufacturing capability improvements.

Duties And Responsibilities

• Manage capital expenditures, forecasts, and project financial performance to ensure delivery against approved business cases and ROI targets.
• Develop and maintain a balanced annual capital plan for assigned manufacturing site(s) in partnership with maintenance, safety, quality, R&D, operations, and plant leadership.
• Establish, execute, and deliver savings from automation, productivity, capacity, reliability, safety, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Lead medium to large capital investment projects from feasibility, scope development, and funding approval through engineering design, installation, commissioning, start-up, and handover.
• Prepare project scope, design basis, cost estimates, schedules, business case support, option analyses, RFQs, purchase recommendations, and capital funding packages.
• Coordinate internal stakeholders, external engineering partners, vendors, contractors, construction resources, and plant teams to ensure safe and effective project execution.
• Track and communicate project status, risks, decisions, cost, schedule, quality, deliverables, and post-start-up KPIs to leadership and stakeholders.
• Anticipate potential project issues and develop mitigation plans, contingency plans, and clear requests for support when barriers arise.
• Support new business needs with agility, including product, process, equipment, capacity, packaging, automation, and infrastructure changes.
• Develop, improve, and standardize engineering work processes, project governance, change management, readiness tools, and manufacturing deliverable tracking.
• Ensure projects comply with applicable food safety, quality, occupational health and safety, environmental, and regulatory requirements, including HACCP, GMP, SQF, CFIA or equivalent country requirements, and local, state/provincial, and federal laws.
• Travel across North America to manufacturing sites, vendor locations, and project sites may be required (20%).

Education/Certifications And Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering or a closely related technical discipline required.
• 5 to 10 years of experience executing capital projects or engineering initiatives within a manufacturing environment
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple million dollars projects
• Desired experience in food manufacturing, food processing technology, packaging, automation, controls, or frozen/refrigerated manufacturing environments.
• Experience with lean manufacturing, continuous improvement, engineering work processes, or capital project management preferred.
• Ability to communicate fluently in English, including reading, writing, speaking, and listening required.

Knowledge, Skills, And Abilities

• Strong project management capability with the ability to balance safety, quality, cost, schedule, scope, and business results.
• Working knowledge of capital planning, purchasing processes, cost estimating, vendor management, construction coordination, and equipment installation.
• Ability to develop design basis documents, RFQs, option analyses, project deliverables, manufacturing readiness tools, and start-up plans.
• Understanding of manufacturing equipment, utilities, process systems, automation, controls, and productivity improvement methods.
• Strong interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills, including the ability to influence, align, and hold stakeholders accountable without direct authority.
• Creative, innovative, detail-oriented, and able to improve or streamline work processes.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and MS Project
• Basic drawing skills in AutoCAD with ability to conceptualize minor changes as necessary into current facility layouts
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively in a matrixed, multi-site environment supporting several Senior Plant Engineers across North America.

Supervisory Responsibilities

• N/A

Working Conditions And Physical Effort

• Work is performed in both office and food manufacturing environments.
• Hours may vary according to project needs; extended hours, off-shift support, and weekend work may be required during installations, shutdowns, commissioning, and start-ups.
• Manufacturing environments may include exposure to food ingredients and finished goods such as flour, starch, meat, poultry, seafood, dairy, and other allergens or food products.
• Role may require work in refrigerated, frozen, wet, humid, dusty, or noisy environments and around mechanical, electrical, chemical, and construction-related hazards.
• Must follow site safety, sanitation, personal protective equipment, and food safety requirements while in production facilities.

Expectations

• Will demonstrate, promote, and exemplify the Company's Core Values.

About

At C.H. Guenther, we value transparency in compensation. By providing the salary range for this role, we aim to promote fairness and help candidates make informed choices about their career. The salary range for this role is:

$99,000.00 - $158,400.00 USD

Actual compensation may vary based on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience, as well as geographic location.

C.H. Guenther & Son will never offer or pay a wage or salary that is not compliant with applicable local, state, or federal pay laws, including minimum salary thresholds.

We also offer a variety of benefits, including health and disability insurance, retirement savings options, flexible spending accounts, employee assistance programs, educational assistance, parental leave, paid time off, and company-paid holidays.

C.H. Guenther & Son and its subsidiaries are E-Verify participating employers.

All offers of employment are contingent upon successful completion of the pre-employment screening process which includes a drug screen and review of criminal background and other records as required.

AA/EEO/Drug-Free Employer