Technical Manager – Chattanooga

A mutually rewarding experience.

Work. Realize your ambitions. And realize there’s more to being in business than just making a profit. That’s the Mars philosophy. And the opportunity we offer every one of our Associates. An opportunity to take what you do and make it mean more for you, for those around you and for the planet. What you get here is challenging, interesting work. You get the tools you need to do a great job and you get to have the best possible people on your side to help you do it. And at the same time as getting to find ways to do business better today than we did it yesterday and driving a great career, you also get to build a more enlightened business and drive sustainability.

Because it’s never just about a single person, a single project or a single brand. It’s about how you can grab everything that’s within your reach here and use it to pursue mutual, long-term gain. It’s about having ideas. And ideals. Being prepared to risk failure because the promise of success means we’ll all be a little better off. It’s that mix of integrity and ambition that makes Mars such a special place to work. And why working here is always about more than just a job.

About Mars, Incorporated

Mars is a family-owned business with more than a century of history making diverse products and offering services for people and the pets people love. With almost $35 billion in sales, the company is a global business that produces some of the world’s best-loved brands: M&M’s®, SNICKERS®, TWIX®, MILKY WAY®, DOVE®, PEDIGREE®, ROYAL CANIN®, WHISKAS®, EXTRA®, ORBIT®, 5™, SKITTLES®, UNCLE BEN’S®, MARS DRINKS and COCOAVIA®. Mars also provides veterinary health services that include BANFIELD® Pet Hospitals, Blue Pearl®, VCA® and Pet Partners™. Headquartered in McLean, VA, Mars operates in more than 80 countries. The Mars Five Principles – Quality, Responsibility, Mutuality, Efficiency and Freedom – inspire its more than 100,000 Associates to create value for all its partners and deliver growth they are proud of every day.

Job Purpose:

Mars Engineers in our manufacturing plants, technical centers, and headquarters provide technical leadership across the Supply Chain and Technical Community. Engineers create competitive advantage through exceptional technical innovation, project management, and business partnership. Leveraging reliability and system improvements and manufacturing technology excellence, Mars Engineers have rich and rewarding careers in Process, Packaging, Controls, Project, Reliability, and Facilities/Environmental Engineering, as well as Engineering and Maintenance Leadership. Our unique dual career ladder facilitates rewards and career progression equally for technical expertise leadership roles as for technical managerial roles.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

• Site technical manager with accountability for Engineering and Facilities Maintenance resources across the Yorkville and North-western Flavors locations.
• Visible thought and initiative leader, driving a Continuous Improvement culture at the site and within the Business.
• Site liaison on project engineering teams for projects that are being executed by non-site based engineering resources.

Accountable for:

• All site assets and providing a safe operating environment.
• Technical asset management from early equipment management, early project management (i.e. design, installation, vertical start-up), optimization, maintenance and retirement.
• The delivery of new products initiatives at the site to meet business needs.
• The development and delivery of multi-year engineering and maintenance strategy to execute capital and deliver critical KPI for Supply Chain / Operations.
• Leading and facilitating the Early Management and Preventative Maintenance Pillars for the site.
• Operations concerned with stockroom, utilities, and facilities.
• Associate development and engineering and maintenance team engagement.

Detailed Accountabilities:

Associate:

• Develop personal leadership and managerial skills
• Provide leadership to continuously improve the effectiveness of the technical function
• Foster the functional and effectiveness competence development of other engineers
• Drive for Excellence in Execution
• Stay current in the most state of the art functional tools and methodologies

Business:

• Develop projects that meet business and regional activity plans
• Communicate with all Stakeholders to ensure all project objectives are clearly defined and achieved
• Ensure delivery of scope, time, budget, and cash flow for all projects
• Lead team members to gain and a sustain a technical competitive advantage
• Drive initiatives that shorten new product and project cycle times
• Drive initiatives that improve implementation efficiencies as well as operational efficiencies
• Drive lean ways of working in the engineering process and as a project deliverable
• Drive decisions to improve business measurements such as ROTA, FATR etc.

Functional:

• Provide innovative solutions resulting in sustained technical competitive advantage.
• Stay current with all applicable technology developments.
• Provide project solutions with value added engineering and Lean design.
• Deliver projects that maximize asset utilization.
• Support the development of technology platforms for providing a sustained technical advantage.
• Drive to identify, protect and expand intellectual property of corporation.
• Develop standards for equipment, systems and engineering processes or assigned functional area and collaborate with other senior engineers and global technical teams.
• Develop external business relationships including construction contractors and engineering resources.
• Proactively develop practices and methodologies that increase the effectiveness and reduces the costs of engineering.

Leadership:

• Provide strategic and tactical leadership to project teams and the sites.
• Effectively represent regional engineering function.
• Manage project teams to meet project objectives as agreed by stakeholders before project execution.
• Manage technical project associates that may be distributed across multiple sites.
• Support the adherence to the Five Principles.
• Drive project teams to focus on safety, environmental, food safety, etc. on all projects.
• Support the development of engineering associates.
• Lead cross-functional teamwork.

Decision Making Authority, Recommendations and Impact:

Decisions:

• Selection of technology platforms to meet business strategy.
• Innovation and risk management.
• Cash flow projections and tracking.
• Participate in staffing decisions for Regional Engineering project teams.
• Capital budgets for assigned project teams.
• Safety systems for associate, product and asset protection.
• Standards development for installation and equipment.
• Capital purchasing approval.
• Project management / activity management.

Recommendations:

• Project asset strategies.
• CAB activities to drive the business forward while providing competitive advantage.
• Site capacity strategies.
• Project execution strategies.
• Organizational effectiveness.
• Associate development and succession planning.
• New product and technology development.
• Product/Process strategies.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, or related field is the minimum requirement.
• In-depth understanding of engineering principles – knowledge of engineering disciplines: Process, Packaging or Electrical / Controls are preferable.
• Team skills – High Performance Team experiences.
• Ten (10) years of experience required. Related experience in a process design environment, quality engineering, and/or CPG manufacturing environment. Experience must include plant based experience with project/systems engineering experience.

• Engineering and/or Maintenance Leadership experience.
• Recognized technical abilities and practical experience with strong capabilities in the following areas: Theory/functionality of manufacturing systems and unit operations; Continuous improvement techniques (Lean, TPM, Kaizen, Six Sigma); Food science/chemistry or packaging science; Statistics and analytical methods; Process measurement and control; Advanced computer skills; Mechanical aptitude; Troubleshooting; Ability to understand and apply general engineering principles.
• Ten (10) plus years of experience to include cross-functional management as well as engineering experience in a corporate environment is preferred.
• Experience in multiple disciplines, packaging and electrical / controls experience a plus.
• Continuous Improvement: Early Management, Autonomous Maintenance and Preventative Maintenance Pillar Leadership; responsibile for ensuring CVS (commission, validation and start-up).

Knowledge/Skills/Abilities:

• Ability to create and deliver training.
• Proven track record.
• Developing and executing major projects.
• Managing direct reports or project teams.
• Consensus builder.
• Excellent communication, listening and influencing skills.
• Good innovation management.
• Able to work collaboratively with other groups.

Mars is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. If you need assistance or an accommodation during the application process because of a disability, it is available upon request. The company is pleased to provide such assistance, and no applicant will be penalized as a result of such a request.