Process Engineer Internship Jobs in Kentucky (NOW HIRING)

Your Opportunity as the Senior Process Engineer

At The J.M. Smucker Co., we make food people and pets love-and few brands are as loved as Uncrustables. As a Senior Process Engineer, you'll play a key role in helping us meet growing consumer demand by optimizing processes, leading innovation, developing talent, and driving operational excellence across our manufacturing operation.

This is an opportunity to make a tangible impact on one of the fastest-growing brands in our portfolio. You'll partner with Operations, Maintenance, Quality, Supply Chain, and Engineering teams to improve safety, quality, reliability, and efficiency while leading capital projects and continuous improvement initiatives that help shape the future of the plant.

If you're passionate about solving complex manufacturing challenges, developing people, and delivering meaningful business results, we'd love to hear from you.

Why You'll Love Working Here

At Smucker, you'll have the opportunity to work on iconic brands while making a meaningful impact every day. At our Uncrustables manufacturing facility, you'll join a team focused on innovation, continuous improvement, and operational excellence. We invest in our people, encourage growth, and empower employees to bring new ideas forward as we continue to expand one of the most exciting brands in our portfolio.

The ideal candidate is a hands-on technical leader who thrives in a fast-paced manufacturing environment, enjoys developing people, and is energized by solving complex challenges that drive business results.

Location: Scottsville, KY

Work Arrangements: 100% On-Site

• Willingness to flow to the work as business needs require.

In This Role You Will

Lead and Develop Engineering Talent

• Serve as a coach and mentor to Process Engineers, new engineering hires, and engineering interns.
• Help onboard and develop engineering team members while fostering a culture of continuous learning.
• Provide technical leadership and guidance across cross-functional teams.
• Serve as a subject matter expert within the plant for key manufacturing processes and technologies.

Drive Operational Excellence

• Eliminate process losses, reduce variability, and improve productivity, safety, quality, and reliability.
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives focused on reducing waste, increasing throughput, and improving overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).
• Identify and advance cost savings opportunities through process optimization and operational improvements.
• Lead root cause investigations, failure analyses, and corrective action implementation.
• Develop, improve, and standardize process documentation and operating procedures.

Own Capital and Improvement Projects

• Lead capital projects from concept through execution, ensuring projects are delivered safely, on time, and within budget.
• Manage multiple projects simultaneously while balancing competing priorities.
• Conduct project reviews and track project performance against business objectives.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and equipment solutions that support future growth and operational excellence.
• Develop and implement engineering solutions that improve plant performance and capability.

Support Product and Process Innovation

• Partner with cross-functional teams to support new product introductions and manufacturing commercialization efforts.
• Optimize manufacturing processes to improve product quality, consistency, efficiency, and profitability.
• Support formula, ingredient, and process evaluations when needed to drive business objectives.
• Leverage consumer insights, operational data, and technical expertise to improve existing products and processes.
• Monitor industry trends and emerging technologies to identify opportunities for innovation and competitive advantage.

Shape the Future of the Plant

• Help create and drive the long-term technical vision for the department and manufacturing operation.
• Build strong internal and external partnerships to identify best practices and accelerate results.
• Influence decisions and drive change through collaboration, technical expertise, and leadership.
• Support manufacturing organizations in evaluating new production opportunities, troubleshooting complex challenges, and improving existing operations.

What we are looking for:

Minimum Requirements:

• Bachelor's Degree in Engineering required.
  • Preferred disciplines include Mechanical, Chemical, Industrial, or related Engineering fields.
• Minimum 2 years of manufacturing experience.
• Minimum 2 years of project management and/or capital project experience.

Additional skills & experience that we think would make someone successful in this role:

• Food manufacturing experience preferred.
• Experience leading continuous improvement initiatives in a manufacturing environment.
• Previous experience coaching, mentoring, or developing others preferred.
• Strong project management skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously.
• Knowledge of capital project delivery processes.
• Demonstrated ability to solve complex technical and operational problems using data-driven approaches.
• Experience with root cause analysis, failure investigation, and corrective action implementation.
• Strong leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to influence across all levels of the organization and work effectively in cross-functional teams.
• Ability to work independently while providing leadership in complex situations.
• Open to managing operating teams as business needs require or as part of future development opportunities.

TheRight Placefor You

We are bold, kind, strive to do the right thing, we play to win, and we believe in a strong community that thrives together. Our culture is rooted in ourBasic Beliefs, and we believe in supporting every employee by meeting their physical, emotional, and financial needs.

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We're an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, age, national origin, disability status or protected veteran status.