On-site Quality & Manufacturing Engineering (Chicago Based)
David Protein · Chicago · $140,000–$170,000 (stated in the posting)
Company:
David creates tools to increase muscle and decrease fat. Our first product is a protein bar. More broadly, David is a platform to develop high-protein, low-calorie, blood-sugar-friendly foods that are craveable.
This is a rare opportunity to join a breakout food brand at a pivotal stage of growth. Led by CEO Peter Rahal, Cofounder and Former CEO of RXBAR, David is working to become the leading consumer food brand focused on high-protein foods in North America and beyond.
Role & Responsibilities:
As a Manager, On-site Quality, Engineering and Manufacturing at David, you will be responsible for ensuring our products are always manufactured to the highest quality standard, efficiently and reliably.
You will spend your time on-site with our co-manufacturing partners. You will develop a deep understanding of our product, quality, processes, equipment, and sources of variation, identifying issues before they become problems and driving them through resolution.
The role sits at the intersection of contract manufacturing, quality and engineering. You will provide continuous quality oversight at our manufacturing partners while applying an engineering mindset wherever problems arise - whether the root cause is raw materials, process conditions, equipment, formulation, packaging, or operating practices.
This is a highly hands-on role. Success requires being comfortable on the production floor, getting into the details, using data to diagnose problems, running trials, and working directly with operators, plant leadership, suppliers, and internal teams to improve how our products are made.
In this role you will:
- Serve as David’s primary onsite quality and technical representative at key co-manufacturing partners, spending significant time on the production floor.
- Own day-to-day manufacturing quality performance, ensuring products consistently meet David’s specifications and standards.
- Develop a deep technical understanding of David’s manufacturing processes, equipment, raw materials, product attributes, and sources of process variation.
- Identify quality and manufacturing issues early and drive rapid containment, root cause analysis, corrective action, and sustained resolution.
- Lead structured investigations into deviations, defects, consumer complaints, process failures, and recurring manufacturing issues.
- Apply engineering problem-solving wherever issues arise, including equipment performance, process conditions, material handling, formulation execution, packaging, and production methods.
- Design and execute plant trials and experiments to understand process behavior, validate solutions, and improve manufacturing performance.
- Establish process controls, operating parameters, specifications, and standards that improve consistency and reduce variation.
- Drive continuous improvement across quality, yield, scrap, throughput, reliability, and overall process capability.
- Partner closely with co-manufacturer Quality, Operations, Maintenance, and Engineering teams to implement improvements and hold partners accountable for results.
- Partner internally with Quality, R&D, Manufacturing, Procurement, Commercialization, and Planning to solve problems and successfully scale products and processes.
- Support commercialization and scale-up of new products, processes, ingredients, equipment, and manufacturing lines.
- Use manufacturing and quality data to identify trends, prioritize opportunities, and measure whether corrective actions and process improvements are working.
- Build systems and standards that allow learnings from individual production issues to improve the broader manufacturing network.
- Respond quickly when manufacturing problems arise, going wherever the highest-priority technical or quality issue requires support.
Requirements
- 5+ years of experience in manufacturing quality, manufacturing engineering, process engineering, food manufacturing, or a similarly hands-on technical environment.
- Strong quality mindset with an exceptionally high bar for product consistency and attention to detail.
- Demonstrated experience leading root cause analysis, corrective actions, process improvement, and technical investigations.
- Ability to use data and experimentation to separate symptoms from root causes and make sound technical decisions.
- Strong engineering and structured problem-solving instincts, with demonstrated ability to diagnose complex manufacturing problems and drive them to root cause.
- Experience working directly in manufacturing facilities and comfort spending significant time on the production floor.
- Strong understanding of manufacturing processes, process controls, equipment, and sources of variation; food or CPG manufacturing experience strongly preferred.
- High motor and strong ownership mentality; you identify problems early and stay with them until they are measurably resolved.
- Ability to build strong relationships with external manufacturing partners while challenging assumptions and holding teams accountable.
- Clear, direct communicator who can translate technical manufacturing issues into clear risks, decisions, and actions.
- Comfortable operating in ambiguous, fast-moving environments where the answer may require getting on a plane, getting onto the production floor, and figuring it out firsthand.
Benefits
- Competitive salary, inclusive of cash bonus based on attainment of company targets.
- Salary: $140,000-$170,000 per year, inclusive of bonus.
- Company equity opportunity on top of cash compensation.
- 100% covered Health, Vision, and Dental Insurance.
- 401(k) with 4% match.
- Additional perks, such as covered gym expenses.
- Substantial and required PTO.