Project Engineer

THE OPPORTUNITY

Sani-Matic is adding to its Engineering team in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, with an opening at either the Project Engineer or Associate Project Engineer level. Which level fits depends on your experience. This is added headcount, created because the project pipeline has grown enough to need more dedicated ownership. You will work on capital projects from inception to completion, alongside the mechanical designers, electrical engineers, manufacturing floor, and customers who keep those projects on schedule, on budget, and on scope.

At the Project Engineer level, you will own assigned projects outright. You will build and manage schedules, run project meetings, give technical direction to designers and manufacturing personnel, and be the person everyone comes to when a project needs a decision. At the Associate level, you will learn that same work hands-on, starting with defined pieces of active projects and taking on more ownership as your footing grows. At either level, you will work with vendors and suppliers to specify components, act as a link among sales, field service, procurement, and manufacturing, and support pre-sale work with the applications and sales engineering teams. Expect occasional travel to customer plant locations, up to 20% of your time.

WHY THIS ROLE

• Own or grow into the full project: you get real exposure to schedule, budget, and technical scope, from the first customer conversation to the installed system.
• Learn a specialized industry: sanitary process cleaning for food, beverage, and pharmaceutical plants is a niche field, and you will learn CIP systems, COP washers, and the standards behind them on live projects.
• Join a growing team: this is added headcount on the Engineering team, a direct reflection of the company's continued growth.

THE COMPANY

Sani-Matic has designed and manufactured automated sanitary process cleaning equipment since 1943, when the company got its start building Clean-Out-of-Place (COP) parts washers for Wisconsin's dairy industry. Today its product line spans Clean-In-Place (CIP) systems, COP parts washers, cabinet washers, tunnel washers, strainers, spray devices, and digital process-monitoring tools, serving customers across food, beverage, personal care, nutraceutical, and biopharmaceutical processing.

The company operates out of a 93,500-square-foot manufacturing and office facility in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, opened in 2019 to bring engineering, manufacturing, and customer support under one roof. Sani-Matic has been recognized with the Wisconsin Safety Council's Corporate Safety Award and a Daily Reporter Hard Hat Safety Award for its safety practices, and the culture is built around a defined set of behaviors the company calls The Sani-Matic Way and its 30 Fundamentals.

In 2025, Sani-Matic combined with Douglas Machines Corp., broadening its product line and the markets it can reach, and the company continues to invest in growth under the ownership of Milwaukee-based WING Capital Group.

WHAT THE ROLE ENTAILS

• Project scheduling and execution: create and manage schedules so systems meet customer requirements while holding to delivery, financial, manufacturability, and quality guidelines.
• Technical direction: evaluate product designs for value-engineering opportunities and alternate methodologies, and give technical direction to mechanical designers and manufacturing personnel.
• Cross-functional project work: work alongside electrical designers, electrical project engineers, and documentation personnel in project execution.
• Vendor and supplier coordination: work with vendors and outside suppliers to specify components as each project's scope requires.
• Cross-team communication: act as liaison among sales, field service, procurement, and manufacturing as projects move through the building.
• Pre-sale support: support pre-sale activities with the applications and sales engineering teams.

REQUIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

Project Engineer:

• BS in Engineering or a related discipline, or at least 2 years of related project engineering or management experience
• 2+ years of project engineering or management experience in the food or pharmaceutical industries
• AutoCAD LT 2020 experience
• Proficiency in MS Project

Associate Project Engineer:

• BS in Mechanical Engineering or a related engineering degree
• 0 to 2 years of engineering experience; this is an entry-level role

Both levels:

• SolidWorks or other 3-D modeling experience
• Proficiency in MS Office
• Able to lift and maneuver 50 pounds and travel to customer plant locations up to 20% of the time

Nice to have:

• Experience with standard practices and procedures for sanitary design of machines
• Experience specifying capital equipment for food or pharmaceutical manufacturers
• Experience on multi-discipline project teams alongside electrical designers and documentation staff
• Exposure to AutoCAD LT or MS Project (Associate level)

QUALITIES FOR SUCCESS

• Eager to learn the industry: wants to master food and pharmaceutical cleaning systems and help build the best ones.
• Excellent communicator: clear with customers, vendors, and internal teams, and asks good questions.
• Technical depth or potential: brings solid engineering fundamentals and the curiosity to keep building technical expertise.
• Organized: keeps schedules, specs, and follow-ups on track across multiple projects.
• Decisive problem-solver: assesses risk and lands on workable resolutions when a project hits a snag.
• Growth-minded: motivated by getting better at project engineering and project management.

WHO THRIVES HERE

You want to be in the middle of solving a customer's sanitary design problem, not removed from it. You would rather understand how the equipment works than just draw parts for it, and you communicate as well as you solve problems.

• You like working across mechanical, electrical, manufacturing, and the customer on the same project.
• You can hold a schedule, or want to learn how, that the whole team actually follows.
• You are as comfortable on the shop floor, in safety gear, as you are behind a keyboard.
• You take ownership of your part of a project without needing a title to do it.

THE SEAT IN SUMMARY

• Added headcount on a growing engineering team, not a backfill
• Hands-on project work from first customer conversation to installed system
• A robust benefits package: HSA and traditional health plans, dental and vision coverage, company-paid short- and long-term disability, company-paid life insurance, and a 401k with company match
• A stable, established employer with more than 80 years of product history and a growing footprint following its 2025 combination with Douglas Machines Corp.