Vice President of Engineering and Construction

The Vice President of Engineering & Construction is an enterprise executive leadership role responsible for directing the strategic development, engineering governance, and on-site construction execution of the organization’s annual Capital Expenditure (CapEx) program.

This role bridges executive capital allocation strategy with site-level engineering and field execution across a multi-site, heavy continuous-process industrial footprint (e.g., rendering, agricultural processing, biofuels, and specialty ingredients). The VP oversees the full project lifecycle—from Front-End Loading and conceptual design through detailed engineering, procurement, construction management, and operational commissioning. Working in close partnership with Business Unit Leaders, Plant Operations, EHS, Reliability, and Finance, the VP ensures all capital assets are delivered safely, on schedule, within budget, and built for long-term operational reliability and lowest total cost of ownership.

Essential Duties/Responsibilities

Nothing in this job description restricts management’s right to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to this job at any time.

• Establish and champion an uncompromising safety culture across all job sites, enforcing strict Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) contractor management standards, pre-qualification criteria, and site-level compliance audits.

• Direct the multi-year capital investment pipeline, prioritizing and executing greenfield, major brownfield expansion, facility modernization, environmental compliance, and asset replacement projects.

• Institutionalize and enforce a rigorous project review system to ensure project scope clarity, constructability, realistic scheduling, and capital risk mitigation prior to capital commitment.

• Partner with executive management and business unit leadership to build robust technical and financial business cases, including Net Present Value (□("NPV" )), Internal Rate of Return (□("IRR" )), and payback analysis.

• Formulate, mandate, and continuously improve enterprise engineering design specifications, process safety requirements, and equipment standards across mechanical, electrical, instrumentation/controls, and civil/structural disciplines.

• Partner with R&D, process technology leaders, and plant teams to evaluate and scale innovative continuous-process technologies.

• Champion Design for Reliability, Design for Maintainability, and energy efficiency principles during the FEED (Front-End Engineering Design) phase in coordination with Reliability and Asset Management teams.

• Provide strategic executive oversight for on-site construction managers and project directors, resolving field bottlenecks, permitting roadblocks, union/labor issues, and stakeholder alignment challenges.

• Oversee rigorous project controls frameworks, including Work Breakdown Structures (WBS), earned value management (EVM), capital cash-flow forecasting, contingency drawdown management, and strict change order governance.

• Direct strategic sourcing of long-lead process equipment (e.g., evaporators, cookers, presses, centrifuges, boilers, dryers) and bulk materials in coordination with Corporate Procurement to leverage enterprise buying power and optimize delivery milestones.

• Institutionalize formal post-project reviews (Look-Back Audits) to measure actual capital vs. budget, operational performance vs. investment thesis, and feed continuous lessons learned back into engineering design guidelines.

• Serve as the principal engineering authority before corporate executive leadership, municipal authorities, state/federal environmental regulators, and local communities.

• Other duties as assigned.
  

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor of Science in Engineering (Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical, Industrial, or related field)

• 15+ Years of Progressive Leadership: Demonstrated track record leading engineering and construction operations in continuous process industries (e.g., animal byproduct rendering, agricultural processing, biofuels, chemical manufacturing, food ingredients, or heavy industrial processing).

• 7+ Years in Executive/Senior Leadership: Substantial experience leading multi-site or global reliability, asset management, and continuous process improvement organizations.
  

Preferred Qualifications

• Master of Business Administration (MBA) or Master of Science in Engineering Management.

• 8+ Years of Senior Executive Scope: Direct accountability for managing enterprise-scale annual capital programs ($100M+ annually) across multi-site regional or global operating networks.

• Documented success delivering major greenfield builds ($50M+ to $250M+ individual project scale) and complex brownfield modifications within operating continuous plants.

• Extensive experience selecting, negotiating with, and managing major EPC/EPCM firms, specialized design engineering houses, equipment fabricators, and general construction contractors.
  

Working Conditions and Physical Demands - PLANT

• Frequently exposed to high noise levels, strong odors, varying temperatures, and biohazardous conditions.

• Requires prolonged sitting and movement throughout office/work locations, as well as occasional use of computers and office equipment.

• Must occasionally stoop, kneel, crouch, crawl, and climb or balance.

• Must be able to communicate effectively and identify potential workplace hazards.

• Requires the ability to frequently lift and/or move up to 100 lbs.
  

Working Conditions and Physical Demands – CORPORATE

• Position is based in an office environment.

• Occasional travel to off-site locations is required.

• Occasionally exposed to high noise levels, strong odors, varying temperatures, and biohazardous conditions.

• Requires prolonged sitting and movement throughout office/work locations, as well as occasional use of computers and equipment.

• Must occasionally stoop, kneel, crouch, crawl, and climb or balance.

• Must be able to communicate effectively and identify potential workplace hazards.

• Requires the ability to occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 lbs.