Location: Lancaster, PA - Onsite, 5 Days/Week

Reports to: Maintenance & Engineering Manager

Employment Type: Full-Time

Position Overview

Trillium Foods is seeking a hands-on Electrical Engineer to support capital projects, automation, controls, and electrical systems within our food and beverage manufacturing operations.

This role will be actively involved in the design, development, installation, and improvement of electrical and automation systems supporting food processing, production, packaging, and facility operations. The Electrical Engineer will work directly with equipment and systems on the manufacturing floor, providing technical expertise from initial project concept and equipment specification through programming, installation, commissioning, startup, and ongoing optimization.

The ideal candidate will bring hands-on electrical engineering, automation, and controls experience within the food and beverage manufacturing industry, along with experience supporting capital projects from concept through commissioning and startup.

This is not a role focused solely on coordinating or delegating engineering work. We are looking for someone who enjoys being directly involved in the technical work, solving problems, developing practical solutions, and taking ownership of projects and assignments.

The Electrical Engineer will work closely with Operations, Maintenance, Engineering, Quality, EHS, OEMs, contractors, and external engineering partners while maintaining direct technical involvement throughout projects.

Key Responsibilities

Capital Projects & Project Ownership

Take ownership of assigned capital projects supporting food processing, production, packaging, utilities, and facility operations.

Develop project scopes, budgets, schedules, equipment specifications, technical requirements, and implementation plans.

Provide hands-on electrical and controls engineering throughout project design, installation, commissioning, and startup.

Evaluate new equipment and technologies and ensure electrical and controls requirements are appropriately incorporated into equipment specifications.

Work directly with OEMs, vendors, contractors, integrators, and external engineering partners while maintaining internal ownership of technical requirements and project execution.

Review and challenge technical recommendations, drawings, specifications, and proposed solutions to ensure they meet operational, engineering, food safety, and reliability requirements.

Support equipment installation, testing, commissioning, validation, and production startup directly on the manufacturing floor.

Track project costs, schedules, risks, and performance while minimizing disruption to production.

Identify opportunities to improve safety, food quality, equipment reliability, efficiency, capacity, and overall manufacturing performance.

Automation & Controls

Design, program, troubleshoot, modify, and optimize PLC and HMI systems supporting food and beverage manufacturing equipment and processes.

Develop and implement automation solutions using PLCs, HMIs, SCADA systems, VFDs, industrial networks, instrumentation, and process controls.

Support automation associated with processing, batching, mixing, filling, material handling, packaging, conveying, and other production systems.

Troubleshoot controls and automation issues directly on production equipment and develop sustainable corrective solutions.

Support integration between production equipment, controls, instrumentation, and related systems.

Lead or support commissioning and startup of new and modified automated equipment.

Develop and maintain control narratives, functional specifications, I/O documentation, electrical drawings, and other technical documentation.

Electrical Engineering

Design, specify, troubleshoot, and support industrial electrical systems, including low- and medium-voltage distribution.

Develop and review one-line diagrams, load calculations, panel schedules, electrical drawings, and equipment specifications.

Support motor control centers (MCCs), switchgear, transformers, generators, backup power systems, motors, drives, and other electrical infrastructure supporting plant operations.

Support arc flash studies, short-circuit analysis, electrical coordination studies, energy efficiency initiatives, and electrical reliability improvements.

Ensure electrical systems and work comply with NEC, NFPA 70E, OSHA, and applicable electrical and safety requirements.

Food & Beverage Manufacturing Support

Maintain a strong presence on the manufacturing floor and provide hands-on technical support to Operations and Maintenance.

Troubleshoot complex electrical, automation, controls, and equipment issues affecting production.

Partner with Operations and Maintenance on root cause analysis, corrective actions, equipment reliability, and continuous improvement.

Develop engineering solutions that consider food safety, sanitary design, product quality, cleanability, employee safety, and production requirements.

Support preventive and predictive maintenance initiatives for electrical and controls systems.

Work effectively in an environment where engineering projects and troubleshooting activities must be coordinated around active production and sanitation schedules.

Build strong working relationships across all levels of the organization and communicate technical information effectively to both technical and non-technical audiences.

Engineering Standards, Food Safety & Compliance

Trillium Foods jobs

electrical engineer