Manager, Manufacturing Engineering & Continuous Improvement

Company Profile:

At CAVA, we make it deliciously simple to eat well and feel good every day. We are guided by a Mediterranean heritage that's been perfecting how to eat and live for four thousand years. We prioritize authenticity, curiosity and the pursuit of excellence in everything we do. We are working towards something big , together.

We foster a culture built on five core values:

• Generosity First, Always: We lead with kindness. Our best work happens when we act in service of others.
• Constant Curiosity: We are eager to learn, grow, and explore beyond the obvious.
• Act with Agility: We welcome change; it's the only constant. We embrace, adjust, adapt.
• Passion for Positivity: We greet each day with warmth and possibility.
• Collective Ambition: We have high aspirations that are achieved when we work together with a shared purpose.

At CAVA Foods we love what we do, and we manufacture every product to be as fulfilling as the last. At our manufacturing center we are looking for fanatics in food who take pride in our products and are ready to ensure every CAVA Restaurant and retail partner receives products that uphold the high-quality standards of our brand.

Love the food at our restaurants? CAVA Foods team members enjoy a Restaurant Meal Benefit that provides free and discounted meals every day of the week.

Manager, Manufacturing Engineering & Continuous Improvement

This position supports manufacturing engineering, capital projects, and continuous improvement initiatives across all three manufacturing facilities (Virginia, Maryland, Ohio). The role partners with Plant Leadership, Operations, Maintenance, Quality, and Supply Chain teams to identify, prioritize, and execute projects that improve safety, quality, capacity, reliability, and cost performance.

This is an engineering-led role with a strong continuous-improvement component. The successful candidate combines practical manufacturing knowledge with the ability to define requirements, coordinate technical partners, deliver projects, solve process problems, and sustain measurable results.

What You'll Do:

Manufacturing Engineering and Capital Projects

• Lead or support capital projects ranging from equipment upgrades and process improvements to major facility expansions and greenfield initiatives, managing projects from concept development through commissioning and operational handoff.
• Translate business and plant needs into process, equipment, facility, utility, budget, schedule, and implementation requirements.
• Develop business cases, project justifications, and capital expenditure recommendations for leadership review and approval.
• Evaluate equipment, technologies, layouts, and project proposals for performance, safety, reliability, sanitation, maintainability, and cost.
• Coordinate architects, engineers, vendors, fabricators, contractors, controls specialists, and internal stakeholders.
• Oversee equipment fabrication, testing, delivery, installation, integration, commissioning, production trials, and performance verification.
• Support training, documentation, maintenance readiness, and designs that accommodate future growth.
• Travel Requirement: Approximately 25-30% travel is expected between manufacturing locations, with the potential for increased travel during major capital expansion or greenfield projects.

Continuous Improvement and Operational Excellence

• Identify, prioritize, lead, and track improvement initiatives aligned with plant and business objectives.
• Apply Lean, Six Sigma, structured problem-solving, and data analysis to improve safety, quality, delivery, cost, productivity, and employee experience.
• Analyze operating data and frontline observations to identify losses, bottlenecks, recurring problems, waste, capacity constraints, and improvement opportunities.
• Lead cross-functional teams to implement, verify, and sustain improvements in throughput, yield, labor productivity, changeovers, sanitation, uptime, utilities, waste, and rework.
• Identify opportunities for automation, process simplification, improved material flow, and better use of production information.
• Facilitate or support Kaizen events, root cause analysis activities, and cross-functional improvement initiatives that drive measurable operational results.

Plant Technical Support and Reliability

• Serve as a technical resource to plant leaders and cross-functional teams on process, equipment, facility, utility, automation, and reliability matters.
• Support troubleshooting and corrective action for complex or recurring equipment and process problems.
• Partner with Maintenance to improve reliability, maintainability, preventive maintenance, spare-parts planning, and asset performance.
• Support controls, instrumentation, data-collection, condition-monitoring, equipment-replacement, and capital-planning initiatives.
• Standardize successful engineering, reliability, and improvement practices across facilities.

