Natural Cheese R&D Leader & Product Innovator

Land O'Lakes; Arden Hills (MN); Hybrid; USD 124,000 - 186,000; Full time

Job summary

Land O’Lakes is seeking a senior R&D Natural Cheese Manager to lead a talented team at our Arden Hills Corporate Office. This hybrid role blends office collaboration (T/W/Th) with remote work (Mon/Fri) to advance cheese platforms across Retail and B2B sectors.

You’ll drive technical vision, mentor scientists, and partner with plants to translate dairy science into business value. The ideal candidate has 8+ years in dairy R&D, strong leadership, and a track record in plant-scale collaboration,

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Dairy Science, Food Science, Chemical/Biological Engineering or related technical discipline.
• 8+ years of progressive technical experience in dairy, with emphasis on natural cheese.
• Minimum 3+ years of direct people management experience.
• Extensive experience collaborating with manufacturing plants and quality teams.
• Proven ability to align technical priorities with business objectives across functions.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing team of scientists, fostering curiosity and accountability.
• Provide technical mentorship in experimental design, data-driven decision making, and risk assessment.
• Clarify ownership and partnership models across functions while driving collaboration.
• Champion use of manufacturing data, analytics, and AI to accelerate root-cause analysis and yield improvements.
• Guide formulation and process refinements to improve product consistency, functionality, and flavor.
• Drive resource optimization and cross-functional alignment to meet business objectives.

Skills

People leadership

Cross-functional influence

Plant fluency

Data-driven decision making

Mentoring

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Dairy Science, Food Science, Chemical/Biological Engineering

Master’s or Ph.D. in Dairy Science or related field

Tools

Statistical methods (SPC)

DOE

Advanced data analytics/AI tools

Job description

Land O’Lakes is seeking a senior R&D Natural Cheese Manager to lead a talented team at our Arden Hills Corporate Office. This hybrid role blends office collaboration (T/W/Th) with remote work (Mon/Fri) to advance cheese platforms across Retail and B2B sectors.

You’ll drive technical vision, mentor scientists, and partner with plants to translate dairy science into business value. The ideal candidate has 8+ years in dairy R&D, strong leadership, and a track record in plant-scale collaboration,