Director of Product Design & Development — Lead Innovation

Georgia-Pacific LLC; Atlanta (GA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Anchor Packaging is seeking a Product Design & Development Director to lead our Product Design team while driving continuous improvement and transformation of product development capabilities across the organization. This role partners with Product Development, Engineering, Operations, Tooling, Manufacturing, Sales, Marketing, Sustainability, and key customers to move products from concept to market.

The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in thermoforming, tooling development, and

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Packaging, Materials Science, Manufacturing, or a related technical field.
• 10+ years of experience in product design, product development, packaging development, engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• Leadership experience supervising and developing technical professionals.
• Experience leading cross-functional initiatives and driving organizational change.
• Experience developing products from concept through commercialization.
• Experience working directly with customers to identify needs and develop solutions.
• Understanding of product realization, manufacturing processes, and commercial product development.
• Ability to travel up to 30%.

Responsibilities

• Lead, develop, and mentor a high-performing Product Design team, fostering collaboration, accountability, innovation, and continuous improvement.
• Drive transformation initiatives to improve product development processes, tools, communication, and organizational effectiveness.
• Partner with Product Development, Engineering, Operations, Tooling, Manufacturing, Sales, and Marketing to improve speed, quality, and effectiveness of product commercialization.
• Champion best practices in product design, product realization, and new product introduction (NPI).
• Lead cross-functional efforts to identify and eliminate barriers that slow innovation, increase complexity, or impact execution.
• Apply expertise in thermoforming, tooling, materials, and manufacturing processes to solve technical challenges and improve product performance.
• Ensure product designs are manufacturable, scalable, cost-effective, and aligned with customer requirements and business objectives.
• Establish and improve technical standards, development methodologies, and design processes that strengthen organizational capability.
• Support product development projects from concept through commercialization, including prototyping, testing, tooling development, trials, and production launch.
• Work directly with customers and commercial teams to understand needs and translate them into innovative packaging solutions.
• Identify opportunities to improve quality, productivity, manufacturability, and speed-to-market.
• Influence and align cross-functional stakeholders to achieve business objectives and deliver successful outcomes.

Skills

Leadership

Product design

Thermoforming

Tooling development

Manufacturing processes

Cross-functional collaboration

Continuous improvement

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering/Packaging/Materials Science/Manufacturing

Job description

Anchor Packaging is seeking a Product Design & Development Director to lead our Product Design team while driving continuous improvement and transformation of product development capabilities across the organization. This role partners with Product Development, Engineering, Operations, Tooling, Manufacturing, Sales, Marketing, Sustainability, and key customers to move products from concept to market.

The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in thermoforming, tooling development, and