VP Engineering North America (Potato & Support Services)

McCain Foods; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 300,000 - 350,000; Full time

Job summary

McCain Foods USA, Inc. seeks a VP of Engineering North America to lead the engineering function across potato and support services. The role directs capital project delivery, environmental engineering, and reliability programs for 10+ facilities, reporting to Global VP of Engineering.

You will manage multi-site capital portfolios, drive safety standards and cost discipline, and mentor a large team of engineers and directors to enable growth and operational excellence.

Qualifications

• 15+ years in Engineering, Environmental and Maintenance.
• Experience delivering capital projects on time and budget.
• Proven maintenance spending management and OEE improvement.
• Environmental regulatory compliance experience.
• Sustainability improvements in water, energy, and resources.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute the engineering function’s strategic plan.
• Manage the operating and capital budgets for engineering.
• Establish standards for safety, quality across facilities.
• Champion lean principles and continuous improvement.
• Partner with manufacturing, H&S, FSQ, procurement, and finance.
• Lead Capital Project Delivery portfolio and large projects.
• Ensure plant and project safety initiatives and KPI governance.
• Build and maintain relationships with external partners.

Skills

Engineering leadership

Capital project management

Safety & compliance

Reliability engineering

Strategic planning

Budget management

Team leadership

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering

Professional Engineering License

Graduate Degree (Engineering/Mgmt/Finance)

Job description

Position Title

VP Engineering North America (Potato & Support Services)

Position Type

Regular - Full-Time

Grade

Grade 08

Requisition ID

44726

In every role, McCainers are ambitious, curious, and passionate about creating exceptional work experiences - together. With a customer-first mindset, we make doing business with McCain easy.

About The Role

Our vision is to Create the New McCain by doubling our business through breakthrough transformation. Our integrated strategy focuses on building global platforms with high local market shares, expanding in emerging markets, growing through acquisitions and improving margins through structural cost reductions. Innovation is the foundation of our growth plan, and our commitment to Bringing the Goodness of McCain Potatoes to All drives the development of products that meet customer and consumer needs in new and exciting ways.

Our McCain. Be Good. Do Good. philosophy means we are Good People making Good Food and Doing Good Things. We are committed to making food that meets specific nutritional and ingredient criteria while considering our environmental and social impacts.

Our people are our greatest strength. We invest in ongoing development, creating opportunities for personal and professional growth while building the capabilities needed to achieve our vision. Our ACT values – authentic, committed, trusted – are the foundation of our culture. We are fun and entrepreneurial, empowering our people to solve problems and bring forth new ideas. The North America VP of Engineering is part of the Global Engineering organization and reports to the Global VP of Engineering, with a strong dotted line into the North America Operations VP. This role offers the opportunity to shape engineering strategy, lead a significant capital portfolio and build the reliability and resource efficiency needed to support McCain’s growth across North America.

The Position

This role works closely with the North American Operations Team, the 10 Potato manufacturing facilities, and other elements of the overall McCain North America network. Primary responsibilities for this role cover the delivery of both Base and Transformational Capital Projects (Potato), Reliability Engineering (Potato), as well as all North America Environmental Engineering, Resource Efficient Operations, and Utilities.

Relationships

Reports to: Global VP of Engineering

Direct Reports: Director CapEx Potato, Director of Reliability & Utilities; Director Large Projects, Director Environmental and REO, and Director Business Engineering

Peers: GEM VP of Engineering, LATAM & APACSA VP of Engineering, NA VP of FSQ, NA VP of H&S, NA VP of Agriculture

There are roughly 45-50 direct engineering staff in this organization.

What you’ll be doing

• Develop and execute the engineering function’s strategic plan, aligning capital and resources with near-term operational needs and long-term growth.
• Manage the engineering organization’s operating and capital budgets, ensuring spending discipline, accurate forecasting and return on investment.
• Establish engineering standards and specifications that support consistency, quality and safety across facilities.
• Champion continuous improvement and the adoption of lean principles and industry best practices across engineering, maintenance and operations.
• Build strong partnerships with Manufacturing, Technical Execution, H&S, FSQ, Procurement, Supply Chain and Finance to align engineering priorities with broader business goals.
• Keep senior leadership informed of engineering performance, capital project status and key risks.
• Attract, develop and retain top engineering talent, building organizational depth and succession plans for critical roles.
• Ensure robust risk management across engineering, maintenance and utility systems to protect people, assets and continuity of operations.

