CPSNA Engineering Strategic Project Director

Job Description Summary:

The CPSNA Engineering Strategic Project Director will lead high‑impact initiatives at the Puerto Rico and/or Atlanta Plant. This role is accountable for delivering projects from equipment arrival through construction, commissioning, and Vertical Start‑Up (VSU), including developing protocols (IQ/OQ/PQ), training materials, operating procedures, and maintenance strategies (AM and RCM). The Director will integrate the best global practices, oversee on‑site execution, ensure safety, quality, and schedule compliance, and manage dedicated project managers for each initiative.

 

What You’ll Do for Us :

Key duties/responsibilities: 

Strategic Project Leadership

Lead the planning, execution, and delivery of high impact, multi-year strategic engineering projects that enable the future state of CPS North America capabilities.

Act as the single point accountability for assigned strategic initiatives, ensuring delivery against scope, schedule, cost, quality, and safety commitments.

Capital Project Execution & Governance

Support NA Engineering in large scale capital projects concept definition, and take the lead in assigned projects from detailed engineering through commissioning and handover, ensuring adherence to CPS Engineering standards, SPP financial controls, and CAPEX governance requirements.

Support NA Engineering team in project feasibility studies, option analysis, and business case development, including risk assessment, ROI evaluation, and alternative scenario recommendations. Collaborate to comply with company, regulatory, legal, environmental, food safety, and KORE requirements.

Oversee assigned projects’ change control, risk management, and issue resolution, escalating as needed to senior leadership.

Cross Functional & Stakeholder Management

Partner closely with Manufacturing, Maintenance, PQA, QSE, Supply Chain, Finance, IT, and Automation teams to ensure projects are fully integrated and operationally ready.

Serve as the primary interface with external engineering firms, OEMs, system integrators, and contractors, ensuring quality execution and contractual compliance.

Coordinate with CPS NA Engineering, Master Plan, Automation, and Transformation teams to ensure consistency and alignment across initiatives.

Technology, Innovation & Future Capability

Lead the deployment of new technologies, equipment, and manufacturing solutions that improve safety, capacity, quality, cost, and flexibility.

Evaluate emerging technologies and engineering solutions, supporting pilots, proof of concepts, and scale up decisions.

Support digitalization and automation initiatives in partnership with Automation and OE teams.

Commissioning, Validation & Operational Readiness

Lead final commissioning, qualification, and handover of projects to Operations, ensuring stable start ups and achievement of expected performance.

Partner with Manufacturing and PQA teams to support process validation, documentation, and training for new systems and technologies.

Ensure lessons learned are captured and embedded into engineering standards and future projects.

Change Management & Communication

Drive structured change management for strategic projects, ensuring stakeholder engagement, readiness, and adoption across impacted functions.

Communicate project status, risks, and decisions clearly to senior leadership and governance forums.

People Leadership & Capability Building

Lead, mentor, and develop project managers, engineers, and technical resources assigned to strategic initiatives.

Build strong project management and engineering execution capabilities through coaching, standards deployment, and best practice sharing.

Foster a culture of safety, accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement within project teams.

Continuous Improvement & Best Practices

Promote continuous improvement in project execution methodologies, tools, and governance.

Benchmark internally and externally to identify best practices in capital project delivery and engineering excellence.

Qualification & Requirements 

• Bachelor's degree in industrial, Production, Chemistry, Foods or similar graduation. Specialization in Production Engineering and Desirable MBA. 

• 15+ years of manufacturing, engineering, and maintenance experience in advanced processing environments.

• Desirable Experience in the position or similar function as: Operations Director, Engineering & Maintenance Director or OE & Digitalization Director 

Desirable Technical Skills:  

• Operations knowledge 

• Financial management 

• SAP-S4 knowledge  

• Operational Excellence – Lean Manufacturing. 

• Quality assurance  

• Production Process Optimization. 

• New Technologies/Automation. 

• Food Safety. 

• Warehouse Management 

• Production process in Food industries/Beverage (desirable). 

• Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) 

• Additional Fundamental / Personal Skills: 

• Cope and perform under uncertainty. 

• Strategic Thinking. 

• People and Customer oriented.  

• Changes Management.  

• Structured Problem Solving. 

• Adjustment /Flexibility. 

• Assertive Communication in all levels or the organization 

• Team Leadership.  

• Innovation. 

• Self-Development. 

• Negotiation

What We Can Do For You 

• Purpose Driven: Purpose driven approach that empowers our people to protect the environment and communities we serve while delivering safe & quality products. 

• Brand Reputation: We lead the beverage industry, with a portfolio featuring over 200 brands worldwide.

• Large & Connected Network: Ability & exposure to cross-functional connected teams across the country & globe allow you to enhance and maintain global connections that allow us to move faster and learn from others.

Skills:

Collaborative Leadership, Communication, Computer-Aided Design (CAD), Data Compilation, Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), Lean Six Sigma (LSS), Manufacturing Analytics, Mechanical Engineering, Microsoft Office, Process Control, Process Engineering, Production Processes, Quality Engineering, Risk Assessments, Statistical Process Control (SPC), Supply Chain Processes

Location(s):

Puerto Rico

City/Cities:

Cidra

Travel Required:

00% - 25%

Relocation Provided:

No

Job Posting End Date:

September 18, 2026

Our Purpose and Growth Culture:

We are taking deliberate action to nurture an inclusive culture that is grounded in our company purpose, to refresh the world and make a difference. We act with a growth mindset, take an expansive approach to what’s possible and believe in continuous learning to improve our business and ourselves. We focus on four key behaviors – curious, empowered, inclusive and agile – and value how we work as much as what we achieve. We believe that our culture is one of the reasons our company continues to thrive after 130+ years. Visit Our Purpose and Vision to learn more about these behaviors and how you can bring them to life in your next role at Coca-Cola.