Guided Search Partners (GSP)
Guided Search Partners is an Executive Search firm built on Trust, Transparency, Specialization, and Long-term Relationships.
We connect high-performing professionals with organizations that value people, performance, and growth, helping leaders find roles where they can make an impact and build meaningful careers.

About the Opportunity
We’re supporting a search for a Senior Manager, Packaging Innovation with a research and innovation organization in Illinois. This is an R&D-focused role within an Innovation Lab, not a traditional packaging design position. The role centers on technical problem solving, FEA/modeling, packaging engineering, data analysis, AI utilization, risk mitigation, customer interaction, and innovation.

What You’ll Do
You’ll lead technical packaging innovation and customer-focused problem solving across a national footprint.

Key areas of focus include:

• Lead customer interaction and collaboration at senior levels
• Translate customer needs into value-added technical analysis and solutions
• Present technical findings and recommendations to executive-level audiences
• Apply FEA, modeling, data analysis, and technical methodologies to packaging challenges
• Identify and mitigate technical risk
• Support development of future-focused packaging approaches
• Lead and promote packaging development best practices
• Explore new fiber-based product and material innovation
• Identify market trends and gaps in fiber-based packaging opportunities
• Use multi-site data to identify broader operational improvements
• Apply design of experiments and statistical analysis where appropriate
• Help determine how AI and emerging technology can be applied to packaging engineering and problem solving
• Evaluate and help determine tooling needs, including what should be developed internally or purchased
• Support vendor management
• Work cross-functionally with Sales, Design, Engineering, customers, and executive leadership
• Lead and mentor packaging development resources
• Support safe operation of Innovation Lab equipment and site safety goals

Who You Are
You are a technical problem solver with deep packaging knowledge who can move beyond traditional design work and address complex customer and business challenges.

You are comfortable working with senior customers and executives, explaining complex technical concepts clearly, and translating analysis into practical business solutions. You can work independently while also leveraging internal and external resources across a small, highly visible innovation environment.

Preferred Experience & Attributes
• Bachelor’s degree in Packaging, Science, Engineering, or related field
• Minimum 10 years of experience with a significant portion in paper/packaging, or demonstrable equivalent
• Corrugated packaging experience strongly preferred
• Strong understanding of corrugated materials and methodology
• Strong FEA and modeling experience
• Packaging engineering and technical analysis experience
• Experience applying data analysis to technical problem solving
• Ability to leverage AI and emerging technologies
• Strong leadership and influencing skills
• Strong customer-facing and executive communication skills
• Ability to translate technical information into business solutions
• Experience with design of experiments and statistical analysis beneficial
• Comfortable working in a small R&D/Innovation environment
• Able to work cross-functionally across Sales, Design, Engineering, customers, and leadership

Why This Role Matters
This role will help shape the future direction of packaging technology through a combination of FEA, AI, data analytics, packaging engineering, technical problem solving, and customer-focused innovation. The position has high visibility with major customers and executive leadership and offers significant influence over tools, technology, and technical capabilities within the organization.