Packaging Development Engineer

Opportunity Profile

Location: Lancaster, PA

Position Title: Packaging Engineer

The Opportunity:
This role sits at a critical intersection of product innovation, manufacturing execution, and consumer experience. The Packaging Engineer will have direct ownership of packaging solutions across a wide range of consumer products and brands, influencing how products are protected, presented, tested, certified, and delivered to market. The work is highly visible and materially impacts customer satisfaction, retailer compliance, cost structure, sustainability efforts, and speed to market.

The person in this role will be deeply involved from the earliest stages of new product development through commercialization and ongoing lifecycle support. This includes partnering with marketing to translate brand and aesthetic intent into functional packaging, collaborating with manufacturing and suppliers to ensure designs are practical and scalable, and working hands‑on with prototypes and testing to validate performance. The Packaging Engineer will also play an important role in supporting internal lab testing and certification requirements, including retailer‑driven standards, ensuring the organization maintains control over quality, timelines, and costs rather than relying on outside labs.

What makes this opportunity distinct is the breadth and variety of packaging challenges. The company’s diverse product portfolio exposes this role to nearly every major packaging format, material, and constraint—from corrugate and paperboard to molded pulp, films, bottles, and closures. Rather than working on the same package type repeatedly, this role offers continuous technical diversity, requiring strong judgment, creativity, and adaptability. The Packaging Engineer will be expected to balance innovation with execution, finding ways to improve performance, reduce cost, and support sustainability goals without sacrificing functionality or speed.

This position is well suited for someone who enjoys being hands‑on, taking ownership, and seeing their work move quickly from concept to shelf. The impact is tangible and immediate: packaging decisions made in this role directly affect manufacturing efficiency, compliance risk, freight and material costs, and the end consumer’s experience with the product. Over time, strong performance in this role can lead to broader responsibility, increased influence, and growth within the packaging organization.

The Company:
The company is a privately held consumer products organization with a history spanning more than a century. It has grown through both innovation and acquisition, building a broad portfolio of established brands across multiple consumer categories. Many of its product lines address everyday, need‑driven consumer problems, providing stability and long‑term relevance in the marketplace.

The organization operates with a clear set of values that guide how work gets done: putting the consumer first, challenging the status quo, executing with excellence, collaborating confidently, and playing to win. It continues to invest back into the business, expand its brands, and pursue innovation—particularly in areas such as packaging optimization and sustainability—while maintaining a collaborative, hands‑on culture.

The Boss:
This role reports to an experienced Packaging Engineering leader who has spent nearly two decades with the organization and has built a long‑term career there by choice. He holds a Master’s degree in Packaging and brings a diverse background that includes pharmaceuticals, electronics, contract manufacturing, and consumer products.

What distinguishes his leadership style is a genuine enthusiasm for the work and the variety the business offers. After experiencing roles where packaging challenges became repetitive or narrowly focused, he found this environment provided constant technical diversity—new products, new materials, and new problems to solve—which has kept him engaged for many years. He is hands‑on, deeply familiar with packaging testing, certification requirements, and manufacturing realities, and values engineers who enjoy understanding not just how a package works, but why it works.

He is also a strong advocate for professional growth. The packaging organization has defined career levels, and strong performers can take on broader responsibility, increased influence, and advancement over time. His approach emphasizes collaboration, curiosity, and execution, creating an environment where packaging engineers are viewed as key contributors rather than downstream support.

The Position:
The Packaging Engineer is responsible for the design and development of packaging components and systems for new and existing products across all brands. The role requires a balance of creativity, technical depth, and project execution, with a strong focus on manufacturability, testing, cost control, and quality. This position also supports supplier collaboration, prototype development, and continuous improvement through benchmarking and materials research.

Essential Functions (Other duties may be assigned):

• Design packaging for new products, including corrugate, paperboard, and molded pulp, with working knowledge of poly bags, films, bottles, and closures
• Apply industry test standards and protocols and perform packaging testing in an internal laboratory environment
• Translate customer and retailer requirements into testable and compliant packaging designs
• Obtain ISTA certification within 90 days of employment
• Ensure packaging designs align with manufacturing capabilities, material limitations, and quality expectations
• Define functional, aesthetic, and performance attributes, including tolerances for critical components and materials
• Deliver complete packaging solutions, including drawings, specifications, testing documentation, cost analysis, and reporting
• Build or procure prototype packaging components for testing, market studies, and sales or show samples
• Develop raw material specifications, manufacturing instructions, packaging component specifications, and fabrication drawings
• Conduct technology and materials research, including benchmarking competitive designs and engaging with suppliers
• Travel occasionally to local suppliers and packaging trade shows

Qualifications:

• Strong communication and collaboration skills
• Ability to manage multiple projects and timelines in a results‑oriented environment
• Broad understanding of team‑based development and cross‑functional workflows
• Regular attendance and punctuality required

Education and Experience:

• BS in Package Engineering or a related engineering discipline with 5–10 years of packaging engineering experience
• Alternate qualification: MS in Package Engineering or a related engineering discipline with 2–5 years of experience
• Fluent CAD background with 2D and 3D design and drawing
• Proficient in Microsoft Office products

Competencies:

• High‑level understanding of a broad range of packaging materials
• Strong knowledge of packaging material manufacturing processes
• Understanding of production line manufacturing to support design and material selection decisions
• Ability to read, evaluate, and validate supplier quotes against specifications
• Experience estimating costs for corrugate and paperboard packaging
• Ability to create full‑costed bills of materials based on supplier quotes and minimum order quantities

Work Environment:
Professional engineering and laboratory setting with close collaboration across design, manufacturing, and supplier partners. Occasional local travel is required.

Compensation:
Competitive compensation and a comprehensive benefits package, including health coverage from day one, a company‑matched retirement plan, paid time off, bonus eligibility, and a variety of company‑paid and voluntary benefits.