Senior R&D Manager, Technical Innovation

Summary

Our Research and Development department is on the forefront of product development and innovation. It is easy to be dedicated when you're a part of something much bigger than yourself. We've got an insatiable appetite for making a difference. The Senior Manager, Technical Innovation will steer our Fresh Dairy and ESL innovation platforms and the pilot plant capabilities that power them - setting direction for what the innovation system can make, measure, and prove;

upgrading the spaces and equipment it runs on; and modeling its capacity and output so leadership can make informed decisions about demand, priorities, staffing, and capital. The pilot plant serves R&D scientists, research communities, engineering, operations, and commercial partners who compete for the same finite equipment and labor; this leader designs the operating model, investment roadmap, and analytical frameworks that absorb that complexity, working through the operating team rather than in the day-to-day.

We are looking for a candidate who is equal parts innovation strategist, engineer, and systems designer to help Chobani advance its mission of making healthy and delicious foods.

Responsibilities

• Set the innovation capabilities agenda and scope for the Fresh Dairy and ESL platforms - steering the portfolio from concept through pilot proof and scale-up, and aligning technical direction with commercial priorities and category strategy.
• Steward pilot plant capabilities as a strategic asset: own the capability roadmap across the full process estate - HTST, homogenization, KDB-3, UF separation, ESL and ESL infusion, maturation, Goavec reactor, automation upgrades, vacuum cooker, batching, and filling - and decide where to add, upgrade, or retire equipment and processes.
• Lead through the operating team: direct the supervisors and leads who run day-to-day pilot operations, sample fulfillment, and laboratory testing, holding the system accountable for safe, on-time, in-specification output without owning floor-level execution.
• Own capacity and staffing modeling for the innovation system: maintain the empirically grounded model built from weekly shift-report productivity data, translate R&D and commercial sample demand into FTE requirements, equipment utilization, and constraint analysis, and present defensible staffing and capital scenarios to leadership.
• Model innovation output, not just plant activity - request-to-sample cycle times, trial throughput, shelf-life program yield, and cost per project - so leadership can see the productivity of the innovation system and where investment moves it.
• Lead space upgrades and capital-improvement projects - facility redesign, equipment relocation, and space optimization - balancing walking paths, utilities, hygienic zoning, and structural constraints, and carrying layout decisions through executive approval.
• Identify and relieve structural bottlenecks - the ESL line and cup sealer behave as serial physical constraints - distinguishing labor-elastic work from equipment-bound work and directing capital, scheduling policy, and process redesign accordingly.
• Set the operating model - intake rules, prioritization frameworks, and governed data pipelines, designed with engineering, automation, and data partners - so competing requests from R&D, commercial, and research communities are sequenced against real equipment and labor availability and a high-variability facility behaves predictably.
• Hold governance accountability for food safety, quality, GMP, and regulatory compliance and a zero-injury safety culture, ensuring standards, audit readiness, and corrective-action ownership sit clearly within the operating team.
• Institutionalize Lean, Six Sigma, and TPM as a management system: set targets for changeover time, cycle time, rework, and waste, review results, and protect the flexibility a prototyping environment requires.
• Govern external analytical laboratory and carrier relationships and their spend, with per-project attribution and service-level accountability for sample and shipment fulfillment.
• Build organizational capability: develop supervisors, leads, and senior technical staff, design the structure, cross-training, and succession behind the pilot operation, and communicate capacity, risk, and investment needs up through R&D Directors, Vice Presidents, and Executive Leadership team members.

Requirements

• Minimum Bachelors of Science or Engineering (Masters preferred) in Food Science, Food Engineering,…