Research and Development Manager – Food ManufacturingScheduler

R&D Manager – Food Manufacturing

A growing, high-quality food manufacturing organization is seeking an experienced R&D Manager to lead new product development and commercialization from concept through production. This role provides critical technical leadership in food science, formulation, process development, and plant scale-up while driving continuous improvement across existing product lines.

Essential duties and responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Lead full-lifecycle product development, pilot trials, plant trials, and commercial launches.
• Develop and optimize formulations based on customer specifications, regulatory guidelines, and operational requirements.
• Apply advanced food science principles to enhance product quality, shelf life, ingredient functionality, and manufacturing performance.
• Establish detailed product specifications, processing procedures, and raw material standards.
• Oversee product evaluations, shelf-life studies, and process validation testing.
• Deliver expert technical support to Operations, Quality, Regulatory, and Sales teams.
• Ensure strict compliance with FDA, HACCP, GMP, SQF, BRC, and food labeling requirements.
• Evaluate new ingredients, suppliers, and emerging food processing technologies.
• Lead, mentor, and guide R&D team members while managing multiple high-priority development projects simultaneously.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Biology, Chemistry, or a related scientific discipline.
• 5+ years of hands-on food product development and commercialization experience in a manufacturing environment.
• Proven track record with plant trials, commercial scale-up, process validation, and food production.
• Strong working knowledge of ingredient functionality, food chemistry, thermal processing, pH, emulsions, and shelf-life stability.
• Deep understanding of FDA, HACCP, GMP, BRC, and food labeling regulations.
• Demonstrated leadership, project management, analytical, and cross-functional communication skills.
• Preferred:
  Master's degree in Food Science, Chemistry, or a related field.
• Prior experience managing and mentoring direct reports within an R&D laboratory or plant environment.