Senior Project Engineer – Capital Projects & Reliability

Teasdale Latin Foods

Shift: Full time

SENIOR PROJECT ENGINEER

–

CAPITAL PROJECTS RELIABILITY

On-site Locations: Louisville, KY, Atwater, CA, Carrollton, TX Multi-site Responsibilities (50% travel is expected)

OVERVIEW

The Senior Maintenance Reliability and Capital Projects Engineer strengthens equipment performance and leads capital investments across Teasdale Latin Foods manufacturing sites. This role requires balanced expertise in maintenance and reliability engineering and capital expenditure (CapEx) project management, with accountability for measurable operational and financial results. Successfully delivering individual capital projects valued at $1 million is critical. You will identify investment needs, build and present business cases, and lead projects from scope development and approval through engineering, installation, commissioning, and integration into sustained plant operations. You will work across departments and present recommendations, progress, risks, and results to senior and executive leadership. WHAT YOU LL DO: Capital Project Management: Identify and prioritize capital investments using equipment condition, reliability data, capacity needs, safety, and total cost of ownership. Develop project proposals with clear scope, alternatives, cost estimates, return on investment, payback, risks, and success measures. Present investment recommendations to senior and executive leadership, explain technical and financial tradeoffs, and secure approvals through established capital governance processes. Own delivery of individual projects valued at $1 million or more, including scope, design coordination, budget, schedule, procurement, installation, commissioning, and operational integration. Manage concurrent projects across multiple sites. Establish project plans, milestones, responsibilities, risk registers, and acceptance criteria. Track commitments, spending, forecasts, and schedule performance; control scope changes and escalate variances with corrective recommendations. Lead cross-functional teams across Operations, Maintenance, Engineering, Finance, Procurement, Quality and Food Safety, EHS, and other affected departments. Align resources, resolve conflicts, and hold stakeholders accountable for commitments. Develop equipment specifications and bid packages; evaluate suppliers and contractors with Procurement. Coordinate design reviews, equipment acceptance testing, installation, utilities, and controls interfaces with the appropriate technical teams. Plan shutdowns and startup activities to protect safety, food quality, and production continuity. Lead commissioning, performance verification, and handoff, including training, maintenance plans, critical spare parts, and technical documentation. Provide executive updates that clearly state progress, financial outlook, risks, and decisions needed. Close projects with documented acceptance, lessons learned, and post-startup verification of operational benefits and financial returns with Finance. Maintenance and Reliability Engineering: Analyze equipment failures, unplanned downtime, mean time between failures (MTBF), mean time to repair (MTTR), and maintenance costs to identify recurring losses and prioritize improvements. Develop preventive and predictive maintenance programs for critical assets. Apply vibration analysis, thermal imaging, oil analysis, and other condition-monitoring methods appropriate to the equipment. Lead root cause analysis and corrective actions with plant teams. Use Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM), and asset criticality assessments to improve maintenance strategies. Provide technical leadership during complex troubleshooting and recurring equipment failures. Coach maintenance teams and standardize effective practices across sites. Integrate reliability, maintainability, safe access, and lifecycle cost requirements into equipment selection and capital project design. Confirm new or modified assets meet agreed performance and reliability criteria. Maintain accurate asset information, maintenance procedures, and performance reporting in the computerized maintenance management system (CMMS). Verify sustained improvements in uptime, equipment performance, and maintenance cost after implementation. WHAT YOU LL NEED: Required Qualifications: Bachelor s degree in mechanical, electrical, industrial, or another relevant engineering discipline. Minimum of 5 years of progressive manufacturing engineering experience, with demonstrated responsibility in both maintenance/reliability engineering and capital project management. Proven experience personally proposing and leading individual capital projects with approved budgets of at least $1 million, from business case and scope development through installation, commissioning, and operational integration. Ability to explain specific completed projects, including your ownership, approved budget, business justification, cross-functional leadership, executive presentations, im