The Kraft Heinz Company

Principal Engineer, Thermoform Plastic Packaging

The Kraft Heinz Company

full-time

Posted on:

Location Type: Hybrid

Location: Glenview • Illinois • United States

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Salary

💰 $104,200 - $130,200 per year

Job Level

Lead

About the role

  • As the Rigid Thermoform Packaging Engineer, you will contribute technical expertise to help develop and advance rigid packaging material and format solutions for the North American portfolio.
  • Support execution of rigid packaging technical initiatives by completing assigned research, development, and validation workstreams that balance technology exploration with proof of concept needs.
  • Contribute to technical assessments and business case inputs for packaging technologies/applications by gathering data, summarizing learnings, and documenting technical risks and opportunities.
  • Support external collaboration activities across the value chain by coordinating samples/trials, tracking actions, and documenting outcomes.
  • Apply enterprise standards and manufacturability considerations by following established guidance to ensure design decisions align with enterprise standards, manufacturability needs, sustainability needs, and platform direction.
  • Provide technical problem solving on rigid packaging projects by using structured troubleshooting, data analysis, and experimentation to resolve technical hurdles.
  • Apply Design of Experiments (DoE), statistics, and technical problem-solving practices to research, development, and validation work.
  • Support prototyping development for consumer testing and assist with pilot line setup and scale-up to industrial production as required to enable commercialization.
  • Contribute to knowledge sharing and capability building by documenting learnings, creating technical summaries, and supporting training content or informal coaching as needed.

Requirements

  • BS/MS/PhD degree in Engineering, Materials, Chemical or Packaging Engineering preferred, or related discipline.
  • 6 + years of R&D packaging technology development, commercialization experience, with exposure to rigid plastic thermoform packaging and project leadership experience (consumer goods, food & beverage, pharma or similar preferred).
  • Working technical knowledge of materials (polymers, barriers and additives, etc.) and thermoforming plastics, understanding manufacturing constraints, including converting processes (e.g., lidding, molding, extrusion, form-fill-seal).
  • Demonstrated ability to support end-to-end development activities, including planning/performing experiments, documenting results, and coordinating with cross-functional partners.
  • Demonstrated capability of design of experiments and statistics and technical problem solving.
  • Working knowledge of project execution disciplines (e.g., task planning, risk identification, stakeholder updates) and comfort operating within PMO expectations/templates.
  • Exposure to sustainable packaging solutions, material/package industry standards and regulations.
  • Ability to support pilot line activities and scale-up to industrial production as required.
  • Willingness and ability to travel up to 25% of the time.
Benefits
  • Coverage for employees (and their eligible dependents) through affordable access to healthcare
  • Protection and saving for the future, we offer plans tailored to meet you and your family’s needs.
  • Wellbeing events, resources, and learning opportunities that inspire a physical, social, emotional, and financial well-being lifestyle for our employees and their families.
  • Paid Time Off
  • Company Holidays
  • Leave of Absence
  • Flexible Work Arrangements
  • Recognition
  • Training
  • Employee Assistance Program
  • Wellbeing Programs
  • Family Support Programs
  • 401k
  • Life
  • Accidental Death & Dismemberment
  • Disability
Applicant Tracking System Keywords

Tip: use these terms in your resume and cover letter to boost ATS matches.

Hard Skills & Tools
thermoformingpackaging technology developmentDesign of Experiments (DoE)data analysistechnical problem solvingmaterials knowledgemanufacturing constraintsproject executionexperiment planningdocumentation
Soft Skills
collaborationcommunicationcoachingproblem solvingorganizational skillsleadershipknowledge sharingstakeholder managementcross-functional coordinationtraining support
Certifications
BS in EngineeringMS in EngineeringPhD in EngineeringPackaging Engineering certification