Capital Project Delivery

• Lead a Capital Project Delivery Portfolio of more than 400 active projects and $200M – $600M CAD in annual spending across McCain’s North America manufacturing, agricultural, fertilizer, produce and other sites, ensuring delivery safely, on time, on budget and to specification.
• Coach and mentor Project Managers through Front End Loading for strategic and complex projects to strengthen predictability in Safety, Cost and Schedule.
• Champion plant and project safety initiatives, engineering standardization and the sustained use of project and portfolio management tools.
• Resolve project scope and design decisions for large-scale food manufacturing facilities, balancing people safety, food safety, food quality and cost competitiveness.
• Act as the primary Technical Sponsor for large and strategic engineering projects presented to Senior Leadership and Board Members.
• Contribute to early ideation for new plant builds, expansions, plant closures, new product development, technology adoption, mergers and acquisitions.
• Build and maintain strategic relationships with external engineering, services and construction partners, ensuring quality, cost-effectiveness and accountability in project delivery and asset support.

Environmental Engineering

• Set objectives and priorities for the engineering team responsible for the reliability of North America Environmental Systems, primarily wastewater management and air emissions control.
• Partner with Manufacturing to strengthen operating practices and support sites in resolving upset conditions.
• Maintain McCain’s North America ISO 14001 program and environmental permitting compliance with local and federal jurisdictions to protect McCain’s right to operate.
• Resource Efficient Operations
• Deliver McCain North America’s strategic targets for energy and water reduction.
• Lead engineers in implementing sustainable manufacturing technologies, including energy recovery systems, biogas utilization and ongoing maintenance of resource efficient plant conditions.
• Partner with plant teams on Search for Joules and Search for Pools workshops, embedding a sustained resource efficiency mindset within manufacturing facilities.
• Integrate the resource efficient CapEx program into the North America capital plan and McCain’s global Sustainability CapEx portfolio.

Reliability Engineering

• Lead the North America Potato Reliability Engineering team, partnering with Manufacturing to reduce technical downtime year over year and shift from reactive repair to proactive, data-driven reliability.
• Standardize reliability KPIs to drive accountability and prioritize investments that improve uptime, reduce foreign material, enhance personnel safety and extend asset life.
• Partner with plant managers and operations leadership to translate reliability strategy into site-specific action plans with shared ownership.
• Balance reliability investments with production priorities and cost targets, making trade-offs clear and holding sites accountable through regular performance reviews.
• Utility Engineering
• Lead a utility engineering group responsible for boilers, industrial refrigeration (including ammonia-based systems) and HVAC across the manufacturing network, ensuring reliable, code-compliant and energy-efficient performance.
• Own compliance with safety-critical requirements, including OSHA Process Safety Management, EPA Risk Management Plan for ammonia refrigeration and boiler/pressure vessel codes.
• Drive proactive inspection and maintenance of utility assets to protect production continuity, food safety and product quality.
• Standardize utility practices, spare-parts strategies and vendor relationships to reduce operational variability and total cost of ownership.
• Partner with plant operations and EHS to balance energy efficiency and sustainability commitments with capital investment, production continuity and food-safety requirements.
• Develop the specialized expertise needed to support utility systems in a 24/7 food manufacturing environment.

What you’ll need to be successful

• 15+ years of progressive or comparable experience in Engineering, Environmental and Maintenance. A mix of Operations and Engineering experience would be an asset.
• A proven track record of managing capital spending and delivering projects on time, on budget and to performance expectations.
• Experience managing maintenance spending and improving Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE).
• Experience maintaining environmental regulatory compliance and preparedness.
• Demonstrated delivery of sustainability improvements in water, energy and natural resource consumption.

