Associate Director, New Product Commercialization

The Hired Bar; Chester (VA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) match

Parental leave

Unlimited PTO

Cell phone stipend

Job summary

The Hired Bar is seeking an Associate Director, New Product Commercialization to bridge farm operations and market demands near Richmond, VA. You will own products end-to-end—from concept through to market readiness and consumer delivery.

Lead packaging, quality standards, and supplier execution while partnering with Commercial and Marketing to ensure successful market launches and future growth opportunities. This is a high-impact, cross-functional leadership role.

Qualifications

• Proven experience commercializing physical, quality-sensitive products in food & beverage or related consumer goods environments.
• Experience taking a physical product from concept to commercialization including packaging, quality standards, supply chain, and production economics.

Responsibilities

• Own new product opportunities from concept to market launch.
• Define packaging requirements and work with suppliers on formats, specs, timelines and costs.
• Ensure quality standards from farm to point of sale across consumer-ready products.
• Address packaging, cold-chain logistics, throughput, and economics to protect freshness and shelf life.
• Partner with Commercial and Marketing to align readiness for market entry and customer opportunities.
• Influence broader opportunities with a commercial perspective across stakeholders.

Skills

Commercialization

Cross-functional

Packaging

Quality standards

Supply chain

P&L management

Communication

Job description

Our client grows hundreds of thousands of pounds of strawberries in a next-generation indoor farm near Richmond, VA — berries with a quality profile unlike anything grown in the mass-production regions of Mexico or California. There's real potential to bring something special to market. We're looking for the commercial leader who can turn that potential into reality.

About the Role

As the Associate Director, New Product Commercialization, you'll be the bridge between the farm and the market — the person on-site thinking about the consumer at the far end of the supply chain, and whether what we're about to ship is worth what we're asking for it. You'll own new products end-to-end: from concept, to the operational build that makes them real, to the moment they land in someone's hands.

What You'll Own

• New product capabilities: Evaluate new product opportunities and determine what it will take to commercialize them—from product attributes and grading standards to packaging, positioning, operational requirements, and economics.
• Own quality through the consumer experience: Establish standards around taste, freshness, appearance, and other core product attributes and ensure those standards hold from the farm through the point of sale.
• Lead packaging and supplier execution: Own packaging development and work with Supply Chain and external suppliers on new formats, materials, specifications, timelines, and costs.
• Solve for highly perishable products: Evaluate how packaging, cold-chain logistics, throughput, and operational decisions affect freshness, shelf life, quality, and product economics.
• Drive product readiness for market entry: Partner with Commercial and Marketing to ensure products are ready for customer launches, buyer meetings, activations, and other high-visibility market opportunities.
• Influence what's next: Bring a commercial perspective to broader conversations around new product opportunities, market positioning, consumer value, and future growth.

What You'll Bring

• Proven experience commercializing physical, quality-sensitive products, ideally within food & beverage, CPG, fresh produce, perishables, or a related consumer-product environment
• Experience taking a physical product from concept through commercialization, including exposure to packaging, quality standards, supply chain, and production economics
• Strong cross-functional experience working across Commercial, Operations, Supply Chain, Quality, Packaging, and/or Product Development
• Understanding of product economics, including cost of goods, margins, packaging costs, and the financial impact of operational decisions
• Experience managing a P&L, budget, product economics, or supplier spend
• Demonstrated ability to solve ambiguous problems and build processes where a playbook doesn't yet exist
• Ability to influence without direct authority and build alignment across operational, technical, commercial, supplier, and executive stakeholders
• Strong communication and business judgment with the ability to move between strategic and highly detailed operational conversations
• Medical, dental, vision, and mental health coverage
• Disability and life insurance options
• 401(k) with company match
• Paid parental leave
• Unlimited PTO
• $75/month cell phone stipend
• Relocation support is available for qualified candidates