Director, Core Product/Process Innovation, Innovation

Little Caesar Enterprises Inc.; United States; On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

401(k) with company match

Paid holidays and paid time off

Legal and counseling services

Flexible spending accounts

Disability and adoption benefits

Access to sports events and team perks

Job summary

Little Caesars Enterprises, Inc. is seeking a Senior Bakery R&D Leader to drive innovation in products, equipment and processes across restaurant operations.

You will lead planning, build business cases, and scale solutions with cross-functional teams in a bakery pilot and production environments. You will work closely with Operations, Suppliers, Finance, Franchisees, and Development to validate concepts, test new ideas, and measure impact on labor, consistency and profitability.

Qualifications

• Proven experience in data analysis and statistical evaluation.
• Experience directing product development processes and consumer testing.
• Bakery pilot and production plant experience in design, operations and testing.

Responsibilities

• Leads innovation initiatives for product, equipment and processes at the restaurant level.
• Analyzes processes and data to identify opportunities and cost savings.
• Collaborates with Operations, Finance, Suppliers, Franchisees and Equipment to deliver viable solutions.
• Leads project management and develops test plans and milestones with clear decision gates.

Skills

Data analysis

Statistical evaluation

Project management

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Bakery Science, Food Science or Food Engineering

Job description

Build a Bigger, Better, Bolder Future: Imagine working for a company that measures its success based off the growth of its colleagues, a company that invests in its future by investing in you. Little Caesars is a company where our colleagues make an impact.

Your Mission

Leads innovation initiatives specific to product, equipment and processes that simplify operations, create labor savings and/or improve consistency of product and procedure execution at the restaurant level. Analyzes processes and data to identify innovation opportunities. Collaborates with industry leaders to identify, scale and commercialize potential solutions. Leads planning, execution and building of a business case to substantiate the innovation or capture learnings to apply to future projects.

How You’ll Make an Impact

Subject Matter Expert in the Bakery Industry. Subject Matter Expert in restaurant Operations, Little Caesars Operations is a plus. Leads analysis of restaurant operations time motion data to identify and solve for simplification, labor savings and improvement to consistency of product and execution processes. Initiates projects by developing sell-in model and presentation, presenting to leadership to gain approval and alignment on success metrics. Collaborates with Operations, Suppliers, Finance, Franchisees, Equipment, and Development to deliver economically viable solutions that impact the restaurants by reducing labor hours and increasing bottom line operating income. Develops and recommends suppliers and manufacturers for new and existing product, ingredients, restaurant equipment, and supplier’s production equipment/lines. Leads project management and development of project test plan, scale up and commercialization with clearly identified key metrics and decision gates associated with business case development. Proactively engages with the bakery industry through networking, industry conferences, supplier visits, trade shows and trade journals to continually build and evolve knowledge. Actively engaged in day to day planning, operations and testing execution in the bakery pilot plant and production plant(s) in support of approved projects. Collaborates with Consumer Research to ensure consumer validation of product associated with process, equipment and/or production line changes. Key metrics identified, communicated and aligned upon at the beginning of the project with leadership updates at key decision points throughout the business case development. Develops product and process specifications. Works in Little Caesar Restaurants to continue to be an expert in the operations side of the business.

Who You Are

Minimum of Bachelor’s degree in Bakery Science, Food Science or Food Engineering, 15 - 20 years of bakery research and development and/or bakery operations work experience. Supplemental experience in restaurant R&D, QSR preferred. Extensive experience in product/process analysis, design and commercialization required. Bakery pilot and production plant experience specific to design, operations and testing required. Proven experience in data analysis and statistical evaluation. Knowledge and experience of directing product development processes and consumer testing. Ability to formulate bakery products in written form to produce food specifications. Ability to work with food and operate food processing equipment in restaurant environment. Ability to work any position in Little Caesar restaurant.

Where You’ll Work

Works in R&D/Innovation office and test kitchen. Field work in manufacturing plants. Travel by car or airplane to stores and various locations (domestic and globally) for supplier visits/tours, ideation sessions, field food product testing, competition research and company business conference.

All items listed above are illustrative and not comprehensive. They are not contractual in nature and are subject to change at the discretion of Little Caesars Enterprises Inc.

Little Caesar Enterprises, Inc. is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regards to that individual’s race, color, religion or creed, national origin or ancestry, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity, age, physical or mental disability, veteran status, genetic information, ethnicity, citizenship, or any other characteristic protected by law.

The Company will strive to provide reasonable accommodations to permit qualified applicants who have a need for an accommodation to participate in the hiring process (e.g., accommodations for a job interview) if so requested.

This company participates in E-Verify.

At Little Caesars® Pizza and Blue Line Foodservice Distribution ®, you’re part of a dynamic team in the pizza business. Known for innovation and home of the exclusive Pizza Portal® pickup, Little Caesars is an international brand with a household name – a global company with family-owned restaurants in your neighborhood. Blue Line® sources and delivers ingredients to neighborhoods throughout the U.S. so we can make our famous Hot-N-Ready® pizzas, Crazy Bread®, Caesar Wings®, and more, fulfilling our customer promise. Little Caesars Fundraising proudly helps raise millions of dollars for thousands of schools, churches, sports teams, and other nonprofit organizations. Backed by the global pizza brand, customers of Little Caesars Fundraising enjoy products they can make at home or pick up in stores. Our colleagues are the heart and soul of the business – whether you work in the stores, one of our warehouses, the corporate office, or your home office, Little Caesars, Blue Line and Little Caesars Fundraising colleagues work together to make a big impact in communities around the world.

• medical, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) with company match
• paid holidays and paid time off
• legal and counseling services
• flexible spending accounts
• disability and adoption benefits
• and more
• Colleagues also enjoy the perks of being associated with professional sports teams and have access to events at Little Caesars Arena and Comerica Park in our hometown of Detroit, Michigan.