Furniture Packaging Engineer

Position: Furniture Packaging EngineerCompany: Metropolitan Warehouse & DeliveryLocation: High Point / Greensboro , NC. Hybrid role with travel required to support warehouse operations, customers, manufacturers, vendors, packaging suppliers, and testing partners.Pay Range: $95,000 - $125,000Travel: Approximately 20%-30%, including travel to Metropolitan facilities, customer locations, manufacturing sites, vendor and packaging supplier locations, and testing laboratories.Schedule: Primarily 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., with flexibility required to support operational testing, field evaluations, customer and vendor visits, and other business needs.Position OverviewThe Furniture Packaging Engineer will serve as Metropolitan Warehouse & Delivery's subject-matter expert for furniture packaging, product protection, and damage prevention, supporting both Metropolitan operations and our customers.The role will lead the technical evaluation, development, testing, and continuous improvement of packaging and product-protection solutions for furniture, home furnishings, oversized products, and other high-value consumer goods moving through Metropolitan's network.The primary objective is to reduce product damage throughout the complete distribution journey by improving how products are packaged, unitized, loaded, received, stored, handled, transported, delivered, and returned. This role will also establish a customer-facing packaging advisory capability for Metropolitan. The Packaging Engineer will work directly with customers, manufacturers, vendors, packaging suppliers, and testing laboratories to assess packaging performance, identify failure modes, recommend improvements, support packaging validation, and help customers establish practical packaging and vendor-compliance standards. Using Metropolitan's unique visibility across warehousing, transportation, final-mile delivery, claims, returns, and the consumer delivery experience, the Packaging Engineer will help customers understand where and why product damage occurs and what changes can be made upstream to prevent it.Based in the High Point / Greensboro, North Carolina area, the position is intentionally located near one of the country's largest concentrations of furniture manufacturers, suppliers, designers, packaging resources, and home furnishings companies. The Packaging Engineer will leverage this proximity while working across Metropolitan's national network.The successful candidate will understand the relationship between product design, packaging design, manufacturing, container loading, warehousing, material handling, transportation, final-mile delivery, and reverse logistics. This is a hands-on engineering and advisory role for someone equally comfortable reviewing specifications and claims data, inspecting damaged furniture in a warehouse, observing container loading at a manufacturer, conducting packaging tests, and presenting actionable recommendations directly to customers.Ultimately, this role will help position Metropolitan as more than a warehousing and final-mile provider. It will strengthen our ability to serve as a strategic product-protection partner that helps customers reduce damage, claims, returns, replacement costs, and consumer dissatisfaction throughout the furniture supply chain.Primary ResponsibilitiesPackaging Engineering & Product Protection- Serve as Metropolitan's subject-matter expert for furniture packaging, product protection, and damage prevention.- Evaluate packaging for furniture, home furnishings, oversized, fragile, and high-value products and identifyvulnerabilities throughout the distribution journey.- Design and recommend practical packaging solutions using corrugated materials, foam and cushioning, corner andedge protection, blocking and bracing, protective films, pallets, crates, strapping, stretch wrap, and other protectivematerials.- Develop product-specific packaging, loading, storage, handling, and transportation recommendations that balancedamage prevention, cost, cube utilization, sustainability, operational efficiency, and the consumer delivery experience.- Review new products and SKUs before launch to identify packaging and handling risks before volume entersMetropolitan's network.Customer Packaging Advisory- Serve as a technical packaging advisor to Metropolitan customers, helping them identify packaging risks, understanddamage trends, and develop practical corrective actions.- Conduct customer packaging assessments and provide data-backed recommendations based on product characteristics,claims, damage, returns, OS&D, operational observations, and delivery performance.- Work directly with customers, manufacturers, vendors, and packaging suppliers to improve packaging design andexecution.- Help customers develop packaging specifications, vendor requirements, compliance standards, and corrective-actionprograms.- Participate in customer onboarding, new-product launches, business reviews, and strategic customer initiatives wherepackaging or product protection is a material consideration.- Support Sales and Customer Success with technical expertise for prospective and existing customers when packaging,product fragility, or damage risk is part of the solution.- Develop repeatable Metropolitan packaging-assessment tools, standards, scorecards, and customer-facing deliverables.Packaging Testing & Validation- Apply appropriate ISTA, ASTM, and other recognized packaging and transportation testing methodologies based onproduct characteristics and anticipated distribution conditions.- Develop packaging test plans involving drop, impact, vibration, compression, stacking, shock, tip-over, handling, andtransportation simulation as applicable.- Coordinate testing with customers, manufacturers, packaging suppliers, and qualified third-party laboratories.- Interpret test results, identify failure modes, recommend modifications, and help validate revised packaging solutionsbefore broad implementation.- Maintain appropriate documentation of packaging specifications, testing, findings, corrective actions, and validationresults.Damage Analysis & Root Cause- Investigate product damage and packaging failures using claims, OS&D, concealed damage, returns, customercomplaints, warehouse information, delivery exceptions, photographs, and field observations.- Determine whether failures are related to product design, packaging, manufacturing, container loading, palletization,warehousing, material handling, transportation, final-mile handling, or other conditions.- Conduct structured root-cause analysis and develop corrective actions to reduce recurring failures.- Partner with QEHS and Operations to distinguish packaging-related failures from operational handling issues andaddress both where appropriate.