Packaging Engineer

Our client is an established contract manufacturer and co-packer supporting a diverse portfolio of consumer brands. With multiple packaging formats, production lines, and customer requirements, the company operates in a fast-paced, collaborative manufacturing environment where technical expertise and practical problem-solving are highly valued.

As the business continues to evolve, leadership recognizes the importance of bringing in specialized talent to strengthen operations and improve packaging quality. This newly created position offers an opportunity to take ownership, work directly with cross-functional teams, and help shape the future of packaging engineering within the organization. Leadership values individuals who are curious, resourceful, and comfortable taking initiative rather than waiting for direction.

Our client is seeking a hands-on Packaging Engineer to join their team in the Chicago area. This is an onsite opportunity for someone who enjoys solving real-world manufacturing challenges, improving supplier quality, and making a measurable impact on production performance.

Unlike traditional packaging engineering positions focused on new product design and innovation, this role is centered on troubleshooting existing packaging, resolving quality issues, and improving reliability across multiple production lines. You'll work closely with production, quality, procurement, and external suppliers to investigate packaging failures, identify root causes, and implement lasting corrective actions.

What You'll Lead

• Own packaging quality investigations across bottling and filling operations, troubleshooting issues involving bottles, caps, seals, labels, and other packaging components.

• Lead root cause analysis, nonconformance reports (NCRs), and corrective and preventive actions (CAPAs) to resolve recurring packaging defects.

• Partner with packaging suppliers to address out-of-spec materials, drive accountability, and support recovery of costs associated with defective components.

• Develop and maintain packaging specifications, technical drawings, and material documentation to improve consistency and quality standards.

• Lead packaging line trials, material qualifications, and troubleshooting efforts to improve production reliability and minimize downtime.

• Collaborate with production, quality, procurement, and engineering teams to identify opportunities for continuous improvement.

What Makes You Successful

• You bring a strong technical foundation in packaging engineering, ideally within food, beverage, bottling, or other high-volume manufacturing environments.

• You understand packaging materials and components, particularly bottles, caps, closures, plastics, and glass, and know how they interact with production equipment.

• You're experienced in root cause analysis, NCRs, CAPAs, and supplier quality investigations, with the ability to turn technical findings into corrective actions.

• You're comfortable interpreting engineering drawings, specifications, tolerances, and packaging measurements to identify and resolve quality concerns.

• You enjoy being on the production floor, working directly with operators and cross-functional teams to solve problems rather than focusing primarily on packaging design.

• You're a self-starter who takes ownership of challenges from investigation through resolution and thrives in an environment where you can help build and improve processes.

Compensation & Opportunity

Competitive compensation with bonus eligibility. This is a newly created, onsite position west of Chicago, offering the opportunity to take ownership of packaging quality initiatives and potentially help build a broader packaging engineering function as the business continues to grow.