Principal Engineer, Freestyle Platform Engineering

Position Overview:
The Coca-Cola Freestyle Platform Engineering Team is seeking an experienced Principal Engineer in commercial design support. The Principal Engineer will work both independently and with internal and external teams to support the commercialization and enhancement phases of Coca-Cola Freestyle dispensers.  This position will work with others within The Coca-Cola System as well as with external resources such as consultants, suppliers, and manufacturers. The scope of a typical project will include idea generation, business case development, proof of concept, technical development, pilot and trial activities.  The candidate will have proven ability to successfully commercialize and support equipment and systems by leading project work and building excellent working relationships across functional areas within a business unit.

Function Related Activities/Key Responsibilities:

• Effectively communicate Program deliverables, Risks, Schedules and Budgets to inform the Business Leadership of critical decisions to be made.
• Lead the development of key subsystems within a Coca-Cola Freestyle dispenser from Concept through Commercialization using a Stage Gate structure and ensuring a robust design through the use of engineering tools.
• Execute commercialization and support plans for Coca-Cola Freestyle equipment including managing through the processes of: Stage Gate Change Control, Tooling, Manufacturing, and Multi-Market support, including International markets.
• Identify opportunities and lead projects to improve Life Cycle costs of Freestyle equipment through analysis of current state.
• Prioritize these opportunities against needs for the business for quality, cost, production rate, and emerging Freestyle developments.
• Communicate status of work to appropriate parties in order to keep them informed and involved.
• Ensure continuous personal development of industry knowledge and trends through supplier evaluation and qualification visits, on the job training, development partner coordination, and relevant training opportunities.

Education Requirements:

Minimum Education:  ABET Accredited Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering. Candidates with Bachelors of Electrical, Chemical, Industrial or Manufacturing Engineering may be considered with relevant work experience.

Preferred Education: Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering or Business

Related Work Experience:

• 10+ years in related mechanical design field, with strong knowledge of plastics design and molding, sheet metal design and forming, and creation of assemblies/BOM management.

Functional Skills:

• Cost Reduction: Demonstrated experience with improving designs based on cost reduction objectives. Focus for this area will be on sheet metal or plastic molded components and assemblies.
• Engineering Skills: Knowledge of mechanical design based on ASME Y14.5; Sheet Metal or Plastics materials and molding/forming methods; FEA, ProE/Creo design; Reliability and Stress testing; Root Cause Analysis
• Lead a team to design, fabricate and evaluate/assess (e.g., through laboratory testing) a working package, equipment or product prototype/sample against technical requirements, fit to concept or performance specifications (e.g., functionality and operational feasibility).
• Expert in choosing appropriate material for new designs to meet functional, aesthetic and reliability requirements.
• Identify, select, authorize and/or manage relationships with vendors or suppliers to ensure proper capabilities, conformance with Company standards and appropriate products and services (e.g., ingredients, materials, testing services).
• Direct a supplier or internal partner(s) in order to refine a concept to build preliminary test prototypes, perform design-for-manufacture exercises or produce cost estimates.
• Quality Management: Upstream supplier capability analysis and qualification; Cpk; Deviation and Waiver processes; Corrective Action Reports.
• Basic problem-solving: The ability to identify technical performance gaps, use data mining and analytical tools to identify root causes, and use engineering skills and tools to develop and implement solutions to technical problems
• BOM Management: Building assemblies and subassemblies for a full dispenser that translates easily to manufacturing subassemblies and service kits.  Maintaining the BOM to accurately portray the quantities and costs of all of the components necessary to build the dispenser.  Experience with Windchill a plus.
• Knowledge of regulatory in any the areas of NSF, UL, ETL, CE, or FCC is a plus.