Product Development Lead, Foodservice Innovation

Sterling BV, Inc.; San Antonio (TX); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Sterling Foods is seeking a Product Development Manager to support R&D and Retail Sales in developing and commercializing food products for national restaurant and foodservice customers.

You will translate customer needs into viable product development projects, collaborating with R&D, Sales, Quality, Operations, and Supply Chain to drive concepts from bench to commercialization. Occasional travel to customer sites and events is expected.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in related field or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• 10 years of experience in food product development, culinary development, food manufacturing, foodservice, or a related field.
• Experience developing or supporting food products for commercial customers.
• Knowledge of food ingredients, product development, manufacturing processes, specifications, and commercialization.
• Experience working directly with customers and translating customer needs into product requirements.
• Understanding of restaurant operations and foodservice trends.
• Strong project management, analytical, communication, presentation, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to collaborate across R&D, Sales, Quality, Operations, and Supply Chain.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office.
• Ability and willingness to travel regularly.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary product development liaison between R&D, Sales, and commercial customers.
• Participate in customer meetings to understand product needs, culinary concepts, operational requirements, and opportunities for innovation.
• Develop, formulate, and test products hands-on "at the bench" in response to customer requests, specifications, concepts, and business opportunities.
• Translate customer requirements into product concepts, formulations, prototypes, specifications, and development plans.
• Work directly with R&D and culinary teams to create, test, taste, refine, and optimize products from initial concept through customer approval.
• Develop prototypes and samples, conduct sensory evaluations, make formulation adjustments, and prepare products for customer review and feedback.
• Coordinate and participate in plant trials, scale-up activities, and production testing to ensure products perform consistently beyond the bench.
• Identify opportunities to improve existing products through ingredient changes, formulation adjustments, process improvements, cost optimization, and enhanced product performance.
• Support Sales with customer presentations, product demonstrations, tastings, prototypes, new business opportunities, and pricing initiatives.
• Collaborate with Quality, Regulatory, Operations, Supply Chain, and other cross-functional teams to ensure products meet customer specifications, food safety requirements, quality standards, and manufacturing capabilities.
• Evaluate product feasibility, including ingredients, formulation, cost, yield, packaging, processing requirements, equipment capabilities, and scalability.
• Manage multiple product development projects while maintaining timelines, customer requirements, documentation, and commercialization milestones.
• Monitor restaurant, foodservice, culinary, and consumer trends to identify new product concepts, ingredients, applications, and innovation opportunities.
• Support the transition of products from bench development to pilot/plant trials and full-scale commercialization, helping ensure successful execution at each stage.
• Maintain accurate product formulations, specifications, samples, development records, project documentation, and customer requirements.
• Assist with troubleshooting and resolving product, formulation, quality, and customer issues through hands-on testing and cross-functional collaboration.
• Travel regularly to customer locations, product trials, meetings, culinary events, and industry events as needed.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Skills

Project management

Analytical skills

Communication

Presentation

Problem solving

Travel willingness

Microsoft Office

Education

Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Culinary Arts, Food Technology, Business, Marketing, Hospitality, or related field

Culinary degree or professional culinary training

Tools

Microsoft Office

Job description

Sterling Foods is seeking a Product Development Manager to support R&D and Retail Sales in developing and commercializing food products for national restaurant and foodservice customers.

You will translate customer needs into viable product development projects, collaborating with R&D, Sales, Quality, Operations, and Supply Chain to drive concepts from bench to commercialization. Occasional travel to customer sites and events is expected.