Senior Packaging Engineer

The Wellness Pet Company is on a mission to help the next generation of pet parents fulfill a shared life of wellbeing with their pets through a foundation of proven nutrition. We are committed to crafting high-quality pet food, dental chews, treats, and topper recipes that are made with the perfect balance of high-quality natural ingredients paired with the latest scientific research and technologies. As a community of people working together, Wellies are positively obsessed with how to deliver proven health outcomes that pet parents can see and pets can taste. Wellies bring their best to work every day, come ready to collaborate, embrace the hard things, and own their outcomes.

Our Team is based out of our office in Burlington, Massachusetts, where we work in-office Monday through Thursday each week, and remotely on Fridays. Team members must reside within or be willing to relocate to a commutable distance from our Burlington office.

Our Senior Packaging Development Engineers have a unique opportunity to stretch between transformational and more transactional activities, and act as a peer functional leader within the business. This individual contributor role oversees a portfolio of packaging activities within a business category and works strategically on managing complex projects. They will make connections with business partners, packagers, and co-manufacturers and will lead trials and qualification work. They will also represent the packaging development team in cross-functional innovation pods. This role will have exposure to a wide breadth of packaging projects, from concept to launch and with an eye toward investigating sustainable solutions within the portfolio.

What You’ll Accomplish

• Develop and set standards around specifications and specification management, introducing innovation and design to value solutions, and sharing these solutions with our customers and business partners

• Be the voice of Packaging in the creation our near and long-term product innovation and packaging sustainability roadmaps
• Lead multiple projects, including support for new product launches, existing portfolio updates, and sustainability initiatives while building a reputation for on-time execution of packaging activities for projects
• Develop a solid knowledge of different packaging structures and applications
• Build industry relationships through supporting supplier transitions for new packaging and/or materials and by supporting 3rd party manufacturers and co-packers
• Hold expertise in the management of packaging information inputs for finished goods
• Be involved in and support trials and first production runs with manufacturing plants

• Flex your process management skills by creating protocols and success criteria for trials and first production runs
• Hone your excellent project management skills: Properly plan, coordinate, and report each trial, while providing technical support and expertise as needed to execute trial objectives and ensure proper documentation of each activity

Who We’re Looking For

Team Wellie is a group of people who are truly obsessed with all the best ways about winning for the consumer and the pets they love. And so, we are seeking an individual who:

• Is consumer focused on all they do
• Can set a vision for where we can play to win
• Continually challenge themselves to go the extra mile to get the job done, and ensure it’s done the right way as opposed to the easy way
• Hold themselves and others accountable

• Embraces continual development through the sharing of feedback and investment in learning opportunities.
• Is a true collaborator, sharing resources, and engages in healthy debate
• Celebrates differences and strives to learn from others who are different from themselves
• Gives back to their community and supports sustainable practices

In addition, we are looking for someone who meets the following criteria:

• Degree in Bachelor of Science, Packaging Science or related
• Minimum 7-10 years of experience in a packaging development and engineering role
• Packaging experience in the fast-moving consumer goods industry, ideally human or pet food flexible packaging
• A well-developed business acumen and external packaging supplier network combined with an established expertise in new product commercialization related to packaging development, established experience in food packaging materials, technologies, and pricing models
• A business-minded, rigorous problem-solving mindset that considers leadership qualities (vision setting, prioritization, influence) and functional competencies (manufacturing, transportation, sustainability, cost, design, shelf life, and sales) in the final packaging solutions
• Passion for packaging sustainability with experience collaborating with external partners
• Experience in packaging development from concept to launch

• Experience leading the design of packaging solutions while keeping in mind sustainability, shelf presence, machine-ability, shelf life, and product protection
• Experience managing a portfolio of packaging projects, creating synergies
• Possesses a working knowledge of Cape and TOPS software
• Comfortable working independently and with cross functional team members
• General knowledge and understanding of package testing methodologies, such as ISTA and ASTM
• Experience building out, organizing, and managing specifications within a database
• Experience with commercialization projects, and managing multiple projects while maintaining deadlines

• The ability to travel up to 25% of the time

Why Wellness Pet?

We care about the wellbeing of our people, their families, and their pets. We treat every Wellie to a best-in-class benefits package, a warm and welcoming environment, and a place where you can learn and grow professionally. More information about what makes us special can be found on our website. The Wellness Pet Company is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. We foster an inclusive work environment and are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, or veteran status.

The annual salary range for this position is $101,600 to $148,300 based on a full-time work schedule, anticipated responsibilities, market benchmarks, and organizational equity. Compensation may vary within that pay range depending on the selected candidate’s professional background, experience, operational needs, and other considerations permitted by law. The full compensation details will be communicated upon finalization of the employment offer and may include eligibility for participation in a bonus program.

#LI-RD1