Senior Food R&D Leader: Innovation & Launch

IFT Education, Extension & Outreach Division; Carson (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

IFT Education, Extension & Outreach Division seeks a Senior Manager, Food R&D to lead product development from concept to launch, partnering with Culinary, Operations, Quality, Supply Chain, Procurement, Marketing, and external manufacturers.

The role requires deep expertise in food formulation, process development, and regulatory compliance, with a history of guiding cross-functional teams through commercialization and scale-up.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a related technical discipline; advanced degree preferred.
• 12+ years in food product development, R&D, commercialization, or food manufacturing with complex projects.
• Knowledge of food formulation, ingredient functionality, processing methods, food safety, regulatory requirements, and technical documentation.
• Experience managing plant trials, scale-ups, production start-ups, shelf-life testing, sensory evaluation, and cross-functional commercialization timelines.
• Proven ability to lead teams, influence stakeholders, and communicate technical information to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, project management, and decision‑making skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead development of new food products, improvements, extensions, and cost optimization from ideation to commercialization.
• Translate consumer insights and business needs into technically feasible product solutions.
• Manage formulation, ingredient functionality, bench testing, sensory evaluation, shelf-life validation, packaging compatibility, and process development.
• Plan and execute plant trials, scale-ups, first production runs, and commercialization activities with cross-functional teams.
• Ensure products meet food safety, regulatory, quality, labeling, nutritional, and customer requirements.
• Provide technical leadership for troubleshooting quality, process performance, yield, throughput, and consistency issues.
• Develop and maintain specifications, formulas, procedures, trial reports, documentation, and commercialization records.
• Build relationships with suppliers, co-manufacturers, culinary partners, and internal stakeholders to accelerate innovation.
• Lead, coach, and develop R&D team members while setting priorities and managing resources.

Skills

Leadership

Stakeholder management

Communication

Analytical thinking

Project management

Decision making

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Food Science or related technical discipline

Job description

IFT Education, Extension & Outreach Division seeks a Senior Manager, Food R&D to lead product development from concept to launch, partnering with Culinary, Operations, Quality, Supply Chain, Procurement, Marketing, and external manufacturers.

The role requires deep expertise in food formulation, process development, and regulatory compliance, with a history of guiding cross-functional teams through commercialization and scale-up.