Lead Culinary R&D Associate Manager

Kraft Heinz; Glenview (IL); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Kraft Heinz in Glenview, IL is seeking a Culinary Assoc. Manager to drive product development for Frozen Meals & Hydration platforms. You will translate consumer insights into scalable concepts and lead cross-functional teams across R&D, marketing, and CIS.

The role emphasizes creativity, strategic thinking, and hands-on culinary execution. The position is hybrid, located at the R&D Innovation Center, with travel up to 15% as needed.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in culinary arts, food science, nutrition, or a closely related field and 4+ years of progressive culinary experience.
• Experience in a corporate CPG or food manufacturing R&D environment (minimum 3 years).
• Experience with recipe management systems, PLM platforms, or SAP.

Responsibilities

• Demonstrates mastery of culinary basics and cooking techniques.
• Leads culinary project planning, development, and execution of recipe development and product directions.
• Translates culinary concepts into scalable product opportunities using consumer insights and technical feasibility.
• Works with Marketing on media content, photography, and communication needs.
• Contributes to cross-functional decision-making on innovation strategy and product direction.

Skills

Culinary fundamentals

Recipe development

Flavor application

Cross-functional collaboration

Project management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in culinary arts, food science, nutrition, or related field

Tools

SAP

PLM platforms

Recipe management systems

Job description

Kraft Heinz in Glenview, IL is seeking a Culinary Assoc. Manager to drive product development for Frozen Meals & Hydration platforms. You will translate consumer insights into scalable concepts and lead cross-functional teams across R&D, marketing, and CIS.

The role emphasizes creativity, strategic thinking, and hands-on culinary execution. The position is hybrid, located at the R&D Innovation Center, with travel up to 15% as needed.