Manager, R&D - Product Dev

Kraft Heinz; Montreal (administrative region); On-site; CAD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Kraft Heinz in Montreal seeks an R&D Manager, Canada Product Development to lead development across the Canada portfolio. You will drive innovation, productivity, and supply continuity while managing a small team of developers.

You will translate business needs into practical development plans, guide technical execution, and ensure projects progress from concept to commercialization with strong cross-functional collaboration.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Life Sciences, or related field with 6+ years of product development in CPG/food & beverage.
• Master’s degree with 5+ years of relevant experience or PhD with 4+ years.
• Strong knowledge of ingredients, formulation, processing equipment, and lab methods.

Responsibilities

• Lead product development across Canada portfolio, including innovation, renovation, and maintenance.
• Manage and coach a team of 2–3 developers; balance technical and people leadership.
• Translate business goals into development plans and drive projects from concept to commercialization.

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Food Science/related field

Master’s degree in related field

PhD in related field

Job description

Description De L'emploi

Job Description: R&D Manager, Canada Product Development

The R&D Manager, Canada Product Development will lead product development across the Canada portfolio of brands, spanning innovation, productivity, and supply continuity projects. The candidate will lead and execute their own projects and manage a team of 2 to 3 developers. This role is responsible for translating business needs into practical development plans, driving technical execution, and ensuring projects progress effectively from concept through commercialization.

This leader is expected to operate effectively in a dynamic, cross-functional environment and to balance people leadership with strong technical and project leadership. Success in the role requires sound product development judgment, the ability to manage multiple priorities, and strong collaboration across R&D, operations, quality, regulatory, marketing, and supply chain. The role also requires building team capability, setting clear expectations, and developing talent to meet current and future business needs.

Key Responsibilities:

• Own and execute product development projects across multiple cross-functional projects and product categories within the Canada business, including innovation, renovation, and brand maintenance work
• Ability and desire to be a technical manager -- own technical projects (70% of time) and manage/coach employees (30% of time).

Manage, coach, and develop a team of product developers, including setting priorities, providing feedback, and building technical and leadership capability across product development and brand maintenance responsibilities

• Translate business objectives into clear development plans and ensure effective execution from concept through commercialization
• Partner with cross-functional teams to drive project progress, resolve technical issues, and deliver against business timelines
• Lead product testing, qualification, and commercialization activities across laboratory, pilot plant, and production environments
• Apply strong technical judgment to product, ingredient, process, and formulation challenges and guide the team through problem-solving and decision-making
• Communicate technical findings, recommendations, risks, and implications clearly to cross-functional stakeholders and leadership
• Manage multiple priorities concurrently and proactively identify tradeoffs, resource constraints, and priority conflicts across initiatives, including planned and unplanned brand maintenance asks
• Build strong ways of working across the team and cross-functional partners to improve execution, clarity, and accountability
• Demonstrate flexibility and willingness to learn new categories, technologies, and processing areas in support of business needs
• Ensure high-quality documentation, technical rigor, and strong executional discipline across development work
• Mentor, coach, and collaborate with colleagues within and outside the immediate team to strengthen capability and business results

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree required in Food Science, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Life Sciences, or a related field, plus a minimum of 6 years of product development experience within CPG, food and beverage, or a related industry; or master’s degree plus a minimum of 5 years of relevant experience, or PhD plus a minimum of 4 years of relevant experience
• Desired to have previous management experience, including leading, coaching, and developing technical talent
• Strong knowledge of ingredients, product formulation, processing equipment, ingredient interactions, and laboratory test methods
• Proven ability to lead product development and commercialization across multiple projects and priorities
• Strong communication, influencing, project management, and problem-solving skills
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, cross-functional environment with changing priorities
• Strong technical judgment and ability to design effective experiments, interpret results, and adjust plans as needed
• Self-motivated and able to deliver results with a high degree of ownership in a complex environment
• Strong ability to prioritize across competing business needs and make sound tradeoff decisions
• Willingness to travel up to 30%, including travel to internal plants, co-manufacturers, suppliers, and other business locations in the United States and Canada

Work Environment & Schedule

This position is considered a Normal office environment with some travel or visits to external locations; offices are open workspaces. Additionally, this role requires in office presence at least three days per week in compliance with hybrid work schedule.

Physical Requirements

Physical demands include but not limited to

• Lift up to 30 lbs, navigate lab, storage, and manufacturing environments.

This job description is not designed to cover or contain all duties or responsibilities that are required of the role. Duties or responsibilities may change or be added with or without notice.

Location

Mont Royal, Montreal

Language

French and English

Description de poste : Gestionnaire R&D, développement de produits au Canada

Le gestionnaire R&D, développement de produits au Canada, dirigera le développement de produits à travers le portefeuille canadien de marques, couvrant l'innovation, la productivité et la continuité de l'approvisionnement. Le candidat dirigera et exécutera ses propres projets et gérera une équipe de 2 à 3 développeurs. Ce rôle est responsable de traduire les besoins d'affaires en plans de développement pratiques, de favoriser l'exécution technique et de s'assurer que les projets progressent efficacement du concept à la commercialisation. On s'attend à ce que ce leader opère efficacement dans un environnement dynamique et interfonctionnel et qu'il équilibre le leadership des personnes avec un leadership technique et de projet solide. Le succès dans ce rôle exige un jugement solide en matière de développement de produit, la capacité de gérer plusieurs priorités et une collaboration solide entre la R&D, les opérations, la qualité, la réglementation, le marketing et la chaîne d'approvisionnement. Le poste exige aussi de développer les capacités de l'équipe, de fixer des attentes claires et de développer des talents pour répondre aux besoins actuels et futurs de l'entreprise.

Responsabilités Clés

• Posséder et exécuter des projets de développement de produits dans plusieurs projets et catégories de produits interfonctionnels au sein de l'entreprise canadienne, incluant l'innovation, la rénovation et la maintenance de la marque
• Capacité et désir d'être gestionnaire technique — de posséder des projets techniques (70% du temps) et de gérer/coacher les employés (30% du temps).

Gérer, coacher et développer une équipe de développeurs de produits, y compris la définition des priorités, la rétroaction et le développement des capacités techniques et de leadership dans les responsabilités de développement produit et de maintien de marque

• Traduire les objectifs d'affaires en plans de développement clairs et assurer une exécution efficace du concept à la commercialisation
• Collaborer avec des équipes interfonctionnelles pour faire avancer les projets, résoudre des problèmes techniques et respecter les délais d'affaires
• Diriger le produit Activités de test, de qualification et de commercialisation dans les environnements de laboratoire, d'usine pilote et de production
• Appliquer un jugement technique solide aux défis liés aux produits, ingrédients, procédés et formulations et guider l'équipe dans la résolution de problèmes et la prise de décision
• Communiquer clairement les résultats techniques, les recommandations, les risques et les implications aux parties prenantes et dirigeants interfonctionnels
• Gérer plusieurs priorités simultanément et identifier de manière proactive les compromis et les ressources contraintes et conflits prioritaires entre initiatives, y compris les demandes de maintenance de marque planifiées et non planifiées
• Construire des façons solides de travailler au sein de l'équipe et des partenaires interfonctionnels afin d'améliorer l'exécution, la clart