Senior Production Engineer

About Kerry

A career with Kerry Taste & Nutrition offers you an opportunity to shape how people across the globe view food and beverage while providing you opportunities to explore and grow as your interests do. With our commitment to a sustainable future, a career with Kerry is something you can feel good about.

About the local organization

We are looking for a Senior Production Engineer for our manufacturing site in Tiel, where Kerry makes powdered preservatives for the food industry. In this role, it is your main responsibility to secure and push the performance of our production processes in all its aspects, including process safety, process performance (output), cost performance (efficiencies) and sustainability. You will be part of the Tiel engineering team, working together with operators, technicians, Production and Maintenance staff and plant management.

The Tiel organization is focused on providing a reliable supply of high added value food preservation solutions based on organic salts, satisfying the service level requirements of the most demanding customers. This requires a strong focus on daily business as well as preparing for tomorrow’s business needs. We do so by upgrading legacy production processes to tomorrow's state-of-the-art through incremental improvements as well as step change capex projects. Key levers are the shift from petrochemically based raw materials towards renewable feedstock, from legacy processes to energy efficient technologies and from traditional food ingredients to providing the basis for the future’s sustainable diet as part of Kerry’s 2030 sustainability ambition.

Key responsibilities

Within the triangle of Engineering-Production-Maintenance, you are responsible for the process-technological input to ensure that the production lines that are assigned to you, run optimally and are continuously improved:

• You provide daily production support by means of performance reviews and problem analyses regarding safety, OEE, capacity and quality.
• You act as a role model and subject matter expert regarding continuous improvement methodologies.
• You lead projects in the multidisciplinary manufacturing excellence program, aimed at the implementation of improvement proposals and design changes, from problem analysis to commissioning, including trend data analyses and cost-benefit analyses.
• You are responsible for scaling up and managing the process knowledge relevant to your production lines with regards to new and existing products.
• You contribute to large investment projects (led by one of the Project Engineers) on behalf of the Production crew of your production lines, for example through input in the study phase, but also through operator instructions and practical guidance during start-up tests.
• You demonstrate leadership in compliance and development of engineering standards, including Process Safety Management standards, such as Management of Change and Hazards and Operability assessments (HAZOPs).
• Cooperate with other local and global disciplines to deliver on our commitments to our customers and continuously improve our value proposition by improving process safety, production processes (Overall Equipment Effectiveness, costs, energy) and product quality and liaise between RD&A and global Process Technology.
• Contribute to the development of the engineering discipline by coaching others and by establishing and rolling out new engineering standards.

Qualifications & skills

• A Master’s degree, preferably in the field of Chemical Engineering or equivalent, such as Bio Process Engineering or Food Process Engineering
• At least 5 years of experience in chemicals/food ingredients manufacturing
• Relevant work experience in the field of liquid processing and spray drying or solids handling is a must, and you are at ease with bringing the fundamentals of physical chemistry of salt production into practice
• A proven track record in the areas of root cause analysis, continuous improvement, and process safety management in an operational organization
• You combine an entrepreneurial mindset with a hands-on mentality that helps you to get a thorough understanding of the challenges in the field and that helps you getting things done
• Good communication skills to create support for your improvement ideas among stakeholders in the plant
• An excellent command of English, both written and verbally (at least CEFR B2 level).
• Proficiency in Dutch, both written and verbally, is preferred; we will consider candidates, who aspire to learn Dutch at the level of CEFR B2 level. 

Our offer

• Collaborative work in a dynamic environment where you can make a difference
• Market-based salary with excellent fringe benefits, including a 13th-month salary and commuting allowance
• Career development with options to grow locally (we have 4 plants in the Netherlands) and/or internationally
• A strong commitment to work-life balance to ensure you can thrive both professionally and personally.

If you would like more information about this job, please get in touch with Kristian Zuur (hiring manager), telephone number +31 (0)6 46044348 or myself from the Talent Acquisition team +353 45931730. To apply, please submit your application in English (motivation letter and resume).