Director, Civil and Building Engineering

fairlife, LLC is a Chicago-based nutrition company that creates great-tasting, nutrition-rich and dairy products to nourish consumers.

With over $3B in annual retail sales, fairlife’s portfolio of delicious, lactose-free, real dairy products includes: fairlife® ultra-filtered milk ; Core Power® High Protein Shakes, a sports nutrition drink to support post-workout recovery; fairlife® nutrition plan™ , a nutrition shake to support the journey to better health.

A wholly owned subsidiary of The Coca-Cola company, fairlife, LLC has been recognized by both Fast Company and Nielsen for its industry leading innovation.

To learn more about fairlife and its complete line of products, please visit fairlife.com .

job purpose :

The Civil, Building, and Wastewater Engineering Director serves as the primary executive lead in delivering these workstreams for large-scale greenfield and brownfield dairy beverage projects typically exceeding $250M. This leader is accountable for delivering these workstreams across the entire lifecycle of the project within scope, budget, schedule and safely.

Responsibility includes facilitating collaboration between Engineering, Operations, Supply Chain and Technical stakeholders. Accountabilities include leading a project management team for feasibility assessments, design, permitting, procurement, construction and commissioning.

responsibilities:

Front-End Engineering, Detailed Design Strategic Procurement

Integrated Project Definition: Lead the progression from Site Plan and Conceptual Design through to Detailed Design, ensuring facility layouts optimize logistics, personnel flow, and long-term expansion capability.

Technical Design Leadership: Direct the engineering of all civil, architectural and structural, and wastewater workstreams. Ensure detailed design packages are fully integrated with MEP systems and meet dairy-specific GMP standards. Ensure designs are compliant with all plan and environmental approvals.

Strategic Procurement: Own the procurement strategy, including the selection and contract negotiation of Architectural Engineering (A E) firms, sourcing of long-lead specialized equipment and General Contractor Selection

Value Engineering: Continuously review designs to ensure technical scope aligns with the budget without compromising functionality, sanitary integrity or safety.

Interdisciplinary Interface Workstream Coordination

Cross-Functional Integration: Serve as a bridge between Building/Civil workstreams and the Processing, Utility, and Packaging workstreams

Utility Interface Management: Coordinate precise tie-in points for process and packaging building services (Drains and Selected MEP Trades). Ensure structural penetrations, structural supports and floor loadings support production requirements.

Equipment Integration: Lead spatial coordination for equipment arrivals ensuring 'Path of Construction' and 'Rigging Access' are maintained.

Conflict Resolution: Act as an authority to resolve physical or sequence-of-work conflicts between the General Contractor and equipment OEMs / other contractors onsite

Construction Execution, GMP Standards Commissioning

Construction Leadership: Manage the General Contractor (GC), serving as the ultimate authority for on-site safety, quality control, and adherence to the project schedule, budget and management of any change orders and risks.

GMP Compliance Finishing: Accountable for the selection and execution of sanitary finishes to ensure compliance with regulatory bodies and internal standards

Commissioning Handover: Lead the commissioning of all trades within the workstream with a specific focus on MEP trades and wastewater systems

Ensure correct and detailed as built drawings and documentation is turned over to operations and engineering stakeholders

External Stakeholder Utility Management

Public Affairs Permitting: Serve as the primary liaison with City/Town officials and local authorities to navigate zoning, permitting, and regulatory approvals. Ensure a positive and collaborative relationship is maintained between the business and these stakeholders.

Utility Infrastructure Coordination: Manage relationships with external utility providers to ensure that power, water, and gas infrastructure is built and energized to support the $250M+ expansion timeline

skills/qualifications required:

Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical, Civil or Structural Engineering

15+ Years of experience delivering capital projects with a focus on civil, building and utilities in large scale food and beverage plants

Strong knowledge of building services and systems

Effective cost management, forecasting, and budget experience.

Strong engineering project life cycle understanding

In depth experience with systems and processes to manage scope, budget and schedule

Strong leadership skills with growth mindset. Ability to lead cross functional teams and influence others.

Effective collaborative skills and ability to work with a di…