Packaging Engineer

Ferrero is a family-owned company with a truly progressive and global outlook and iconic brands such as Nutella, Tic Tac, Ferrero Rocher, Raffaello, Kinder Bueno and Kinder Surprise. As the love for our brands continues to grow, so too does our global reach. Represented in more than 50 countries, with products sold in more than 170, the Ferrero Group is loved by generations around the world. The secret to our global success? 40,000 dedicated employees who celebrate care and quality to craft a business, careers and brands we are proud of. Join us, and you could be one of them.

The Packaging Engineer is responsible for the end-to-end execution of packaging projects and daily activity relevant to new packaging development, value optimization across the packaging value chain, design for recycling, plastic reduction, and quality improvement.

This position holds accountability for the value and quality of packaging used or to be used in assigned brands within Kinder Masterbrand in addition to managing seasonal executions for the brand.

This position reports to the North America Packaging leader for Mainstream Chocolate & Kinder and supports the Co-packing operations in the US and Canada. This position is based in Parsippany, NJ.

* Leads packaging development and industrialization plans for assigned brands across North America, meeting cost, speed, and quality requirements.

* Leads technical and economic feasibility studies during the project industrialization phase and develops new proposals to optimize industrial setup pertaining to packaging lines.

* Contributes to define project objectives (technical choices, materials, solutions) according to the local industrial reality and suppliers' portfolio and technologies.

* Optimizes existing projects and products for the assigned brands across North America, analyzing possible improvements to contribute to end-to-end cost optimization pipeline building, reduce complexity, and secure industrial feasibility.

* Manages end-to-end value optimization projects across plants and brands in scope.

* Manages packaging material & finished product de-risking programs for assigned brands.

* Analyses and validates cost estimations to support project setup from an economic point of view.

* Leads project implementation and specifications documentation for copacker environments.

* Activates, if in his/her field of competence, and manages packaging line trials.

* Represents the Packaging Development team in relevant internal and external engagement meetings to activate programs focused on new solutions (e.g.: materials, technologies, and processes).

* Ensures information sharing among all the necessary stakeholders as it relates to the projects being managed.

* Partners with the leadership team of our Co-packing operations in the USA and Canada, representing the interests, responsibilities, and voice of the Packaging Development team.

* The ideal candidate has 4 years plus of experience as packaging engineer or structural packaging designer.

* Bachelor's Degree is required, M.S. is preferred.

* Creative and innovative mindset, project management, problem-solving, decision-making, and critical-thinking skills are considered as mandatory for the role.

* Very good communication and interpersonal skills. Capacity to influence commercial and industrial stakeholders.

* Flexibility, adaptability, and aptitude to teamwork.

* Availability to travel 25% of the time, mainly to Somerset, NJ and occasionally to Ontario, Canada.

* Knowledge of main packaging materials (most importantly rigid and flexible packaging, carton board, and corrugate materials) and relevant packaging industrial technologies.

* Ability to work in a fast-paced environment.

* Ability to deal with people from all levels & different departments.

* Project and risk management.

* Strong Presentation and analytical skills.

* Ability to work in both a team environment and independently.

* Advanced knowledge of:

o AutoCAD/ ArtiosCAD (mechanical technical drawing)

o Adobe Illustrator

o Pallet & transport optimization software (e.g.: CAPE)

o MS Office (Excel, Power Point, Word)

o Knowledge of SAP

Ferrero is committed to building a diverse and inclusive culture in which all employees feel welcomed and appreciated and have the same opportunities. We believe all of our people are equally talented in their own way. In nurturing the curiosity and natural abilities of our employees, we provide them, generation after generation, the means to succeed personally and professionally, enabling them to craft their journey at Ferrero. The diversity of our talents is what makes our work environment multicultural, innovative and highly rewarding.

Consumers, quality and care are at the heart of everything we do. So, to be successful at Ferrero, you'll need to be just as consumer and product centric as we are - dedicated to crafting brilliant results for consumers around the world.

Ferrero N.A. provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or genetics.