Packaging Engineer (Basingstoke)

Lavazza Professional is the Business-to-business (B2B) arm of Lavazza Group; as a brand we have grown over the last 120 years from a small Italian artisanal company to an industrial giant. We remain family owned and our passion for quality coffee is coupled with a spirit of entrepreneurship, defined by innovation and a sense of responsibility. At Lavazza Professional, our goal is to fuel workplace productivity and wellness. We bring high performance vending technologies to offices and factory floors across the UK, partnering with some of the nation’s best loved drinks brands.

As a company, we are proud to announce our “Roadmap to Zero”, our aim is to completely neutralise the Group’s carbon footprint by the end of 2030. With an investment of about €50 million in the 2020-2023 period, you can be proud to join a company dedicated to sustainability, innovation, and employee development.

We are excited to announce that due to internal promotion we are recruiting for a Packaging Engineer based in our site in Basingstoke, North Hampshire.

Why join us?

• Competitive Salary - plus 10% annual bonus scheme
• Annual bonus scheme - performance and profit related
• Development opportunities
• Amazing benefits package
• Hybrid working

The Role

The job holder will be responsible for the delivery of packaging projects as required by the packaging sustainability strategy, innovation pipeline, value generation program or to ensure continuity of supply. Working through the packaging development process they will ensure that packaging solutions meet all legal, functional and customer/consumer requirements. They will work closely with and build effective networks with suppliers and key internal stakeholders (marketing, procurement and supply) to generate new ideas and execute effectively. Through keeping in touch with packaging trends and customer needs they will generate ideas to fuel the packaging strategy and in particular they will act as the voice of technology for their area of functional expertise. They will leverage technical functional skills related to packaging materials, data analysis and problem solving to provide technical support to the overall organisation where necessary.

Key Activities include:

• Design, validation and delivery of robust and consumer focussed packaging solutions
• Technical project management of allocated packaging projects, related to KLIX technology. Identifying, managing and influencing key stakeholders
• Keep up to date with latest market trends and new packaging technologies.
• Develop and maintain packaging specifications that are fit for purpose and volume manufacturing.
• Proactively work with suppliers to ensure packaging performance, also preventing and managing technical issues on existing packaging solutions
• Building relationships with both internal and external departments

Skills required:

Education/Qualifications: The ideal candidate will be Degree qualified in the physical sciences e.g. polymer science, materials science, chemistry or engineering - ESSENTIAL

FMCG: FMCG background, preferably food or pharmaceutical, with experience in packaged consumer goods and a proven experience of introducing and validating new packaging products and manufacturing processes - ESSENTIAL

Further Skills:

• Previous experience in supplier management.
• Good working knowledge of rigid packaging items such as tubs, pots, cartons & cases and their materials and manufacturing processes.
• Able to interpret and brief technical drawings (3D CAD experience not essential).
• Evidence of leading and delivering large technical work programs with a cross functional team.
• Experience of working a through stage and gate style product development processes.
• Demonstrated ability to use statistical data analysis tools to assess product/process performance.
• Proven ability and aptitude to apply technical knowledge within a commercial environment.
• Able to leverage interpersonal skills to form strong relationships and build networks.

Please only apply if you are based in the UK due to the recruitment and interview process. All successful candidates are subject to background checks which may include a DBS check. We cannot offer sponsorship for this role and we do not use recruitment agencies.