Dairy Process Engineer

Why choose us?

Are you ready to take the next step in your career? Join us for an exciting opportunity at Albertsons Companies, where innovation and customer service go hand-in-hand!

At Albertsons Companies, we are looking for someone who’s not just seeking a job, but someone who wants to make an impact. In this role, you’ll have the opportunity to lead, innovate, and contribute to the growth of a company that values great service and lasting customer relationships. This position offers the chance to work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment that’s constantly evolving.

ACI is seeking an experienced Dairy Process Engineer to support manufacturing line optimization, process standardization, and continuous improvement initiatives across its operations. This is a corporate position that will work directly with plant leadership, operations, and engineering teams to improve throughput, reduce variability, and establish scalable, best practice process standards.

The Dairy Process Engineer will take a hand on, data driven approach to evaluating current state operations, identifying performance gaps, and supporting the design and execution of practical improvements. The role will report to the Director of Corporate Engineering. This is a full-time role, intended to accelerate near term operational results while building sustainable process capabilities within ACI. The position requires regular travel to ACI sites as business needs dictate.

This role owns process standards and standard work for assigned process areas and is expected to influence capital, automation/controls, and operating strategy decisions through technical leadership and change management.

Main responsibilities:

Assess existing manufacturing lines and process flows to identify constraints, inefficiencies, and sources of variability (including CIP, changeovers, and transition losses)

Lead and support process optimization initiatives focused on throughput improvement, yield enhancement, and cycle‑time reduction

Develop, document, and standardize best‑practice operating procedures, process parameters, and control strategies

Support process definition and requirements for capital projects, including scope development and user requirements

Participate in equipment selection, commissioning/FAT support where applicable, and startup optimization for new or modified lines

Collaborate with plant engineering managers on line modifications and process/controls changes to improve performance and reliability

Partner with controls/automation resources to define recipes, process control limits, and data collection needs; leverage PLC/SCADA and historian tools to extract and analyze process data

Optimize CIP circuits, recovery, and sanitation effectiveness; ensure process improvements maintain or improve food safety and sanitation performance

Ensure process changes comply with safety standards and safe-work practices; participate in risk assessments where applicable and champion safe implementation of process changes

Partner with operations, maintenance, quality, and engineering teams to implement process improvements with minimal disruption to production

Support line balancing, capacity analysis, and performance benchmarking across sites or production areas

Apply continuous improvement methodologies to drive measurable operational gains

Analyze production and performance data to track results, identify trends, and inform decision‑making

Assist in root‑cause analysis for chronic process issues, quality defects, or reliability challenges

Support operator training and change management associated with new or updated process standards

Contribute to the development of scalable process templates and playbooks deployable across ACI operations

We are looking for candidates who possess the following:

Bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, industrial engineering, or a related discipline

5 plus years of experience in dairy or refrigerated food manufacturing environments, supporting fluid milk, cultured products, cheese, ice cream, or related dairy processes

Hands on experience with dairy unit operations, including pasteurization (HTST/UHT), homogenization, separation/standardization, fermentation, freezing, and packaging

Exposure to industrial controls and automation in dairy processing environments (e.g., PLC/SCADA systems such as Rockwell, Siemens, Wonderware) and recipe management / process control limits

Experience extracting and working with manufacturing/process data from systems such as

FactoryTalk, Ignition, or similar; basic SQL or data-extraction skills preferred

Familiarity with dairy regulatory and quality frameworks, including FDA/PMO requirements, HACCP, and internal quality standards

Demonstrated experience optimizing production lines in a regulated or quality‑driven manufacturing environment

Strong understanding of dairy mass balance, yield drivers, and loss points (e.g., cream losses, trim, rework, CIP interface losses)

Experience working directly on the plant floor to diagnose issues and implement improvements

Proven ability to translate analytical findings into practical, operator‑ready solutions

Experience supporting multi‑site manufacturing organizations or standardized production platforms

Familiarity with Lean manufacturing or similar improvement frameworks

Proficiency with statistical analysis tools (advanced Excel and/or similar) and process mapping software

Exposure to change management and operator training during process rollouts

We believe the successful candidate has these skills and competencies:

Manufacturing process optimization and continuous improvement

Process standardization and documentation (SOPs, standard work, control plans)

Data analysis and performance monitoring (KPIs, throughput, yield, downtime)

Manufacturing controls/automation collaboration (recipes, process control limits) and data extraction (historian/SCADA; basic SQL)

Structured problem solving and root‑cause analysis

Cross‑functional collaboration and stakeholder engagement

Clear technical communication with both engineering and operations audiences

Ability to work independently in a delivery‑focused role

We also provide a variety of benefits including:

Competitive wages paid weekly

Access to up to 50% of your earned wages before payday, via our partnership with Stream

Associate discounts

Health and financial well-being benefits for eligible associates (Medical, Dental, 401k and more!)

Time off (vacation, holidays, sick pay). For eligibility requirements please visit myACI Benefits

Leaders invested in your training, career growth and development

An inclusive work environment with talented colleagues who reflect the communities we serve

Our Values – Click below to view video: ACI Values

A copy of the full job description can be made available to you.

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