R&D Manager

A leading food manufacturer is seeking an experienced R&D Manager to lead product development, innovation, commercialization, and process improvement initiatives within a high-volume manufacturing environment. This individual will manage and develop a small technical R&D team while serving as a key technical leader across product development, manufacturing, quality, and commercialization activities.

The R&D Manager will be responsible for advancing new and existing bakery, dough, refrigerated, and frozen food products, taking projects from early-stage formulation and bench development through plant trials, scale-up, commercialization, and full production. The position requires someone who can balance strategic leadership with hands‑on technical problem‑solving and collaborate effectively with Operations, Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, Procurement, Sales, and Marketing.

This is an ideal opportunity for an R&D leader who enjoys working closely with manufacturing, developing technical talent, and translating customer and business needs into commercially successful products.

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of R&D and technical product development professionals.
• Establish team priorities, goals, project timelines, and performance expectations.
• Mentor employees in product development, formulation, manufacturing processes, troubleshooting, and commercialization.
• Evaluate team capabilities, workloads, and resource requirements to ensure projects remain aligned with business priorities.
• Promote a collaborative, accountable, safety-focused, and continuous‑improvement culture.
• Encourage data‑driven decision‑making and structured technical problem‑solving across the R&D organization.
• Lead the development and optimization of bakery, dough‑based, refrigerated, and frozen food products.
• Manage product formulation, ingredient selection, processing parameters, packaging considerations, shelf‑life improvements, and product performance.
• Identify opportunities to improve existing products through quality enhancements, cost optimization, waste reduction, sustainability, and improved manufacturability.
• Evaluate new ingredients, processing technologies, equipment, and industry trends to identify opportunities for innovation.
• Translate customer, consumer, and commercial needs into technically feasible new products.
• Ensure new products can successfully transition from laboratory development through pilot and full‑scale manufacturing.
• Manage multiple R&D and commercialization projects from initial concept through successful launch.
• Establish project timelines, milestones, technical requirements, resources, priorities, and risk‑management plans.
• Lead plant trials, scale‑up activities, process validations, and production start‑ups.
• Work cross‑functionally with Operations, Quality, Engineering, Supply Chain, Procurement, Sales, and Marketing to ensure successful execution.
• Communicate project status, technical risks, challenges, and recommendations to key stakeholders and senior leadership.
• Provide technical expertise for strategic customer initiatives and customer‑facing discussions when needed.

• Partner directly with plant Operations and Engineering teams to improve product quality, manufacturing efficiency, yield, and overall process performance.
• Troubleshoot formulation, ingredient, processing, and production challenges.
• Provide hands‑on technical support during manufacturing trials, scale‑up, and new product launches.
• Identify and implement opportunities to reduce manufacturing waste and product costs while maintaining quality and functionality.
• Ensure products and processes are designed with full‑scale manufacturability in mind.
• Use manufacturing data, testing results,…