Senior Building & Safety Project Manager

Ready for more than just a job? Build a career with purpose.

At Lactalis in the USA, we’re committed to providing meaningful opportunities for our people to learn, grow, and thrive—whether you’re just starting your journey with us or looking to take the next step in your career. From day one, we offer the tools and support to help you succeed.

As the world leader in dairy, Lactalis is a family-owned company with over 85,000 pragmatic and ambitious professionals across the globe. Each day, we’re proud to produce award-winning dairy products that bring people together.

In the US, we proudly offer an unrivaled house of beloved brands, including Galbani® Italian cheeses and ricotta, Président® specialty cheeses and butters, Kraft® natural and grated cheeses, Breakstone’s® cottage cheese, Cracker Barrel®, Black Diamond® cheddar, and Parmalat® milk. Our yogurt portfolio includes siggi’s®, Stonyfield Organic®, Brown Cow™, Oui®, Yoplait®, Go-Gurt®, :ratio®, Green Mountain Creamery®, and Mountain High®, along with a growing family of ethnic favorites like Karoun®, Gopi®, and Arz®.

At Lactalis, we live by our core values—Ambition, Engagement, and Simplicity. We foster a workplace where innovation thrives, diverse perspectives are celebrated, and everyone’s unique background and ideas are valued.

Even if you don’t meet every qualification, we encourage you to apply. We want to hear about your PASSION, your STORY, and how your EXPERTISE can help us shape the future of dairy.

From your PASSION to ours

Lactalis USA, part of the Lactalis family of companies, is currently hiring a Senior Building & Safety Project Manager based in Buffalo, New York, Chicago, Illinois or Tulare, CA. The Sr. Building & Safety Project Manager is responsible for managing and leading projects related to the Building and Safety of all our offices & plants, from design to full implementation, supporting the plant operations and ensure it meets the local regulatory requirements and follows Lactalis Property Loss Prevention Guidelines & Standards. Working with Plant Operations, Engineering, Environment and Safety, the Sr. Building & Safety Project Manager will be responsible for the design of any new building and expansion, optimizing the spaces for offices or manufacturing sites and including Fire prevention, extreme weather protection, utilities monitoring, security systems and safety of the sites, buildings and equipment.

The position will be based in one of the main manufacturing sites Londonderry NH, Buffalo NY, Nampa ID, Tulare CA or in the corporate office located in Chicago Il. Travel will be required up to

50% of the time to plants based in NY, WI, CA, ID, NH, VT, AZ, TN & MI or to manufacturers/vendors site locations nationally and internationally.

From your EXPERTISE to ours

Key responsibilities for this position include:

• Perform audits of the manufacturing plants and offices to monitor deficiencies & noncompliance versus local regulations or Lactalis Guidelines & Standards,
• Participate in testing & evaluates installed systems,
• Study optimization possibilities with actual systems,
• Propose upgrades and/or replacements as needed,
• Develop drawings, scopes of work, budgets and timelines as needed to prepare a project for submittal.
• Verify stamped engineered drawings.
• Participate and follow up on building permitting process steps with local agencies,
• Source vendors, negotiate and acquire quotes for project investments.
• Source, negotiate and acquire quotes for budgetary needs
• Manage projects,
• Track projects cost and maintain them within budget,
• Coordinate project review meetings to include setting them up, keeping meeting notes, and reporting out results to key stakeholders.
• Manage principles for the effective execution of projects,
• Store all approved documents in an organized environment physically and electronically,
• Work cross-functionally to ensure projects meet the needs of all key stakeholders to include but not be limited to Quality, Food Safety, Planning, Operations, and Maintenance.
• Attend Site Acceptance Tests as required to validate installed systems.

From your STORY to ours

Qualified applicants will contribute the following:

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in construction, architecture or engineering.

Experience

• 5+ years’ experience working on capital expenditure projects as project manager,
• Building construction expertise required,
• Manufacturing Industry required, Food preferred,
• Fire prevention, extreme weather, Utility monitoring systems knowledge required,
• Energy saving project

Specialized Knowledge

• Microsoft Office, Advanced Excel skills; macros, pivot tables, AutoCAD (equipment & P&ID dwg)
• Regulatory agencies requirements (OSHA, DEQ, PSM, PHA, …… ).

Skills / Abilities

• Strong attention to detail
• Ability to audit, investigate and improve manufacturing process machinery,
• Effectively communicate to internal and external customers,
• Prioritization, organization, time management, and follow-up skills,
• Continuous improvement mindset,
• Ability to work with minimum supervision,
• Ability to travel to plant and machine manufacturers sites nationally and internationally.

At Lactalis, we offer a comprehensive Total Rewards Program with a variety of affordable benefits and coverage options. We support insurance costs significantly, contribute generously to retirement plans, and offer Paid Time Off from day one. We are committed to your professional growth, providing training and development opportunities, including Education Reimbursement. Join us and grow your career.

Lactalis is an equal employment opportunity employer. We will not discriminate against applicants with regard to any legally-recognized basis including, but not limited to: veteran status, race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, sexual orientation, and physical or mental disabilities. Further, any division of the Company that is an Affirmative Action Employer will comply with all related legal obligations.