Sr. Beverage project manager

Location:  Accra, Ghana
Company:  Blow Group of Companies

We require a highly qualified and experienced  Senior Beverage Project Manager  to lead the design, development and implementation of our beverage processing and packaging projects.

Location: Accra, Ghana

The candidate must possess comprehensive technical and operational knowledge of:

• Dairy and dairy-based beverages, including flavoured milk, yoghurt drinks and UHT products.
• Plant-based beverages, including soya milk.
• Fruit juices, nectars and juice-based drinks.
• Carbonated soft drinks, water, energy drinks and other non-carbonated beverages.
• Hot-fill, cold-fill, aseptic and UHT processing and packaging technologies.

The candidate’s responsibilities should include:

• Developing complete project concepts from the initial product brief through design, installation, commissioning and commercial production.
• Preparing detailed User Requirement Specifications and technical specifications for complete processing and packaging lines.
• Designing and evaluating process flows, line configurations, plant layouts, equipment capacities and production requirements.
• Determining the correct processing parameters, including blending, homogenisation, pasteurisation, sterilisation, fermentation, carbonation, cooling and aseptic handling.
• Designing or specifying syrup rooms, ingredient preparation systems, dairy processing areas, clean-in-place systems, aseptic tanks, product recovery systems and other critical processing sections.
• Calculating mass balances, production capacities, yields, product losses, water and energy consumption, and overall line efficiencies.
• Determining all utility requirements, including electricity, steam, chilled water, compressed air, process water, cooling systems and wastewater treatment.
• Selecting the most suitable processing, filling, packaging, inspection and end-of-line equipment.
• Reviewing and technically comparing quotations from equipment manufacturers and turnkey suppliers.
• Coordinating with OEMs, consultants, civil contractors, utility providers, product developers, quality teams and internal departments.
• Ensuring that factory layouts provide the correct product flow, personnel flow, hygiene zoning, drainage, utility distribution and space for future expansion.
• Reviewing P&IDs, process flow diagrams, equipment layouts, technical drawings and automation philosophies.
• Ensuring compliance with food-safety, hygienic-design and quality requirements, including HACCP, GMP and applicable international standards.
• Managing project budgets, schedules, technical risks, supplier deliverables and progress reporting.
• Supervising equipment installation and ensuring strict compliance with approved technical specifications and layouts.
• Managing factory acceptance tests, site acceptance tests, commissioning, validation and performance-guarantee testing.
• Confirming that each line achieves the contracted speed, efficiency, product quality, filling accuracy and agreed product losses.
• Training production, engineering, maintenance and quality-control teams.
• Troubleshooting processing, packaging, quality and line-performance problems after commissioning.
• Ensuring proper documentation, including operating procedures, maintenance requirements, spare-parts lists, technical manuals and project handover records.

The successful candidate must be capable of independently developing the complete technical requirements for beverage-processing and packaging projects and protecting the Group’s interests when dealing with international equipment suppliers and engineering companies.

Applicants should have:

• A degree in Food Engineering, Process Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering or a related discipline.
• Substantial senior-level experience in beverage project engineering and project management.
• Proven experience in dairy, juice and carbonated soft-drink processing and packaging.
• Strong knowledge of aseptic, UHT, hot-fill and conventional beverage technologies.
• Previous experience delivering complete greenfield or brownfield beverage projects.
• Experience working with recognised international processing and packaging equipment manufacturers.
• Strong commercial, technical, negotiation, leadership and problem-solving abilities.
• Verifiable evidence of successfully completed beverage projects.

Candidates who have previously worked for a leading beverage manufacturer, international engineering company, processing-equipment supplier or packaging-line OEM would be preferred.

Must have -  the candidate must possess expertise in both engineering and processes to set up a complete greenfield factory for soya flavored milk.

Additionally,  Strong  experienc e with Sidel, Tetra Pak, or SIG machinery and processing is required.