Vice President, Technical Services

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