Packaging Engineer

As a Packaging Engineer within Distinctive Brands, you will design, develop, and produce packages for our brands ensuring efficient manufacturing and use of raw materials, as well as exceptional user experiences. You will be a key member of the R&D team supporting projects across multiple categories and temperature states. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to delight our customers and consumers through safe, impactful packaging experiences while partnering with our Scientists and Chefs to ensure optimal product and packaging interaction. This role will play a pivotal role in driving innovation, renovation, quality improvement, continuous improvement, and value engineering. In addition to your responsibilities to design, develop, test and implement new and existing products/packaging, we will ensure design excellence is met through:

Containment – functional protection of our product from point-of-manufacture to point-of-use.

Costs – designing to price, profitability, and product protection.

Convenience – creating packaging that is intuitive, easy to open, dispense, and dispose of.

Communication – conveying the features and benefits of our brands, usage instructions for the product, and recycling information for the packaging.

Role Responsibilities

• Leverages technical experience, R&D and industry insights to develop, implement, and execute creative packaging solutions, including designing trial protocols, to achieve project goals and deadlines.
• Drives creative structural packaging development, as part of Innovation/Renovation projects that delivers on consumer insights, key brand attributes, and manufacturability.
• Own/identify productivity opportunities, including short term trouble shooting, to deliver projects to continuously improve overall packaging performance

• Understand rapid prototyping to drive fast test-and-learn designs. Embrace iterative development and be comfortable with learning from failure.
• Perform line trials, collect data/production records, and troubleshoot where applicable, ensuring adherence to trial protocols and clearly reporting results.
• Perform distribution tests, pallet inspections, and functional assessments to validate packaging integrity and performance throughout the supply chain.
• Develop and manage technical specifications for packaging components and finished goods, ensuring compliance and consistency.
• Provide support to the Packaging Manager in daily tasks including experimental design and trial-related activities, to contribute to the success of packaging projects.

Skills/Experience Required

• Bachelor's degree in Packaging Science, Packaging Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 1-4 years of experience in the consumer products industry; manufacturing environment experience is preferred. Co-op experience will be considered.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint); familiarity with TOPS/CAPE software is preferred.
• Exceptional interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills, coupled with strong organizational and project management abilities.
• Detail-oriented with the capacity to manage multiple tasks simultaneously in a fast-paced environment.
• Ability to thrive in a collaborative team setting with minimal supervision and adhere to tight deadlines.
• Strong relationship-building skills with both internal and external stakeholders.
• Team player with positive demeanor and can-do attitude

Job Qualifications

• This is an onsite role (minimum of 3 days per week) and based in Austin, TX
• Travel up to 30%, including visits to manufacturing plants and vendor locations.
• Proficient in developing technical specifications for packaging materials in frozen and shelf-stable food industries, including expertise in glass, corrugated, paperboard, labels, plastics (rigid & flexible), and printing processes.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills with technical and non-technical teams.
• Results-oriented mindset with a focus on continuous improvement and problem-solving.
• Ability to provide technical analysis of packaging materials and offer feedback on design and manufacturing viability.
• Strong analytical skills and computer competency, preferably experienced with MS suite of products.

The targeted budget for this position is $70-$90K per year. This compensation budget range may be adjusted at any time at the discretion of the company.

About Us:

Sovos Brands, Inc. is a consumer-packaged food company focused on acquiring and building disruptive growth brands that bring today’s consumers great tasting food that fits the way they live. The Company’s product offerings include a variety of pasta sauces, dry pasta, soups, frozen entrées, frozen pizza and yogurts, all of which are sold in North America under the brand names Rao’s, Michael Angelo’s and noosa. All Sovos Brands’ products are built with authenticity at their core, providing consumers with one-of-a-kind food experiences that are genuine, delicious, and unforgettable. The Company is headquartered in Louisville, Colorado. For more information on Sovos Brands and its products, please visit www.sovosbrands.com

We offer attractive compensation packages based upon background and experience. Package includes base salary, incentive bonus, medical benefits, 401K, and PTO. We maintain a drug and alcohol-free workplace. All candidates offered a position are required to pass a pre-employment drug test. We participate in E-Verify. Sovos Brands is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. Sovos Brands is also committed to compliance with all fair employment practices regarding citizenship and immigration status.