Commissioning & Validation Management Engineer

job purpose: The Commissioning & Validation Management Engineer will be a key role in fairlife's Engineering Technical Team, primarily based out of the Coopersville, MI plant. This role will be the key link between OEM's and multiple teams within the fairlife organization. This individual will have ownership for the overall successful end-to-end commissioning and will closely support validation of processing & filler equipment for all brown and greenfield projects. This role is accountable for ensuring proper installation, commissioning, validation, as well as a smooth transition of ownership to the plant operations and maintenance teams. This role will also provide key input during project conception and design phases to ensure all lessons learned and optimization opportunities are fully executed in future projects.

responsibilities:

• Ensure plant compliance with Federal, State, and Corporate environmental laws
• Ensure projects meet quality assurance requirements.
• Lead the Technical Team's project reporting & status communications out to all other groups at set cadences.
• Lead the overall startup planning to ensure business objectives are met with optimized investment and operational costs.
• Work closely with OEM's project teams, quality teams & operations readiness teams, to direct and coordinate activities concerning startup, commissioning & validation.
• Work closely with OEM's project teams to manage & ensure efficient use of allocated commissioning hours.
• Ensure equipment operates efficiently, at optimum cost, and that all documentation and information needed to keep equipment in prime condition is part of the handover documentation to the plant operations team post validation.
• Plan, direct and coordinate activities concerned with design, construction, modification and maintenance of equipment and machinery during the commissioning and validation phase.
• Ensure best practices, design principles & standards are incorporated, and designs are reviewed with suitable stakeholders for input and feedback.
• Maintain equipment performance criteria in design specifications documents.
• Ensure OEM compliance with set performance criteria post commissioning.
• Conduct intermediate and post project evaluations and assessment of results. Ensuring results and lessons learned are captured from all teams in a close-out reports.
• Partner with vendors and suppliers to leverage insight, training, and productivity.

skills/qualifications required:

• Bachelor of Science in Engineering or related field.
• 5+ years in the dairy or beverage industry.
• 2 + years project management experience.
• Self-starter; take charge, positive & initiative-taking attitude.
• Ability to communicate clearly within the organization and externally.
• Demonstrable teamwork and maturity with a strong work ethic.
• Experience in Process Plant Engineering.
• Strong leadership skills.

skills/qualifications preferred:

• Dairy processing and packaging experience.

• Demonstrable teamwork and maturity with a strong work ethic and leadership skills.

• Positive and proactive attitude.
• Strong understanding of possible process/product interactions with the ability to provide a risk assessment and primary recommendation.
• Strong understanding of system capabilities and provide solutions to successfully produce products within project deadlines and budget.
• Strong negotiation skills required, with the drive to execute.
• Ability to handle ambiguity and work in a fast paced, entrepreneurial environment.
• Ability to travel as needed.

position location: Coopersville, MI

reports to: VP of Process Technologies

travel requirements: 50-70% Initially then 25-30%