Sr. Manufacturing Process and Packaging Engineer
General Mills · Vernon, CA
- Level
- Senior
- Team
- Process
- Base pay
- $95k–$143k
- Degree
- Required
- Experience asked
- 5+ years
- Industry
- Food & beverage
- Posted
- 15 days ago
The role in 30 seconds
A senior process role at General Mills (food & beverage) in Vernon, CA. As knowledge expands, credibility as a strategic partner with Engineering, Ops and R&D will increase.
- They ask for
- 5+ years · degree required
- Tools it names
- Capacity planning
- Base pay
- $95k–$143k
Read from the posting. The full description is below.
From the plant jobs report · week of October 19, 2026
Process Engineer roles in California: typical posted base $124k–$171k. This one lists $95k–$143k.
Median of the low and high ends of 48 live postings that list pay, out of 79 process engineer openings in California, read from manufacturers' own careers sites.
California plant jobs report →Pay by team and state →What moves pay →
How this role compares
Against 78 other live process postings in California.
- Base pay
- About 19% below similar roles
- Experience asked
- Typical (5+ years)
Typical $124k–$171k, from 46 postings that list pay.
Similar roles usually ask 5+ years.
Skills these teams ask for most
- Root cause 47%
- Team leadership 27%
- Validation (IQ/OQ/PQ) 24%
- DOE 24%
- SPC 23%
- New product launch 20%
✓ = this posting asks for it too. % = share of similar postings that mention it.
Stands out: this posting asks for Capacity planning, Cost reduction, which few similar roles mention. If you have it, lead with it.
At a glance
Pulled from the posting text. If it's not listed here, the posting didn't say.
How to get in at this plant
Five moves over a week or two. The first one takes ten minutes.
- 1
Pick 2–3 people on the Process team at General Mills
Engineers who joined in the last year or two reply the most. Use the team search on this page to find them.
- 2
Send a short, curious note
One real question about their work. No favors yet. Each person gets a different note, written for this role.
- 3
Turn a reply into a short call
Questions worth asking about this team:
- What does a normal week look like on your team?
- Is the work mostly new product launches or sustaining existing lines?
- How much time do you spend on the floor versus at a desk?
- How did you land the job? What stood out in your interviews?
- 4
Apply with someone vouching for you
If the call went well, ask whether they’d pass your résumé to the hiring manager. Send your résumé link, apply that day, and let them know.
- 5
Bring proof to the interview
One page of before-and-after numbers from projects you led: scrap, OEE, cycle time, cost. Plant managers hire on results.
Full description from General MillsAs posted on their careers site.ShowHide
Qualifications
- ✓Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering, or related degree with applicable experience, or extensive relevant work experience.
- ✓Minimum 5 years of relevant manufacturing experience required
- ✓Theory/functionality of manufacturing systems and unit operations
- ✓Advanced data and statistical analysis capabilities
- ✓Statistical analysis and analytical methods
- ✓Advanced Mechanical aptitude, specifically on the technology that the Engineer is connected to in their role.
- ✓Examples of continuous improvement ownership and improvement plan execution
- ✓Sound financial acumen at the Plant level to define and drive cost saving efforts
- ✓General Engineering Principles and Continuous Improvement knowledge
- ✓Demonstrated leadership and working in a highly collaborative environment
- ✓Success in driving results through process and teamwork
- ✓Proven success in reducing losses and improving performance in a manufacturing setting
- ✓De
Show full description ↓Show less ↑
Company overview
We exist to make food the world loves. But we do more than that. Our company is a place that prioritizes being a force for good, a place to expand learning, explore new perspectives and reimagine new possibilities, every day. We look for people who want to bring their best — bold thinkers with big hearts who challenge one another and grow together. Because becoming the undisputed leader in food means surrounding ourselves with people who are hungry for what’s next.
Overview
The Sr. Manufacturing Process and Packaging Engineer (internally called a Sr. Systems Engineer) role provides technical leadership and serves as a system and product specialist. They are responsible to build the team’s packaging and processing technical skills through a hands-on approach. They are accountable for the operational foundational systems across systems they own and to the plant to secure basic conditions and drive out losses with the platform team. The Sr. Manufacturing Process and Packaging Engineer plays a critical role to continuously improve by optimizing system performance and product quality while driving strategic productivity and capacity solutions for the platform and ultimately the business.
This role showcases a Sr. Manufacturing Process and Packaging Engineer's knowledge and foundation to build the capability of others. This role centers on consistent manufacturing performance, problem-solving, and improvement. It involves significant floor time to understand manufacturing processes, coupled with development of self and others. The primary focus is improvement and loss elimination activities aligned with system improvement targets and future state goals. This includes supporting team skill development inclusive of content development and talent assessments, advocating for system investments, and articulating their financial impact to plant leadership for annual planning. As knowledge expands, credibility as a strategic partner with Engineering, Ops and R&D will increase. This will allow more intentional focus on other systems and to engage in business plans.
Safety
- •Lead Food and Human Safety through leadership principles and standards.
- •Foster a culture that reduces risk to our people and communities by increasing capability to identify and control critical risk. Specifically, responsible ensuring safe system designs, managing procedure changes, partnering with site owner for reviews, and coaching best practices, while reinforcing accountability for execution and adherence at the operational level.
- •Cultivate Food Safety Culture that is committed to manufacturing safe food that is compliant with policy and regulatory requirements.
People Leadership and Capability Building
- •Communicate and engage effectively with teams across the full site.
- •Regularly engage with corporate engineering, R&D and business teams to advocate for their system current and future state.
- •Provide early level coaching to early tenure Manufacturing Engineers and plant personnel (Junior Engineers, Operations Leaders, etc.).
- •Support learning and development assessments and content development.
- •At the site level partner with leadership to advocate for system investment.
Process Leadership and Ownership
- •Responsible to lead the execution of Continuous Improvement efforts, building team skills around system improvements.
- •Execute loss elimination tasks to improve system and equipment reliability through use of continuous improvement processes and problem solving.
- •Build learnings into training materials and coaching of the operating team members to increase capability of the broader team.
- •Execute and identify of manufacturing cost savings initiatives.
- •Actively improve the data and information of the system to increase the ability to model and predict opportunity areas (performance metrics, financial information, data history, maintenance management system).
- •Accountable for the operational foundation systems across the platform to secure basic conditions and drive out losses (Clean-Inspect-Lubricate, Equipment settings, and functional descriptions of equipment).
- •Execute project support (planning, start-up).
Know your Operation, Data and Technology
- •Advanced expertise in the 4M's (machine, materials, methods, human) through a physical presence on the manufacturing floor to build capability in others understanding of interdependency of inputs.
- •Secure material flow rates and unit operation expertise on the system(s) to ensure optimal production rates, parameters, and formulas.
- •Engage with R&D partners on impacts of formulations, cost savings efforts, etc. to optimize system.
- •Develop self through connections and learning from operators, technicians and peers through rigorous application and understanding of continuous improvement methods.
- •Clearly articulate financial impact to the plant based on business and plant decisions in support of annual financial, capital and capacity planning.
