Director of Engineering
Smurfit Westrock, Montgomery, AL, United States
Regional Director, Engineering
Role Overview
The Regional Director, Engineering is a leadership role within Smurfit Westrock, responsible for capital planning, governance, and execution across a region of the North American Mill system. This role ensures that capital investments are strategically aligned, rigorously prioritized, and executed with excellence to deliver safe, reliable, and competitive manufacturing assets.
Reporting to the Senior Director, Engineering and aligned with a Regional RVP/s the Regional Director serves as the bridge between executive leadership, mill operations, MTI technical teams, and external partners. Leveraging your strong industry experience and understanding of capital-intensive manufacturing environments, this leader drives collaboration across a broad set of stakeholders to successfully implement capital plans and continuously improve the capital project lifecycle.
The capital portfolio under direct oversight will be for the Consumer Mill system, Regions 3 and 4. Region 3 consists of 5 fully integrated mills, making SBS, CNK and Liner, and Region 4 is made up of 5 CRB mills as well as 3 coating facilities. The annual capital investment typically ranges between $200MM-$300MMy, spanning discretionary, sustaining, compliance, and strategic investments across the Consumer Mill network.
The Regional Director has one report, the Regional Engineering Manager for Region 4.
The Director is expected to lead with a strong bias for safety, operational excellence, accountability, and continuous improvement of people, processes, and tools, while fostering a collaborative, results-driven culture.
How You Will Impact Smurfit Westrock
The Regional Director will play a central role in ensuring Smurfit Westrock\u2019s long-term competitiveness by ensuring disciplined capital deployment and consistent performance. Key impacts include:
* Strengthening capital governance, predictability, and value realization across the mill system
* Ensuring alignment between strategic priorities and capital investment decisions
* Elevating execution standards for safety, cost, schedule, and quality
* Contributing directly to building organizational capability in capital planning, project delivery, and supplier management
* Driving continuous improvement in the capital project lifecycle and related enterprise processes
Key Responsibilities
Capital Portfolio Ownership
* You will be aligneddirectlywiththeRVP,Region3 andindirectlytheRVP,Region4, throughyour direct report,the RegionalEngineeringManager.
* Own theannualcapital portfolio for the North American Paper,ConsumerMill systemof Regions 3 and 4, ensuring alignment with mill strategies and business priorities.
* Maintain and continuously improve multi-year capital plans for each millin your region, incorporating strategic outlooks, asset health, and operational needs.
* Participateinthe annual capital planning and budgeting process in close collaboration withtheRegionalEngineeringGroup,operations, finance, and executive leadership.
* Participate in continuing to evolve capital planning, governance, and decision-making processes to improve speed, clarity, and value creation.
Stakeholder Management & Enterprise Collaboration
* Becloselyaligned and buildastrongrelationship oftrustwith your Regional VP.
* Act as a primaryconnectionbetween MTI, mill leadership, corporate functions, and executive leadership on capital-related matters.
* Build andmaintainstrong relationships withallinternal stakeholderssuch astheGMs,EMs, Finance, Safety and Environmental etc.ensuring alignment and shared ownership of outcomes.
* Facilitate the needs of key corporate functions\u2014including Safety, Environmental, Fiber Supply, Finance, Accounting, IT, Fixed Assets, Legal, and Procurement\u2014within the capital planning and execution frameworkfor yourregion.
* Influence across organizationalboundaries to resolve conflict, manage trade-offs, and drivetimelydecision-making.
Supplier & External Partner Management
* Participate,buildand managerelationships with OEMs, engineering firms, contractors, and third-party service providers.
* Partner closely with Procurement to improveexecution timelines andcommercial outcomes and reduce total installed cost.
* Own change management associated with major capital projects and supplier engagements.
* Develop deeper, more collaborative supplier partnerships to improveexecution, innovation, and cost competitiveness.
Process, Tools, and Capability Improvement
* Participate in drivingcontinuous improvement across the capital project lifecycle, from front-end loading through project closeout and benefit realization.
* Assistinidentifyingand implementingopportunities to improve efficiency, predictability, and value through better processes, tools, and governance.
* Leverageyour learnedindustry-leading methodologies and best practices tomaintaina competitive edge in capital project delivery.
* Proactivelyidentifyopportunities to apply capital discipline andexecutionexcellence in adjacent areas of the business.
People Leadership & Talent Development
* Developmentand mentorshipof your direct report/sin theRegionalrole andparticipateinidentifyingand fostering succession planning candidates internal and external to the company.
* Provide leadership,participation,training,directionand engagementtoengineeringresourceswithin thecompany.Identifydeficiencies and needs within the mill engineering group.
