Senior Lead Engineer

About our Client 

Our client is the manufacturer of a popular lemonade provided at scale to a prominent fast-food chain and other restaurants. 

Our Client’s Need 

Our client was looking to grow its team to meet increasing customer demand for their product. We knew the HR team was hesitant about partnering with a recruitment firm as the team’s preference was usually to fill their vacancies through internal referrals or through the fast-food operator’s internal Talent Acquisition team. However, passionate about what we do and given our track record of successful placements within the food and beverage manufacturing industry, we confidently pitched our services.  

The HR team was impressed with our credentials and decided to assign us one role to begin with – Senior Lead Engineer. This new role stemmed from our client’s investment in continuous improvement. The role would require driving manufacturing efficiencies, overseeing existing plants in the Santa Clarita area, and managing the expansion of a new facility in Texas.   

Our Solution 

Our Account Lead began by gathering all the requirements and criteria for the role from the HR team. The Senior Lead Engineer role required candidates with niche expertise. They needed to have an engineering degree, at least eight years’ continuous improvement experience within the food industry, and be based in Santa Clarita. These requirements meant we were dealing with a limited talent pool for an already niche role.    

Additionally, since this was a new role, its scope underwent a series of revisions and the number of hiring decision-makers kept increasing, adding to the complexity of the hiring process. However, at Michael Page, we’re agile and experienced in navigating such complexities and maintained a consultative approach with the hiring team with two goals in mind: firstly, to keep the hiring process moving swiftly and smoothly, and secondly, to ensure the candidate experience was positive. 

We took several approaches to scoping out candidates for the role; mapping out talent from competing fast food chains, our database of candidates in the sector, and invited applications through advertising across our website and other paid media tools like LinkedIn, Indeed, and Career Builder. 

Our Account Lead also involved seven experienced consultants from our extended team whose expertise would drive our search efforts forward until seven qualified candidates made it into our shortlist. Each of these candidates was not only vetted against all the technical requirements of the hiring team, but knowing the role required deep cross-functional collaboration, we assessed candidates on their decision-making abilities, assertiveness, and communication skills. Thorough in the way we operate, we provided the client with references for each candidate as well.  

Once the shortlist was sent across, we helped our client schedule interviews with the hiring team; and ensured we managed expectations with both parties around the role, timelines, and offer. 

Results 

The candidate that was ultimately selected by our client was sourced by us from our database, reflecting the power of our network with top professionals within the industry. He was a phenomenal candidate with a Mechanical Engineering degree, a local to a Santa Clarita neighborhood, with a decade’s experience working for a reputed alcoholic beverage manufacturing company including managing new plant expansions.  

By delivering this challenging search, we have earned the trust and buy-in of our client’s HR team who continue to work with us on their recruitment needs.