Education

• Must Have: Bachelor’s Degree, Engineering
• Must Have: Professional Engineering License, or equivalent
• Nice to Have: Graduate Degree (Engineering, Management, Finance, etc.)

Technical

A proven track record of delivering quality results in a food environment, driving continuous improvement through the development and growth of others. Strong thought leadership and the ability to influence, navigate ambiguity and develop plans that deliver value to the marketplace.

Business

Strategy: The ability to identify key issues and translate the function’s long-range goals into clear, actionable plans.

Acumen: An understanding of the competitive landscape and what enables McCain to compete profitably, with the ability to build compelling business cases and gain stakeholder support for value‑enhancing Engineering initiatives. This includes:

• Financial Acumen: A comprehensive understanding of profitability, cash flow, financial statements and key performance measures, and how decisions impact value creation.
• Market Orientation: The ability to analyze market and competitive data, understand suppliers’ business objectives and recognize the value McCain brings to those relationships.
• Strategic Perspective: A big-picture understanding of the business, including interdependencies across functions and geographies and the short- and long-term trade-offs of decisions.

About McCain

Click Here to learn more about McCain and how we provide you with opportunities to make an impact that matters.

Leadership principles

At McCain, our leadership principles guide how we engage with customers, collaborate as a team, and achieve success. We focus on understanding customer needs, driving innovation, empowering people, and taking ownership to clear obstacles and deliver results.

The McCain Experience

We are McCain. This statement is a testament to our collective strength and our individual value. Your contributions play a vital role in our success. Our winning culture is rooted in authenticity and trust, empowering us to bring out the best in one another. Here, you’ll find opportunities to learn, grow, and thrive. Join us and experience why we’re better together.

Our purpose is grounded in building meaningful relationships. We’re big believers in the power of working together in person—it helps us stay connected, collaborate more effectively, and grow as a team. At the same time, we recognize the importance of flexibility. Most office-based roles follow a hybrid model, with the option to work remotely two days a week. There may be exceptions depending on the role and location, so we encourage you to speak with your recruiter for more details.

Compensation Package

Chicago $300,000 – $350,000 USD annually + bonus eligibility + Long-Term Incentive eligibility

• Please note compensation may vary based on experience and background

The above reflects the target compensation range for the position at the time of posting. Hiring compensation will be determined based on experience, skill set, education and training, and other organizational needs. This posting is for an existing vacancy.

Benefits

At McCain, we’re on a mission to create a winning culture that puts employee safety and well-being at the heart of what we do, every day. We understand and appreciate that each person’s needs are unique and ensure our benefits & well-being programs reflect that. Employees are eligible for the following benefits: health coverage (medical, dental, vision, prescription drug), retirement savings benefits, and leave support including medical, family and bereavement. Well-being programs include vacation and holidays, company‑supported volunteering time, and mental health resources. Coverages are aligned with applicable law and can vary by work level, location, and nature of the role. Additional benefit detail available during the application process.

Your well-being matters to us, and we’re here to provide you with the necessary resources to support you in being your best self at work — and at home.

McCain Foods is an equal opportunity employer. As a global family‑owned company, we strive to be the employer of choice in the diverse communities around the world in which we live and work. We recognize that inclusion drives our creativity, resilience, and success and makes our business stronger. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, age, veteran status, disability, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law.

McCain is an accessible employer. If you require an accommodation throughout the recruitment process (including alternate formats of materials or accessible meeting rooms), please let us know and we will work with you to find appropriate solutions.

Your privacy is important to us. By submitting personal data or information to us, you agree this will be handled in accordance with McCain’s Global Privacy Policy and Global Employee Privacy Policy, as applicable. McCain leverages AI in the hiring process, though all final decisions are made by humans. You can understand our approach to AI and how your personal information is being handled here.

Job Family

Engineering & Technical

Location(s)

US - United States of America : Illinois : Chicago || US - United States of America : Illinois : Lisle || US - United States of America : Illinois : Oakbrook Terrace

Company

McCain Foods USA, Inc.