Innovation Engineer

Company: Unilever Brazil
Location: Chicago
Posted on: March 30, 2025

Job Description:

The Innovation Engineer position based in the Chicago Kilbourn - Factory, will manage the end-to-end delivery of the condiment's technology projects for the Dressings Category in NA. This includes direct capital project management of innovation and technology changes at Kilbourn, and third-party manufacturers. Provides support and expertise to the day to day and reliability activities at the factory and runs trials at the factory for all pack and process changes. Reports to Category Engineering Manager, Nutrition.Role expectations:Organized and detail oriented to deliver projects respective to safety, product quality, project timing, and cost. You will be a great partner to the on-site factory team and the off-site business category team. The Category Engineer for Kilbourn takes a leadership role over the portfolio of category projects and trials coming to Kilbourn, and they act as the factory representative to external teams (R&D, Brand, Procurement, suppliers, etc.), with occasional support for dressings product launches at 3rd party manufacturers.

• You're a born leader: Leads technology, capital, innovation, capacity, and value improvement projects for the dressings category. Responsible for providing estimates, options assessment, plant trials, and technical support for projects. Carries out tasks related to project assessment, plant trials, technical support, and implementation with limited supervision. Ensures compliance with Unilever hygiene, equipment and safety standards, specifications, and best practices. This includes formulation/process/equipment evaluations, industrial trials, preliminary engineering, project cost controls, timeline, establishment of commissioning plan, plant/equipment commissioning, and production startup.
• You're a change maker: Participates in establishing company-wide best practices and standards for technology changes and commissioning. Act as a technical resource to the category engineering team for new products and re-stages (innovation and renovation). Contributes to the technology improvements for the category for processing and packaging equipment. Develops and manages checkout, testing, and start-up protocol for the commissioning of equipment, packaging lines and control systems.
  • You're a dot connector: Participates in cross-plant improvement teams. Develop strong partnership with plant manufacturing, corporate engineering, and workforce. Team member for innovation, larger restructuring, or supply chain strategic investments. Collaborate with other manufacturing engineers and category engineers in establishing best practices. Interface directly with R&D, marketing, innovation, and supply chain planning teams to drive on-time delivery of innovation and savings projects.
  • You're a culture and change champion: Bringing new Ways of Working to the Engineering community in our continued pursuit of the lowest installed cost, while living our core values (Unilever Sustainable Living Plan).
  • You love to win, and have fun doing it: On Time In Full (OTIF) end to end delivery of assigned capital and innovation projects (typical value ---0.1m - 2 Million) adhering to Unilever standards and ensuring safety as our number 1 priority.What We're Looking For:Required:
    • Education: BS in Chemical, Mechanical, Industrial Engineering or equivalent technical degree.
    • Experience: 3+ Years of Engineering in FMCG / foods / related Industry or gained in an engineering consultancy environment or equivalent technical experience.
    • Project Management, Maintenance, R&D, and/or continuous improvement experience in a manufacturing environment.
    • Excellent verbal and written communication skills; along with the ability to influence others.Desired:
      • First-hand experience delivering or leading start-up for major capital projects ($1+ million) within Unilever or similar FMCG environment.
      • Experience: 5+ Years of Project Engineering in FMCG / foods / related Industry or gained in an engineering consultancy environment.
      • Experience in Manufacturing Excellence, Six Sigma (Green or Black Belt), Lean manufacturing, and/or Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) is a plus.
      • Experience working in a Research and Development team is a plus.Pay: The pay range for this position is $83,200 to $124,700. Unilever takes into consideration a wide range of factors that are utilized in making compensation decisions including, but not limited to, skill sets, experience and training, licensure and certifications, qualifications and education, and other business and organizational needs. Bonus: This position is bonus eligible. Long-Term Incentive (LTI): This position is LTI eligible. Benefits: Unilever employees are eligible to participate in our benefits plan. Should the employee choose to participate, they can choose from a range of benefits to include, but is not limited to, health insurance (including prescription drug, dental, and vision coverage), retirement savings benefits, life insurance and disability benefits, parental leave, sick leave, paid vacation and holidays, as well as access to numerous voluntary benefits. Any coverages for health insurance and retirement benefits will be in accordance with the terms and conditions of the applicable plans and associated governing plan documents.Unilever is an organization committed to diversity and inclusion to drive our business results and create a better future every day for our diverse employees, global consumers, partners, and communities. We believe a diverse workforce allows us to match our growth ambitions and drive inclusion across the business. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by local, state, or federal law and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.
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Keywords: Unilever Brazil, Chicago , Innovation Engineer, Engineering , Chicago, Illinois