Director of Engineering

About

Solina USA, a Solina Group company, specializes in customized seasonings and sauces with four production facilities across the US delivering high-quality, innovative flavor solutions.

Summary of Position

The Director of Engineering leads engineering, capital project execution, and multi-site maintenance strategy across all Solina USA facilities. Responsible for annual and multi-year CAPEX plans, project execution, maintenance leadership, and supporting automation initiatives.

Essential Functions

• Develop and own annual and multi-year CAPEX plans including project prioritization and alignment with safety, food safety, quality, capacity, and cost initiatives.
• Lead CAPEX governance and execution including scope, design review, budget, procurement, schedule, change control, commissioning, turnover, and closeout.
• Ensure CAPEX budget adherence with forecasting, variance management, and escalation of risks.
• Manage one Project Manager providing coaching and accountability for project planning and execution.
• Provide functional leadership to Maintenance Leadership at each US site ensuring key maintenance KPIs are met.
• Standardize and improve preventative and predictive maintenance programs including CMMS utilization and reliability-centered maintenance.
• Establish and maintain multi-site spare parts strategy including inventory controls and vendor agreements.
• Act as technical liaison for Operations and Maintenance teams supporting troubleshooting and corrective actions.
• Lead and support automation plan implementations with electrical and controls expertise.
• Support Wonderware/SCADA and PLC change management best practices.
• Ensure sanitary design and hygienic engineering principles in projects and equipment modifications.
• Champion environmental, sustainability, food safety, and worker safety compliance.
• Facilitate cross-functional meetings to define project scopes and drive execution.
• Develop and maintain multi-site engineering standards and templates.
• Manage engineering and service suppliers ensuring safety, performance, cost, and responsiveness.
• Provide executive-ready updates on CAPEX status, risks, budget, and reliability.
• Travel to sites to support projects, maintenance reviews, problem solving, audits, and critical events.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Electrical, Industrial, Chemical, or related field) required.
• 10+ years of progressive engineering, maintenance, and capital project leadership in food or regulated process manufacturing; multi-site experience preferred.
• Experience building CAPEX plans and executing capital projects maintaining budget and schedule.
• Proven people leadership including direct and functional leadership of site leaders.
• Strong understanding of preventative maintenance, reliability fundamentals, and KPI-driven performance.
• Working knowledge of electrical systems, industrial automation, PLCs, instrumentation, VFDs/servo drives, and SCADA.
• Strong sanitary design and hygienic engineering knowledge for food processing.
• Commitment to worker safety, food safety, quality systems, and environmental compliance.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Proficient in AutoCad, Bluebeam Revu, MS Office, project tracking tools, and CMMS.
• Willingness and ability to travel regularly to all US sites.
• PMP certification or equivalent project management training.

Additional Experience (Preferred)

• Automation upgrades, line controls standardization, and data connectivity in PLC/SCADA environments.
• Experience with liquid processing and packaging equipment.
• Utilities and support systems knowledge including boilers, refrigeration, compressed air, HVAC, and CIP.
• Wastewater pretreatment systems and municipal discharge compliance.
• TPM, Lean, or reliability-centered maintenance initiatives.
• OT cybersecurity best practices for industrial networks and automation.
• Support for food safety and quality audits and FSMA readiness.

Leadership

• Directly supervises one Project Manager.
• Provides functional leadership and coaching to Maintenance Leadership at each US site.
• May coordinate contractors, integrators, and service providers.
• Participates in hiring, goal setting, mentoring, performance evaluation, and discipline.

Travel

• Frequent travel required to all Solina USA facilities, up to approximately 50% depending on project load and business needs.