Food Safety, Quality, and Compliance

• Ensure engineering changes and project designs support GMPs, sanitary design, allergen control, traceability, environmental monitoring, and foreign-material prevention.
• Partner with Food Safety & Quality and Sanitation during equipment reviews, process changes, validation, commissioning, corrective actions, and production trials and ensure changes are documented, approved, and incorporated into procedures, training, maintenance plans, and operating standards.

The Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, manufacturing, food science & technology, or related technical discipline, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
• Five or more years of experience in manufacturing engineering, process engineering, plant engineering, continuous improvement, capital projects, or a related field.
• Experience in food, beverage, consumer packaged goods, pharmaceutical, dairy, or another sanitary or regulated manufacturing environment preferred.
• Demonstrated experience leading projects from concept through implementation, commissioning, startup, and operational handoff.
• Experience coordinating internal teams and external partners, including equipment suppliers, fabricators, contractors, engineers, and technical service providers.
• Experience developing project scopes, budgets, schedules, technical requirements, risk assessments, and financial justifications.
• Ability to travel regularly to manufacturing and project locations and to work occasional off-shift, weekend, or shutdown hours when project requirements dictate. Approximately 25-30% travel is expected between manufacturing locations, with the potential for increased travel during major capital expansion or greenfield projects.
• Preferred:
• Lean Six Sigma Green or Black Belt certification
• Experience facilitating Kaizen events and structured problem-solving workshops
• Demonstrated success implementing Lean manufacturing tools and continuous improvement methodologies.

Technical and Functional Knowledge

• Understanding of manufacturing processes, production equipment, packaging systems, material movement, utilities, automation, and facility systems.
• Ability to review and communicate technical information such as equipment layouts, process documentation, utility requirements, and vendor proposals.
• Working knowledge of sanitary design, hygienic equipment, cleanability, zoning, and food-manufacturing requirements.
• Experience evaluating equipment performance, capacity, bottlenecks, labor needs, reliability, maintainability, and operating cost.
• Ability to use operational data to evaluate downtime, throughput, yield, labor productivity, changeover, waste, utilities, and other performance measures.
• Familiarity with ERP, MES, production-data, traceability, or equipment-performance systems preferred.

Leadership and Behavioral Competencies

• Strong project leadership, organization, prioritization and attention to detail.
• Hands-on, analytical, and solution-oriented approach to plant problems.
• Ability to influence without direct authority and work effectively with plant leaders, operators, maintenance personnel, vendors, contractors, and executives.
• Comfort working in a changing environment with multiple projects, competing priorities, and incomplete information.

Physical Requirements:

• Ability to work in manufacturing, warehouse, utility, construction, and office environments.
• Ability to enter production areas that may be cold, wet, noisy, or require personal protective equipment and adherence to food-safety and hygiene requirements.
• Ability to walk, stand, climb stairs or ladders, and observe equipment and work activities in operating facilities and project environments.
• Ability to maintain stationary position to be able to operate a computer and other office equipment
• Must be able to identify, analyze and assess details
• Must be able to occasionally move or transport items up to 50 pounds
• Ability to communicate with others and exchange information accurately and effectively
• Ability to work in a constant state of alertness and in a safe manner

What we offer:

• Competitive salary, plus bonus and long-term incentives*
• Early Wage Access!
• Unlimited PTO, paid parental leave, plus paid opportunities to give back to the community*
• Six (6) paid holidays annually
• Paid sick leave
• Vacation accrual beginning at 3rd month
• Health, Dental, Vision, Telemedicine, Pet Insurance plus more!
• 401k enrollment with CAVA contribution
• Company-paid STD, LTD, Life and AD&D coverage for salaried positions*
• CAVA restaurant employee discount
• Casual work environment
• The opportunity to be on the ground floor of a rapidly growing brand
• All employees are eligible for benefits.
• The compensation range posted includes total cash

*Indicates qualifying eligible positions only

CAVA – Joining "A culture, not a concept"

This job description is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all the duties and responsibilities of the position and such duties and responsibilities may change without notice. As an equal opportunity employer, CAVA considers applicants for all positions without regard to race, color, sex, religion, national origin, disability, age, height, weight, marital status, sexual orientation, familial status, genetic information or any other characteristic or protected classes as defined by federal, state, or local law.