Director, Engineering

About Adams Group

Adams Group is a fifth-generation, family-owned specialty food company built on over 110 years of a simple but powerful belief: good food starts with good people. Founded on the principle of doing the right thing, we've grown to become the most trusted provider of high-quality specialty grains, oils, and seeds—delivering quality ingredients from seed to shelf.

Rooted in trusted farmer partnerships and vertically integrated operations, we combine agricultural expertise with intentional innovation to deliver specialty at scale. Our commitment to quality, sustainability, and integrity isn't just what we do—it's who we are.

Our Legacy of Innovation

While we stay true to our values, our success across five generations comes from our entrepreneurial spirit and ability to adapt to the needs of a changing food landscape. Embodying the spirit of California, we push boundaries, pioneer new standards, and create better-for-all alternatives that nourish people from infancy to adulthood.

More Than a Job—A Purpose

At Adams Group, we offer more than careers; we offer the opportunity to be part of something meaningful. Whether you're producing high-quality ingredients, supporting sustainable practices, or building trusted relationships across our global network, your work helps nourish lives and communities across generations.

We care deeply for our people, build strong relationships with our partners, deliver consistently for our customers, and enrich the communities we serve. Together, we're elevating industry standards and making a lasting impact on the world.

Join Our Story

Come be part of a legacy where good starts with you. At Adams Group, you don't just have a career—you have a legacy.

Our Core Values

At Adams Group, we live by five core values that guide everything we do:

• Quality in all we do
• Doing the right thing
• Building relationships for shared success
• Adapting to change
• Leaving the world better than we found it

Position Summary:

The Director of Engineering is a senior leadership role responsible for driving engineering strategy and execution across multiple Adams Group manufacturing sites. This position oversees Capital Project Engineering and Maintenance & Reliability, playing a critical role in enabling future expansion, operational excellence, and long-term company growth. The Director of Engineering partners closely with executive leadership to modernize assets, scale capacity, and ensure safe, reliable, and efficient operations across the enterprise.

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide strategic and operational leadership for all engineering activities across multiple manufacturing locations.
• Develop and execute long-term engineering and capital investment strategies to support future expansions, increased capacity, and strategic company growth.
• Lead the planning, design, budgeting, execution, and commissioning of major capital projects, including plant expansions, new processing lines, automation, and infrastructure upgrades.
• Oversee Maintenance and Reliability programs across sites, including preventive and predictive maintenance, asset lifecycle management, and reliability engineering initiatives.
• Establish standardized engineering, maintenance, and reliability best practices across all facilities to improve safety, uptime, and total cost of ownership.
• Partner cross-functionally with Operations, Quality, Food Safety, EHS, Supply Chain, and Finance to align engineering initiatives with business objectives and production requirements.
• Manage multi-site capital and maintenance budgets, ensuring disciplined project governance, cost control, and strong return on investment.
• Recruit, develop, and lead high-performing engineering, maintenance, and reliability teams; build organizational capability to support future scale.
• Manage relationships with external engineering firms, contractors, OEMs, and technology partners.
• Monitor asset performance metrics (e.g., uptime, OEE, MTBF) and drive continuous improvement initiatives using data-driven insights.
• Ensure all engineering activities comply with applicable safety, environmental, regulatory, and food manufacturing standards.

Required Qualifications:

Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical, or related discipline) or equivalent experience.
• 10+ years of progressive engineering leadership experience in a manufacturing environment; food or regulated industry experience preferred.
• Proven experience leading capital projects and maintenance/reliability functions in a multi-site or complex manufacturing organization.

Skills and Competencies:

• Strong strategic leadership and execution capabilities in a growth-oriented manufacturing environment.
• Deep expertise in capital project management, maintenance systems, and reliability best practices.
• Ability to translate long-term growth strategies into executable engineering road maps.
• Strong financial acumen, analytical skills, and data-driven decision-making ability.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills across all organizational levels.

Certifications/Licenses:

• Professional Engineer (PE),
• PMP
• Lean Six Sigma
• Reliability-related certifications

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience supporting greenfield or brownfield expansions, facility start-ups, or major capacity growth initiatives.
• Experience leading engineering organizations through modernization or transformation.
• Familiarity with automation, controls systems, and scalable manufacturing technologies.

Working Conditions:

• Primarily plant-based with regular presence in manufacturing and maintenance environments.
• Exposure to noise, moving equipment, and food manufacturing conditions.
• Travel between company sites and to vendors as required (approximately 20–30%).