* Foster,the relationshipwith theMTI groupwhobringa resource ofexperienced professionals across multiple disciplinesincluding project management, project controls, discipline engineers andprocess and product innovation.
* Create a culture of collaboration, continuous improvement, and results-oriented execution.
* Lead with high integrity and transparency, reinforcing Smurfit Westrock\u2019s values and safety-first mindset.
Reporting to This Role
* Regional Engineering Manager-Region 4,Consumer CRB mills.
What You Need to Succeed
* EducationBachelor\u2019s Degree in Engineeringor closely related degree, stronglypreferred.
* Industry Experience:+10yearsof experienceinthecapital-intensive manufacturing environmentofthepaperandpackagingindustry is a must. Exposure tofully integratedpapermillsincluding coatingas well asrecyclefiberpaper millsis aplus.
* Technical Knowledge:Process knowledge of Paper Machines, Recovery and Power Boilers, Batch and Continuous Digesters, OCC/DLK Plants, Steam/Gas Turbines, Lime Kiln and Caustic Plants, Woodyards, and Wastewater Treatment Plants.
* Capital Expertise:DemonstratedLeadership of Project Managers/Engineers.Understanding ofcapital investment strategy, portfolio management, and large-scale project execution.
* Leadership & Influence:Proven ability to lead and influence across a complex, matrixed organization without direct authority.
* Execution Excellence:Demonstratedsuccess delivering capital programs with strong safety performance, cost control, and schedule discipline.
* Business Acumen:Understanding offinancial, operational, and strategic drivers of capital investment decisions.
* Collaboration:Strongstakeholder management skills with the ability to build alignment across diverse functional groups.
* Continuous Improvement Mindset:Track record of improving processes, tools, and organizational capabilities.
* Integrity & Accountability:A reputation for trust, transparency, and ownership of results.
Travel & Location
This role may be remote; however, Atlanta, GA is the primary reporting location. The position is expected to spend approximately:
* ~5% of time in Atlanta, and
* ~25% travelingto paper mills, suppliers, and external partnersdepending on needs.
Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) is the go-to leader and partner of choice in sustainable packaging. We are dedicated to creating efficient and scalable paper and packaging solutions to help solve complex packaging challenges. Guided by our values of safety, loyalty, integrity and respect, we are committed to delivering meaningful value for shareholders, customers, employees and the communities where we operate.
Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, protected veteran status or other characteristics protected by state or federal law.
Role Overview
The Regional Director, Engineering is a leadership role within Smurfit Westrock, responsible for capital planning, governance, and execution across a region of the North American Mill system. This role ensures that capital investments are strategically aligned, rigorously prioritized, and executed with excellence to deliver safe, reliable, and competitive manufacturing assets.
Reporting to the Senior Director, Engineering and aligned with a Regional RVP/s the Regional Director serves as the bridge between executive leadership, mill operations, MTI technical teams, and external partners. Leveraging your strong industry experience and understanding of capital-intensive manufacturing environments, this leader drives collaboration across a broad set of stakeholders to successfully implement capital plans and continuously improve the capital project lifecycle.
The capital portfolio under direct oversight will be for the Consumer Mill system, Regions 3 and 4. Region 3 consists of 5 fully integrated mills, making SBS, CNK and Liner, and Region 4 is made up of 5 CRB mills as well as 3 coating facilities. The annual capital investment typically ranges between $200MM-$300MMy, spanning discretionary, sustaining, compliance, and strategic investments across the Consumer Mill network.
The Regional Director has one report, the Regional Engineering Manager for Region 4.
The Director is expected to lead with a strong bias for safety, operational excellence, accountability, and continuous improvement of people, processes, and tools, while fostering a collaborative, results-driven culture.
How You Will Impact Smurfit Westrock
The Regional Director will play a central role in ensuring Smurfit Westrock\u2019s long-term competitiveness by ensuring disciplined capital deployment and consistent performance. Key impacts include:
* Strengthening capital governance, predictability, and value realization across the mill system
* Ensuring alignment between strategic priorities and capital investment decisions
* Elevating execution standards for safety, cost, schedule, and quality
* Contributing directly to building organizational capability in capital planning, project delivery, and supplier management
* Driving continuous improvement in the capital project lifecycle and related enterprise processes
Key Responsibilities
Capital Portfolio Ownership
* You will be aligneddirectlywiththeRVP,Region3 andindirectlytheRVP,Region4, throughyour direct report,the RegionalEngineeringManager.
* Own theannualcapital portfolio for the North American Paper,ConsumerMill systemof Regions 3 and 4, ensuring alignment with mill strategies and business priorities.
* Maintain and continuously improve multi-year capital plans for each millin your region, incorporating strategic outlooks, asset health, and operational needs.
