Head of Research And Development

This Senior Director, R&D role is the Head of R&D, providing leadership and cross functional partnership for the function. The role owns the design, development and implementation of Meal Solutions and Flavor Enhancer initiatives to support and deliver the Annual Operating Plan and strategic business goals and objectives. The role will oversee the management of all R&D projects. This Head of R&D position will lead and mentor the R&D team and foster a culture of innovation. The role is responsible for recruiting, training and managing the performance evaluation and career development process. The leader will bring transformational experience to the organization to build an efficient, engaged, resourceful, hungry, results driven, innovative team. The new leader will unleash the capacity of the R&D team. This position will report to the Vice President of Marketing.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategic Leadership:

• Develop and implement a comprehensive R&D strategy aligned with overall objectives and goals.
• Identify emerging trends, technologies and market opportunities to guide research and product development initiatives.
• Collaborate with senior leadership to define the company’s long-term R&D roadmap and prioritize projects based on market demands and business objectives.

Team Management and Cross Functional Collaboration:

• Recruit, lead and mentor a high performing team and foster a culture of innovation. The leader should drive a reinvention of the culture of innovation. The new R&D organization will be an inspired, energetic, ambitious, results driven team. The team will display extreme ownership and a will to win.
• Provide guidance, coaching and professional development opportunities to team members to enhance their skills and capabilities.
• Set clear goals, establish performance metrics and regularly evaluate team members performance and progress.
• Collaborate with other departments such as Marketing, Sales, and Operations to align R&D activities with business needs and market requirements.
• Collaborate with QA and Operations to ensure that Quality and safety standards are met.
• Partner across Regions to share best practices, identify opportunities to leverage new technologies across geographies, and craft the future vision for R&D.

Research and Development:

• Ensure compliance with applicable regulations, quality standards and intellectual property guidelines throughout the R&D process.
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement, encouraging the team to explore new approaches, methodologies, and tools to enhance efficiency and effectiveness.
• Manage the expenses associated with the R&D department as prescribed by the annual budget.
• In collaboration with Marketing and Consumer Insights, the R&D leader should lead the identification of the innovation dig sites that will inform the efforts of front-end innovation teams.
• The leader of R&D should engage with external partners to expand the bandwidth to create new products and bring new capabilities.
• Directs the development of all projects from concept to commercialization for both internal and external manufacturing/co-packing scenarios.
• Develops projects strategies and timelines which maximizes the group’s workload, while maintaining business priorities.
• Continuously improve products and processes for greater product quality and profitability.

Education Requirements: Minimum BS, prefer MS in Food Science or equivalent

Industry Experience: 15-20 years of relevant industry experience, including a minimum of 10 years of people management experience