A Typical Day

The Project Engineer is simultaneously a design engineer and a technical project manager responsible for managing capital projects that execute the strategic plan of Hilmar driven through Hilmar’s Strategic Asset Management Plan (SAMP) and Hilmar's Portfolio Management Office (PMO) to accomplish the goals of the organization.  At the direction of the site engineering manager, the Project Engineer is the supervising engineer on short and long-term asset management, reliability, and engineering projects. Based on your experience, we may also consider you for our Project Engineer or Principal Project Engineer levels.

Positions open in Hilmar CA, Dalhart TX and Dodge City, KS. 

Job Responsibilities

• Ability to successfully manage large scale projects end to end simultaneously leveraging internal and external resources to ensure projects deliver business outcomes, and our asset decisions and investments deliver value.
• Responsible for project scheduling, communication, costing, procurement, and budget creation, justification, and management for an average of 4-5 projects at one time and commissioning 10-15 projects annually with a total investment of up to $20 million.
• Mentor and develop less experienced engineers by providing guidance and technical support.
• Manage the implementation of capital projects to include concept development, establishment of project teams, process and design optimization, technical and economic evaluation of alternatives, scope definition and control, estimating, scheduling, development of funding requests, detailed engineering and design, regulatory compliance (environmental, safety, USDA, TXDHS, CDFA, and FDA) and project validation.
• Responsible for ensuring Process and Instrumentation Diagrams as well as Bill of Materials are accurate and up to date. Review and track field changes, lead the execution of design and construction implementation as well as any changes.
• Establish and maintain strong relationships with project teams, collaborating with various departments to include: R&D, manufacturing, sales, maintenance, engineering, safety, quality, environmental, and accounting, to ensure business outcomes are delivered.
• Interface with cheese and/or ingredients business units to address and resolve reliability, asset and engineering risks and issues through vendor engagement, design review against current state, performance guarantees, reliability-focused design recommendations, and asset integrity reviews.
• Manage budget spend and forecasting within +/- 10% accuracy on a monthly basis; continually manage project schedule, risks and quality to meet project business outcomes needed.  
• Accountable to ensure Hilmar’s internal good engineering and project management practices are followed, including installation, operational, and performance qualification documentation, ensuring product and project quality by design.
• Understand and apply to designs: Engineering principles (thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and process controls), theories, concepts, practices, and techniques, applying statistical analysis as necessary. Engage in and develop mathematical models and risk matrices for engineering designs and asset investment decisions, including whole-life asset costing to support strategic investment decisions.
• Build and maintain strong vendor relationships, representing the company during vendor engagements, managing the RFP process, including obtaining pricing and defining equipment needs. Review and analyze vendor agreements, including terms and conditions and master service agreements, and provide recommendations for revisions to leadership.
• Facilitate effective written communication and decision making and risk management meetings across the business to achieve project outcomes; lead, develop, and deliver presentations to leadership at all levels for project design and risk reviews as part of strategic asset management decisions and processes.  

What You Will Need

• Demonstrates integrity in relationships and decision-making as well as in the handling of intellectual property or sensitive information. Be a self-starter that builds strong relationships, leads and collaborates effectively in teams, and consistently seeks excellence and improvement.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to read, write, speak, understand, and clearly convey complex technical and business concepts.
• Bachelor's degree in engineering plus 5 years’ related experience OR Master’s degree in Engineering plus 3 years’ related experience.
• Applies engineering principles, good judgement and reasoning in technical decision making and problem solving.
• Ability to envision imaginative and practical solutions to complex problems
• Experience developing engineering system designs that deliver innovative and economical solutions in response to business needs.
• Tactical knowledge of production operations management for quality, yield, and cost.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite

What Will Put You Ahead

• Bachelor's in engineering plus 7 years of related experience OR Master's degree in Engineering plus 4 years of related experience
• Experience and knowledge in Dairy, Biotech, Pharmaceutical, Food or Manufacturing in project or process engineering, preferably infant formula, high-hygienic, sanitary facility experience and familiarity with 3A sanitary standards, USDA, FDA, PMO, and state dairy manufacturing regulations.
• Certifications and practical experience in Project, Asset or Risk Management: PMP, PMI-RMP, IAM. Utilization of risk management, retrospectives, and lessons learned to drive actionable improvement.
• Experience with sequential or agile project management tools such as Planview or MS Project.

Physical Demands & Work Environment

The role has periods of time when the work environment is sedentary and conducted in an office environment balanced with frequent occasions that require prolonged walking or standing, lifting/ carrying/handling moderate weight objects on a regular basis.  Is required to wear PPE and have a regular presence in manufacturing and warehouse environments in both temperature controlled and uncontrolled locations. Must frequently interact with people verbally.  Specific details of the essential functions of the position is available in the Job Safety Analysis, made available on request.

 Safety and Food Safety is a company-wide responsibility and each employee must know their role in the manufacturing and distribution of safe, wholesome, and high quality products and expected safe behavior in our work environment.