Project R&D Manager

irca Group; Affton (MO); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical

Dental

Vision

401(k) matching

Paid Vacation

Holidays

Employee Education Tuition Reimb.

Job summary

Irca Group is seeking a Project R&D Manager for Chocolate & Creams to lead development, reformulation, and industrialization from concept to commercialization. You will drive innovation, ensure product quality, and optimize processes while collaborating with production, quality, procurement, and marketing.

Ideal candidates have a Bachelor’s in Food Science and 7+ years in product development or food manufacturing, with strong NPD leadership and customer-facing experience in B2B environments.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Food Science or related field.
• 7+ years of progressive experience in product development, commercialization, or food manufacturing.
• Demonstrated experience leading large-scale NPD projects.
• Strong background in customer-facing roles within B2B/Supplier environment.
• Ability to travel up to 20%.

Responsibilities

• Lead R&D projects related to chocolate and creams from concept through scale-up and launch, ensuring alignment with strategic goals.
• Develop and reformulate products based on customer requirements, market trends, cost optimization, and regulatory compliance.
• Coordinate pilot plant trials, lab experiments, and industrial validations with production, quality, procurement, and marketing.
• Support innovation roadmap by proposing new product ideas, technologies, and ingredients.
• Ensure product specifications, documentation, and data sheets are created and maintained accurately.
• Evaluate raw materials and ingredients with suppliers to ensure quality and availability.
• Collaborate with QA to ensure food safety, compliance, and shelf-life targets.
• Work with Sales and Marketing to provide technical support, presentations, and samples for customer projects.
• Monitor industry trends to drive innovation and differentiation.
• Manage multiple projects with timelines, budgets, and priorities.

Skills

Product development leadership

NPD project management

B2B customer-facing experience

Regulatory compliance knowledge

Travel readiness

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Food Science or related field

Job description

The Irca Group is an International Leader in high quality finished and semi-finished ingredients for the bakery, pastry, and ice cream markets. With a solid history of over 100 years in the industry, the Group has its headquarters in Italy (Gallarate) and a strong global footprint with 23 production sites and over 2000 employees in Europe, the United States and Vietnam.

Our core product categories include chocolate, compounds, chocolate decorations, sprinkles, creams, pastry mixes, gelato ingredients, nuts and candied fruit. The most recent acquisition of Kerry Sweet complements our existing categories with the addition of sweet particulates, chocolate confections, inclusions, variegates and frozen fruit purees.

Through its 8 key brands (IRCA, Dobla®, in2food, Via Degli Orsini, JoyGelato, RaviFruit, Cesarin and Anastasi®) the IRCA Group offers an unparalleled "one-stop shop" approach for delivering quality solutions to all ingredients needs, through a broad range of innovative products. We offer every day and seasonal solutions to 3 macro channels: Gourmet, Food Manufacturing and Consumer Product (Retail). “Extraordinary made simple”

The Project R&D Manager –Chocolate & Creams is responsible for leading the development, reformulation, and industrialization of chocolate and cream-based products from concept to commercialization. This role plays a critical part in delivering innovation, ensuring product quality, optimizing processes, and supporting business growth through technical expertise and cross-functional project leadership.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead R&D projects related to chocolate and creams, from initial concept through scale-up and commercial launch, ensuring alignment with strategic goals.


• Develop and reformulate products based on customer requirements, market trends, cost optimization, and regulatory compliance.


• Coordinate and execute pilot plant trials, lab experiments, and industrial validations, collaborating with production, quality, procurement, and marketing.


• Support innovation roadmap development by proposing new product ideas, technologies, and ingredients.


• Ensure product specifications, documentation, and technical data sheets are created and maintained accurately.


• Evaluate raw materials and ingredients, working with suppliers and procurement to ensure quality, availability, and functionality.


• Collaborate with Quality Assurance to ensure food safety, compliance, and shelf-life targets are met.


• Work closely with Sales and Marketing to provide technical support, presentations, and samples for customer projects.


• Monitor industry trends and competitive products to drive innovation and differentiation.


• Manage multiple projects simultaneously, maintaining timelines, budgets, and priorities.

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Food Science or related field required


• 7+ years of progressive experience in product development, commercialization, or food manufacturing.


• Demonstrated experience leading large-scale NPD projects


• Strong background in customer-facing roles within B2B/Supplier environment


• Ability to travel up to 20%.

Why Join Us

Irca Group offers career growth opportunities as well as competitive compensation and benefits:

• Medical


• Dental


• & Vision


• 401(k) matching


• Paid Vacation


• Holidays


• Employee Education Tuition Reimbursement Program