Director, Engineering

Overview

Adams Group is a fifth-generation, family-owned specialty food company with over 110 years of experience. We are committed to quality ingredients and sustainable, responsible practices across our global network.

Rooted in trusted farmer partnerships and vertically integrated operations, we combine agricultural expertise with innovation to deliver specialty  focus on quality, sustainability, and integrity defines who we are.

The Director of Engineering is a senior leadership role responsible for driving engineering strategy and execution across multiple Adams Group manufacturing sites. This position oversees Capital Project Engineering and Maintenance & Reliability, enabling future expansion, operational excellence, and long-term company growth. The Director of Engineering partners closely with executive leadership to modernize assets, scale capacity, and ensure safe, reliable, and efficient operations across the enterprise.

• Provide strategic and operational leadership for all engineering activities across multiple manufacturing locations.
• Develop and execute long-term engineering and capital investment strategies to support future expansions, increased capacity, and strategic company growth.
• Lead the planning, design, budgeting, execution, and commissioning of major capital projects, including plant expansions, new processing lines, automation, and infrastructure upgrades.
• Oversee Maintenance and Reliability programs across sites, including preventive and predictive maintenance, asset lifecycle management, and reliability engineering initiatives.
• Establish standardized engineering, maintenance, and reliability best practices across all facilities to improve safety, uptime, and total cost of ownership.
• Partner cross-functionally with Operations, Quality, Food Safety, EHS, Supply Chain, and Finance to align engineering initiatives with business objectives and production requirements.
• Manage multi-site capital and maintenance budgets, ensuring disciplined project governance, cost control, and strong return on investment.
• Recruit, develop, and lead high-performing engineering, maintenance, and reliability teams; build organizational capability to support future scale.
• Manage relationships with external engineering firms, contractors, OEMs, and technology partners.
• Monitor asset performance metrics (e.g., uptime, OEE, MTBF) and drive continuous improvement initiatives using data-driven insights.
• Ensure all engineering activities comply with applicable safety, environmental, regulatory, and food manufacturing standards.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical, or related discipline) or equivalent experience.
• 10+ years of progressive engineering leadership experience in a manufacturing environment; food or regulated industry experience preferred.
• Proven experience leading capital projects and maintenance/reliability functions in a multi-site or complex manufacturing organization.

Skills And Competencies

• Strong strategic leadership and execution capabilities in a growth-oriented manufacturing environment.
• Deep expertise in capital project management, maintenance systems, and reliability best practices.
• Ability to translate long-term growth strategies into executable engineering road maps.
• Strong financial acumen, analytical skills, and data-driven decision-making ability.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills across all organizational levels.

Certifications/Licenses

• Professional Engineer (PE)
• PMP
• Lean Six Sigma
• Reliability-related certifications

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting greenfield or brownfield expansions, facility start-ups, or major capacity growth initiatives.
• Experience leading engineering organizations through modernization or transformation.
• Familiarity with automation, controls systems, and scalable manufacturing technologies.

• Primarily plant-based with regular presence in manufacturing and maintenance environments.
• Exposure to noise, moving equipment, and food manufacturing conditions.
• Travel between company sites and to vendors as required (approximately 20–30%).