Engineering Director jobs in Petersburg, VA

Sabra makes America’s most iconic and beloved hummus and a delicious range of plant-based dips and spreads. We are dedicated to uniting and delighting the world around planet-positive food.

Sabra was founded in 1986 in Astoria, Queens and is headquartered in White Plains, New York. Sabra’s 500 team members proudly produce hummus in Chesterfield County, Virginia, taking great care to ensure the highest-quality hummus is ready to go home with you. From party time to snack time, Sabra is always a feel-good food.

Sustainability is in our roots. Sabra hummus is made with chickpeas grown on family-farms in the Pacific Northwest. The chickpea is not only a nutritional powerhouse but an agricultural treasure, pulling nitrogen from the atmosphere and depositing nutrients into the soil for future crops to consume, making the world a better place one chickpea at a time. Our commitment to the planet drives the ingredients we source, the products we produce, the choices we make and the way we engage with one another and with our community.

People are at the core of how we grow and create value; leading with diversity, equity and inclusion contributes directly to our shared success. We are always looking for talented people who share our passion for nourishing our bodies, our souls, and our communities. If you are interested in learning more about career opportunities at Sabra, visit our career site.

The Corporate Engineering Associate Director will perform the vital role of directing a world-class technical team. This position will oversee the engineering group and lead the efforts to develop, design, prototype, build and procure, and install manufacturing equipment and automation solutions. The Corporate Engineering Associate Director is responsible for directing the engineering function and capital project development and execution across the site, along to being responsible for the annual investment targeting 3% of Sabra’s NS part layering up into the 5 year CapEx strategy.

Dip Into Your Role

• Leads the Engineering team to high levels of performance and ensure application of effective and efficient project management processes.
• Provides overall mentorship to a team of technical contributors and ensure the service, meeting the customer needs and cost of production improvements is inherent in design efforts.
• Works directly with internal customers on all aspects of manufacturing engineering to manage and meet company objectives and goals.
• Implements new manufacturing capabilities, processes, and procedures to support the company’s growth plans
• Directs the activities of the plant engineers, including business proposals and commissioning of new equipment and processes.
• Identifies, justifies, and implements manufacturing improvements and provides sustaining engineering support to production to improve manufacturing costs and efficiencies.
• Provides input and thought leadership to workflow methods and assembly methods to add efficiency to the manufacturing process.
• Tracks and reports the results and effectiveness of new capital improvements installed
• Works cross-functionally with internal departments to analyze data and provide solutions to issues.
• Develops, monitors, and maintains project budgets and schedules.
• Participates in strategic planning sessions with Finance, Operations, Sales and Marketing on Annual CapEx plans.
• Leads the monthly planning review and provides oversight on prioritization of projects that should be moved into the approval and implementation phases.
• Functions as a change agent for improving processes within the capital expenditure planning, engineering processes and the production facility.
• Collaborates with R&D in the establishment of equipment required for the production of new products.
• Contributes to the development of company engineering priorities, long term strategies and goals.
• Establishes specifications for new equipment or modifications associated with improvement of existing equipment.
• Supports operations in establishing the equipment requirements needed to deliver against the site operational goals and objectives including process validation.
• Drives design for maintaining best practices and partners closely with manufacturing leadership to ensure the smooth introduction of products into volume production.
• Drives continuous improvement by implementing engineering initiatives.
• Cultivates external engineering partnerships to support specific areas of expertise (e.g. Wastewater, HVAC, Fire Protection, Roofing, etc.)
• Ability to organize a 5 year CapEx strategy for investments focusing on 4 key pillars – Safety, Growth/Innovation, Productivity, Maintenance.
• Ability to travel 30% of the time

Recipe for Success

• BS in Engineering with a minimum of 7 years previous experience in managing an engineering and or a maintenance team in food manufacturing.
• Deep experience with packaging equipment and knowledge of food safety and regulatory requirements for food safety and equipment highly desired
• Expertise in design, justification, and installation of factory and warehouse automation
• Experience with capital and expense tracking and forecasting software
• Understanding of product flow, ergonomics, maintenance, and sanitation practices so all-encompassing disciplines can be included in project success.
• History of successful vendor negotiations
• Strong computer skills
• Experience in World Class Manufacturing (WCM), Lean Manufacturing
• Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) and/or Six Sigma (Green or Black Belt) is a plus
• Must be motivated and possess a strong ability to work independently and with minimal supervision to accomplish project load on time and on budget and in scope.
• Must be data driven and possess a high level of attention to detail
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Strong problem solving, organizational and analytical skills, and excellent time management skills.

We celebrate an inclusive environment and provide equal opportunity for development and advancement. As an equal opportunity employer, all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, amnesty, status as a covered veteran or uniform service member, or any other protected characteristic under applicable federal, state and/or local law.