Sr Manager Process Engineer

About the job

The Sr Manager Process Engineer leads process design, scale-up, validation, and commercialization across dairy, plant-based, cultured, and adjacent food platforms. The role delivers safe, cost-effective, scalable consumer-preferred solutions and provides technical leadership across R&I, Operations, Quality & Food Safety, Engineering, Procurement, suppliers, and co-manufacturers.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Leadership, Process Design & Industrial Scale-Up

• Lead process strategy, design, scale-up, validation, and commercialization for complex innovation, renovation, productivity, quality, and capacity programs.
• Apply deep expertise in mixing, thermal and aseptic processing, homogenization, fermentation, filtration, filling, sanitation, controls, and automation.
• Define critical process parameters, operating windows, scale-up rules, control plans, and risk mitigations; lead resolution of high-impact manufacturing issues.

Portfolio, Program & Stage-Gate Leadership

• Lead multiple strategic technical programs and own R&I process-engineering deliverables through stage-gate, including scope, resources, risks, trials, documentation, and recommendations.
• Design and execute pilot and plant trials, analyze results, and communicate decision-ready conclusions to technical, operational, and business leaders.
• Build reusable standards, scale-up playbooks, and lessons learned to improve speed and first-time-right commercialization.

Manufacturing Excellence & Continuous Improvement

• Apply engineering fundamentals, statistical methods, and plant data to optimize unit operations and distinguish process variation from systemic capability gaps.
• Partner with manufacturing teams to establish sustainable operating standards, monitoring, and corrective actions.

Equipment, Automation & Capital Projects

• Define process and user requirements for pilot equipment, including hygienic design, utilities, instrumentation, automation, data collection, and cleanability. Work with OPS Engineering to ensure industrial equipment meets desired requirements.
• Guide equipment selection and capital projects from concept through commissioning and start-up, ensuring product, process, food-safety, operability, and scale-up requirements are met.

Quality, Food Safety & Technical Governance

• Ensure process designs and commercialization plans meet GMP, HACCP, sanitary design, validation, regulatory, and internal food-safety requirements.
• Partner with Quality & Food Safety to assess risk, resolve deviations, define validation evidence, and review key process and change-control documentation.

Technical Influence, Capability Building & External Partnerships

• Mentor technical contributors, deliver training, and build organizational process-engineering capability without direct supervisory responsibility.
• Serve as a senior subject-matter expert; influence cross-functional and global partners; and evaluate suppliers, co-manufacturers, emerging technologies, and digital tools.

Physical Demands & Work Environment

• Work spans office, laboratory, pilot plant, and manufacturing environments and requires plant-floor presence, appropriate PPE, and approximately 40-50% travel.

Compensation & Benefits:

The salary range for this position is $116,000 - $167,000 USD. The exact salary offered will depend on several factors, including the candidate's relevant experience, geographic location, internal equity, and market conditions. Danone North America additionally offers a performance-based bonus and has a strong benefits package including Medical, Dental, Vision, Prescription Drug Coverage, 401k Plan, Wellness Program, Life Insurance, Tuition Reimbursement, Flexible Time Off, and Paid Parental Bonding Leave, among other benefit plan options. To give our employees flexibility, Danone is a hybrid work environment.

This role is considered a "hybrid" position that allows for flexible work, meaning it is a role where collaboration with key stakeholders in Danone Hubs occurs. While you may have the option to work from home on a schedule as agreed to with your supervisor, you are also expected to regularly report to your assigned office location at least 3 days per week.