Job Description
Job Title: Director of Production Engineering
Location: Sioux Falls, SD
Hire Type: Direct Hire
Target Compensation: $170,000–180,000 base + bonus (up to $50,000)
Travel: 50–75% (multi-site leadership role)
Benefits: Relocation assistance, Medical, dental, vision, PTO, paid holidays, retirement plan, relocation assistance
Location: Sioux Falls, SD
Hire Type: Direct Hire
Target Compensation: $170,000–180,000 base + bonus (up to $50,000)
Travel: 50–75% (multi-site leadership role)
Benefits: Relocation assistance, Medical, dental, vision, PTO, paid holidays, retirement plan, relocation assistance
Must-Have Skills:
- 10+ years of engineering management experience in manufacturing
- 5+ years of formal leadership experience managing engineering teams
- Deep experience in meat or protein processing environments (required)
- Strong background in production-facing engineering support
- Proven experience managing large-scale capital projects and CAPEX budgets
- Ability to influence executive leadership and cross-functional stakeholders
Job Summary:
Senior Director of Engineering responsible for leading production-focused engineering across a large-scale pork processing facility and broader multi-site network. This role provides strategic and operational leadership for engineering teams, drives capital planning and execution, and supports production performance, safety, and facility expansion initiatives. The ideal candidate brings deep meat processing experience and a proven track record of leading high-performing engineering organizations in 24/7 production environments.
Job Duties:
- Lead engineering strategy and execution across production-intensive facilities
- Oversee multi-site engineering operations and standardize best practices
- Own and manage multi-million-dollar CAPEX portfolio and capital planning process
- Lead large-scale capital projects from concept through execution
- Partner with operations, maintenance, and executive leadership on production strategy
- Drive continuous improvement, safety enhancements, and facility expansion initiatives
- Influence cross-functional stakeholders to support operational and financial goals
- Develop and lead engineering teams, including performance management and talent development
- Ensure alignment of engineering initiatives with production goals in a 24/7 operation
Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or related field required; advanced degree preferred
- 10+ years of engineering leadership experience required
- Strong preference for extensive meat/protein processing industry experience
- Demonstrated success managing large engineering teams in complex manufacturing environments
- Strong financial acumen with experience managing CAPEX budgets and project governance
- Proven ability to lead in high-volume, continuous production environments
- Willingness and ability to travel 50–75% across multiple facilities
- Strong communication, leadership, and executive presence
Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or genetic information.
Numbers & Facts
| Location | Sioux Falls, SD |
| Industry | Staffing/Employment Agencies |
| Company Size | 500 to 999 employees |
| Year Founded | 1969 |
| Website | http://www.sterling-engineering.com |
About Company
Sterling Engineering has been a trusted partner for engineering, project management, and staffing solutions for over five decades. We provide exceptional engineering/technical recruitment and engineering project services to clients nationwide:
- Engineering & Technical Recruitment - With our focus on engineering, technical, and IT, Sterling has the in-depth knowledge, industry expertise, and robust employee pipeline it takes to rapidly find talent for even the most difficult to fill positions. Sterling’s extensive recruitment methodology allows us to engage the most talented employees in the marketplace. We offer exciting work and career-building opportunities for our candidates, along with expert support at every step of the process.
- Engineering Project Services – Our experienced, multi-disciplined team of project managers, engineers, and designers, led by licensed Professional Engineers (PE), provide project management, engineering, design, and Commissioning, Qualification, and Validation (CQV) to manufacturing, OEM, and R&D customers. We work on complex, highly technical projects across a number of industry sectors, and our ability to scale and seamlessly integrate at multiple levels of your organization is what differentiates us.
Sterling offers a unique combination of engineering solutions and Best of Staffing level service to help our clients and talent achieve their goals.
Skills
- Best Practicesunmatched
- Budget Managementunmatched
- Budgetingunmatched
- Capital Expenditure (CAPEX)unmatched
- Capital Projectunmatched
- Communication Skillsunmatched
- Continuous Improvementunmatched
- Cross-Functionalunmatched
- Engineering Managementunmatched
- Food Productionunmatched
- Leadershipunmatched
- Manufacturingunmatched
- Manufacturing Managementunmatched
- Medical Assistanceunmatched
- Operational Strategyunmatched
- Operational Supportunmatched
- Performance Managementunmatched
- Process Improvementunmatched
- Production Supportunmatched
- Production Systemsunmatched
- Production Volumeunmatched
- Retirement Planunmatched
- Talent Managementunmatched
- Team Lead/Managerunmatched
- Willing to Travelunmatched
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