* Participateinthe annual capital planning and budgeting process in close collaboration withtheRegionalEngineeringGroup,operations, finance, and executive leadership.
* Participate in continuing to evolve capital planning, governance, and decision-making processes to improve speed, clarity, and value creation.
Stakeholder Management & Enterprise Collaboration
* Becloselyaligned and buildastrongrelationship oftrustwith your Regional VP.
* Act as a primaryconnectionbetween MTI, mill leadership, corporate functions, and executive leadership on capital-related matters.
* Build andmaintainstrong relationships withallinternal stakeholderssuch astheGMs,EMs, Finance, Safety and Environmental etc.ensuring alignment and shared ownership of outcomes.
* Facilitate the needs of key corporate functions\u2014including Safety, Environmental, Fiber Supply, Finance, Accounting, IT, Fixed Assets, Legal, and Procurement\u2014within the capital planning and execution frameworkfor yourregion.
* Influence across organizationalboundaries to resolve conflict, manage trade-offs, and drivetimelydecision-making.
Supplier & External Partner Management
* Participate,buildand managerelationships with OEMs, engineering firms, contractors, and third-party service providers.
* Partner closely with Procurement to improveexecution timelines andcommercial outcomes and reduce total installed cost.
* Own change management associated with major capital projects and supplier engagements.
* Develop deeper, more collaborative supplier partnerships to improveexecution, innovation, and cost competitiveness.
Process, Tools, and Capability Improvement
* Participate in drivingcontinuous improvement across the capital project lifecycle, from front-end loading through project closeout and benefit realization.
* Assistinidentifyingand implementingopportunities to improve efficiency, predictability, and value through better processes, tools, and governance.
* Leverageyour learnedindustry-leading methodologies and best practices tomaintaina competitive edge in capital project delivery.
* Proactivelyidentifyopportunities to apply capital discipline andexecutionexcellence in adjacent areas of the business.
People Leadership & Talent Development
* Developmentand mentorshipof your direct report/sin theRegionalrole andparticipateinidentifyingand fostering succession planning candidates internal and external to the company.
* Provide leadership,participation,training,directionand engagementtoengineeringresourceswithin thecompany.Identifydeficiencies and needs within the mill engineering group.
* Foster,the relationshipwith theMTI groupwhobringa resource ofexperienced professionals across multiple disciplinesincluding project management, project controls, discipline engineers andprocess and product innovation.
* Create a culture of collaboration, continuous improvement, and results-oriented execution.
* Lead with high integrity and transparency, reinforcing Smurfit Westrock\u2019s values and safety-first mindset.
Reporting to This Role
* Regional Engineering Manager-Region 4,Consumer CRB mills.
What You Need to Succeed
* EducationBachelor\u2019s Degree in Engineeringor closely related degree, stronglypreferred.
* Industry Experience:+10yearsof experienceinthecapital-intensive manufacturing environmentofthepaperandpackagingindustry is a must. Exposure tofully integratedpapermillsincluding coatingas well asrecyclefiberpaper millsis aplus.
* Technical Knowledge:Process knowledge of Paper Machines, Recovery and Power Boilers, Batch and Continuous Digesters, OCC/DLK Plants, Steam/Gas Turbines, Lime Kiln and Caustic Plants, Woodyards, and Wastewater Treatment Plants.
* Capital Expertise:DemonstratedLeadership of Project Managers/Engineers.Understanding ofcapital investment strategy, portfolio management, and large-scale project execution.
* Leadership & Influence:Proven ability to lead and influence across a complex, matrixed organization without direct authority.
* Execution Excellence:Demonstratedsuccess delivering capital programs with strong safety performance, cost control, and schedule discipline.
* Business Acumen:Understanding offinancial, operational, and strategic drivers of capital investment decisions.
* Collaboration:Strongstakeholder management skills with the ability to build alignment across diverse functional groups.
* Continuous Improvement Mindset:Track record of improving processes, tools, and organizational capabilities.
* Integrity & Accountability:A reputation for trust, transparency, and ownership of results.
Travel & Location
This role may be remote; however, Atlanta, GA is the primary reporting location. The position is expected to spend approximately:
* ~5% of time in Atlanta, and
* ~25% travelingto paper mills, suppliers, and external partnersdepending on needs.
Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) is the go-to leader and partner of choice in sustainable packaging. We are dedicated to creating efficient and scalable paper and packaging solutions to help solve complex packaging challenges. Guided by our values of safety, loyalty, integrity and respect, we are committed to delivering meaningful value for shareholders, customers, employees and the communities where we operate.
Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, protected veteran status or other characteristics protected by state or federal law.