Summary

The Vice President of Plant Engineering is a senior technical executive responsible for leading plant engineering disciplines at Chobani's Twin Falls manufacturing campus. This leader will own and drive the strategy, execution, and continuous improvement across core maintenance & engineering functions. The VP will serve as the senior engineering partner to plant operations, championing a culture of operational excellence, innovation, food safety, and sustainable manufacturing. This is a high-visibility role with direct impact on plant performance, capital allocation, and Chobani's long-term growth agenda.

Responsibilities

Strategic & Executive Leadership

• Serve as the senior engineering voice on the Twin Falls leadership team; align engineering priorities with Operations, Supply Chain, Quality, and EHS.
• Develop and execute a multi-year engineering roadmap spanning CapEx, technology adoption, reliability, and workforce development.
• Lead, mentor, and develop engineering managers and frontline technical staff; build bench strength and succession plans across disciplines.
• Own the site capital budget; develop business cases, manage spend, and report ROI to senior leadership and the C-suite.
• Drive a culture of safety, food safety, continuous improvement, and accountability aligned with Chobani's values.
• Partner with VP of Manufacturing, R&D, Quality, Supply Chain, and Sustainability on new product launches, capacity expansions, and plant modernization.

Maintenance & Reliability

• Establish a best-in-class Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM) program; drive the transition from reactive to predictive/preventive maintenance.
• Implement and optimize a CMMS to maximize asset uptime, extend equipment life, and reduce unplanned downtime.
• Define and track KPIs (OEE, MTBF, MTTR, PM compliance); establish dashboards and accountability structures for continuous improvement.
• Lead root cause analysis and corrective action for major equipment failures; maintain asset criticality rankings with operations.
• Oversee spare parts strategy, storeroom management, and vendor/contractor relationships to optimize cost and responsiveness.
• Ensure all maintenance activities comply with FDA, USDA, PMO, OSHA, and Chobani's internal food safety and GMP standards.

Automation & Controls Engineering

• Own and advance the plant's automation strategy across PLCs, SCADA, HMIs, robotics, and advanced process controls.
• Identify and prioritize automation opportunities to reduce manual labor, improve consistency, increase throughput, and enhance food safety traceability.
• Develop and govern automation standards, programming guidelines, and change management protocols ensuring system stability and cybersecurity compliance.
• Partner with OEM vendors, system integrators, and IT/OT teams to deploy, validate, and support automation technologies.
• Build internal automation capability through structured training, career pathing, and knowledge management.
• Evaluate and pilot Industry 4.0, IoT, and AI-enabled manufacturing technologies that drive competitive advantage.

Engineering & Plant Support

• Align capital plans and improvement priorities across all technical disciplines within Twin Falls.
• Partner with cross-functional teams on new product scale-up, technology transfers, process validation, and plant trials to ensure manufacturing readiness.
• Champion Lean, Six Sigma, and CI methodologies; sponsor high-impact improvement projects across the engineering organization.
• Ensure compliance with FDA 21 CFR, PMO, HACCP, and SQF standards across all manufacturing systems.
• Drive process optimization efforts in yield improvement, waste reduction, energy efficiency, and product quality.

Requirements

Required
• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Chemical, Electrical, Food, or Industrial Engineering (or related discipline).
• 15+ years of progressive engineering leadership experience in food, beverage, dairy, or CPG manufacturing; with at least 5 years in a leadership role.
• Demonstrated expertise across following disciplines: maintenance/reliability automation/controls, and engineering.
• Proven track record of leading large, cross-functional engineering organizations and managing multi-million-dollar CapEx portfolios.
• Deep knowledge of food safety and regulatory requirements: FDA, USDA, HACCP, PMO, SQF, and GMP standards.
• Experience with CMMS platforms (SAP PM, Maximo, or equivalent), SCADA/PLC systems, and advanced process controls.
• Strong business acumen; able to translate technical strategy into compelling executive communications and business cases.
• Exceptional leadership, communication, and influencing skills - proven ability to build and develop high-performing teams and foster a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.

Chobani provides a comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental, vision coverage, disability insurance, health savings account, flexible spending accounts, and tuition reimbursement. To help save for the future, all employees are eligible for a 401k match of 100% on up to 5% of eligible pay. To support growing families, we provide fertility and childcare assistance, and 12 weeks of parental leave at full pay after six months of continuous employment. In addition, we provide wellness resources which include an employee assistance program, fitness discounts, a wellness reimbursement, on-site gym access (certain locations) and a monthly wellness newsletter to connect you with resources and timely information. We offer various types of paid time of including: 120 hours of paid time off, 11 holidays, and paid volunteer time off.