Senior Manager, Materials and Packaging
Come make your difference in communities across Canada, where authenticity, trust and making connections is valued – as we shape the future of Canadian retail, together. Our unique position as one of the country's largest employers, coupled with our commitment to positively impact the lives of all Canadians, provides our colleagues a range of opportunities and experiences to help Canadians Live Life Well®.
At Loblaw Companies Limited, we succeed through collaboration and commitment and set a high bar for ourselves and those around us. Whether you are just starting your career, re-entering the workforce, or looking for a new job, this is where you belong.
The Materials Center of Excellence (COE) Senior Manager leads the execution and advancement of material strategies that enable innovative, sustainable, and compliant products and packaging across the organization.
This role acts as a central materials expert, partnering cross-functionally with Product Development, Sourcing, Quality Assurance, Regulatory, and Sustainability teams to standardize material selection, improve performance, and support responsible material sourcing.
With an expert understanding of packaging, you will identify opportunities for better materials. While working with our supplier partners to test and approve solutions for both food and non-food consumer goods applications.
Part of your scope will include training and informing product teams on how to think about packaging in their roadmap, guide decision-making, and champion recyclability as a default outcome for all our materials.
As a member of the Strategic Initiatives team in Loblaw Brands, you will be instrumental in bringing to life an ambitious goal to make our packaging more sustainable.
What you Bring
- An energy and passion for environmental sustainability!
- A technical perspective on packaging and plastics in manufacturing, and knowledge of how packaging gets collected, sorted, and recycled
- A natural curiosity to learn new things, and a mind for simplifying complex ideas
- An ability to share your knowledge and coach your technical peers
What You will Do:
- Develop and maintain an understanding of global objectives for material circularity, and global definitions for recyclability
- Support vendors in self-identifying where conversions are required, and review proposed solutions for approval
- Support the on-going skills development of the broader Product Development and Food Safety Team by leading training with relevant packaging / plastics content
- Review packaging specifications for accuracy and completeness and support suppliers in entering correct packaging specification data into our systems
- Review, evaluate and make recommendations on new packaging innovations and support pilot projects to test new packaging concepts
- Support development and implementation of enterprise material strategies and standards.
- Maintain approved material libraries, specifications, and best-practice guidelines.
- Evaluate material selections across projects to ensure alignment with performance, cost, and sustainability goals.
- Execute material initiatives aligned with ESG and circularity targets (recyclability, waste reduction, responsible sourcing).
- Partner with regulatory and quality teams to ensure materials meet evolving compliance requirements.
- Support environmental impact tracking and reporting related to material use.
- Monitor industry and regulatory trends impacting materials and packaging.
- Research and assess new materials, technologies, and supplier innovations.
- Act as a materials subject matter expert supporting product commercialization projects.
- Work with suppliers to evaluate material capabilities and innovation opportunities.
- Maintain centralized material documentation and data accuracy.
- Track KPIs related to material adoption, sustainability outcomes, and risk mitigation.
Role Requirements:
- Minimum 3-5 years’ experience working in a technical packaging role
- Have experience working across multiple materials for packaging
- Post-secondary university degree (ex. Industrial Design)
- Strong technical skills (ex. AutoCAD)
- Advanced understanding and knowledge of packaging engineering and plastics manufacturing
- Advanced understanding of the Golden Design Rules
- Basic knowledge of applicable government regulations
- Some North American recycling industry knowledge
- Excellent oral/written communication skills, interpersonal skills and relationship management
- Work effectively as an individual with minimal supervision and as a team member
- Excellent analytical skills, highly organized and able to prioritize projects and tasks
- Able to influence and interact effectively with all levels at retail/distribution, vendor, and office locations
- Creative problem-solving skills
- Straightforward practical way of thinking about things or dealing with problems
- Results oriented
Our commitment to Sustainability and Social Impact is an essential part of the way we do business, and we focus our attention on areas where we can have the greatest impact. Our approach to sustainability and social impact is based on three pillars – Environment, Sourcing and Community – and we are constantly looking for ways to demonstrate leadership in these important areas. Our CORE Values – Care, Ownership, Respect and Excellence – guide all our decision-making and come to life through our Blue Culture. We offer our colleagues progressive careers, comprehensive training, flexibility, and other competitive benefits – these are some of the many reasons why we are one of Canada’s Top Employers, Canada’s Best Diversity Employers, Canada’s Greenest Employers & Canada’s Top Employers for Young People.
If you are unsure whether your experience matches every requirement above, we encourage you to apply anyway. We are looking for varied perspectives which include diverse experiences that we can add to our team.
We have a long-standing focus on diversity, equity and inclusion because we know it will make our company a better place to work and shop. We are committed to creating accessible environments for our colleagues, candidates and customers. Requests for accommodation due to a disability (which may be visible or invisible, temporary or permanent) can be made at any stage of application and employment. We encourage candidates to make their accommodation needs known so that we can provide equitable opportunities.
Please Note:
Candidates who are 18 years or older are required to complete a criminal background check. Details will be provided through the application process.
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