- Establish standardized damage classifications and failure modes to improve Metropolitan's ability to identify and act onsystemic trends.Furniture, Manufacturing & Supplier Expertise- Develop product-protection standards specific to furniture and home furnishings, including upholstery, case goods, RTAfurniture, tables, beds, stone and marble, glass, mirrors, lighting, and other high-risk categories.- Visit manufacturers, suppliers, customer locations, and Metropolitan facilities to observe product assembly, packaging,container loading, palletization, warehousing, transportation, and final-mile handling.- Work with manufacturers and packaging suppliers to develop and pilot practical packaging improvements.- Evaluate whether customer and manufacturer packaging specifications are being consistently executed at the point ofmanufacture.Distribution & Final-Mile Optimization- Evaluate packaging performance across the complete product journey, including international manufacturing, oceancontainers, transload, warehousing, cross-dock, linehaul, LTL, parcel, final-mile delivery, and reverse logistics.- Develop recommendations for palletization, stacking, unit-load stability, container and trailer loading, load securement,blocking and bracing, and product-specific handling.- Incorporate the realities of final-mile delivery into packaging recommendations, including unloading, carrying, room-of-choice placement, unpacking, assembly, debris removal, and returns.- Partner with Operations to establish special handling requirements when packaging alone cannot adequately mitigateproduct risk.Continuous Improvement & Analytics- Analyze damage and claims performance by customer, manufacturer, vendor, SKU, product category, facility,transportation lane, delivery market, and failure mode.- Prioritize packaging-improvement opportunities based on frequency, severity, customer impact, and financial impact.- Measure performance before and after packaging changes to validate results and quantify improvements.- Quantify reductions in claims, replacements, returns, redelivery, handling, disposal, and other costs associated withproduct damage.- Build and maintain a centralized Metropolitan library of packaging standards, approved solutions, test results, failuremodes, corrective actions, and lessons learned.- Use insights from across Metropolitan's network to proactively advise customers and improve Metropolitan's ownoperating practices.Key Performance IndicatorsPerformance measures may include:- Overall Product Damage Rate: Reduction in damage for products, customers, and categories supported by packaging-engineering initiatives.- Packaging-Related Claims: Reduction in packaging-attributable claim frequency and severity.- Repeat Failure Rate: Reduction in recurring packaging and product-protection failure modes.- Corrective Action Effectiveness: Percentage of packaging corrective actions completed and demonstrated to improveperformance.- Customer Packaging Assessments: Completion and effectiveness of packaging assessments, recommendations, andimprovement plans for priority customers.- New Product / SKU Reviews: Percentage of identified high-risk products reviewed before launch or networkintroduction.- Packaging Validation: Completion of agreed testing and validation programs for priority products and packagingchanges.- Vendor Packaging Compliance: Improvement in adherence to established customer and Metropolitan packagingrequirements.- Customer Improvement Results: Measurable damage, claims, returns, or cost reduction following customer packaginginitiatives.- Cost Avoidance / Savings: Quantifiable reduction in claims, replacements, redelivery, returns, disposal, handling, andother damage-related costs.- Packaging & Cube Optimization: Improvements in packaging material usage, cube utilization, unitization, andtransportation efficiency without compromising product protection.- Customer Value & Adoption: Customer utilization, implementation, and demonstrated value of Metropolitan packaging-engineering recommendations.QualificationsRequired / Core Qualifications- Bachelor's degree in Packaging Engineering, Packaging Science, Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering,Materials Science, or a related technical discipline preferred. Relevant packaging engineering and furniture industryexperience may be considered in place of a specific degree.- Demonstrated experience evaluating, designing, testing, or improving packaging for furniture, home furnishings,appliances, consumer durables, oversized, fragile, or other high-value products.- Strong working knowledge of packaged-product testing methodologies and familiarity with ISTA standards andprotocols.- Strong knowledge of corrugated materials, foam and cushioning systems, blocking and bracing, protective materials,pallets, crates, strapping, stretch wrap, and other packaging systems.- Understanding of shock, vibration, compression, impact, stacking, abrasion, package dynamics, and othertransportation and handling hazards.- Understanding of palletization, container loading, trailer loading, unit-load stability, and load-securement principles.- Strong understanding of warehouse, transportation, distribution, and final-mile operating environments.- Experience conducting structured root-cause analysis and developing corrective actions.- Ability to analyze claims, damage, operational, and product data and connect findings to specific packaging,manufacturing, handling, and transportation conditions.- Ability to translate technical engineering concepts into clear, practical recommendations for customers, manufacturers,suppliers, warehouse teams, and delivery operations.- Strong customer-facing communication, presentation, technical writing, and problem-solving skills.- Comfortable working hands-on in warehouses, manufacturing facilities, testing environments, and field operations.- Ability and willingness to travel approximately 20%-30%.Preferred Experience & Certifications- Degree from a recognized Packaging Engineering or Packaging Science program.- ISTA Certified Packaging Laboratory Professional (CPLP) or other relevant ISTA training or certification.- Experience applying ISTA packaged-product testing protocols and ASTM transportation or packaging standards.- Direct experience with furniture or home furnishings manufacturing, packaging, or distribution.- Understanding of furniture construction, materials, manufacturing processes, and common furniture damage modes.- Experience with international manufacturing, ocean transportation, import supply chains, and container loading.- Experience working with packaging laboratories, testing equipment, and packaging suppliers.- Experience with packaging CAD, design, or specification-development software.- Experience developing customer or vendor packaging standards and compliance programs.- Lean Six Sigma, structured problem-solving, or continuous-improvement experience.- Experience presenting technical findings and recommendations directly to customers and senior business stakeholders.#OS123