Associate Product Development Project Manager I

About the role

As part of the R&D team at Dishaka, you will support R&D projects within our Sales Funnel and Innovation Pipeline, helping move projects through the entire product development lifecycle from concept and development through commercialization, launch, and post-launch support. This role works closely with R&D, Sales, QA, Operations, Purchasing, Finance, suppliers, and customers to keep projects organized, on schedule, and progressing through each stage of the development lifecycle.

Dishaka is a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment where priorities can change quickly, and projects require proactive problem-solving, strong follow-through, adaptability, and ownership. The ideal candidate is organized, self-driven, detail-oriented, comfortable managing multiple priorities, and able to balance speed, quality, and business impact.

Responsibilities

• Project Management
  • Manage day-to-day activities for assigned R&D projects throughout the A-Z product development lifecycle.
  • Maintain project timelines, milestones, action items, deliverables, and documentation.
  • Ensure projects meet target timelines and proactively identify delays, risks, and roadblocks.
  • Balance multiple projects, customers, priorities, and deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
  • Follow up on outstanding activities and escalate issues when additional support or decisions are needed.
• Product Development Lifecycle Execution
  • Roadmap Stage
    • Help evaluate new ideas and opportunities through initial product scoping.
    • Manage prototype requests and customer feedback as opportunities move into the development pipeline.
  • In-Development Stage
    • Help advance product ideas, formula refinement, prototypes, customer feedback, and product testing.
    • Facilitate regulatory documentation, product specifications, packaging definition, and costing activities.
    • Assist with plant trials and validation of formulas, parameters, packaging, and costing.
    • Help ensure finished product information is complete and ready for commercialization.
  • Commercialization Stage
    • Initiate project kick-offs and maintain project timelines, checklists, and cross-functional communication.
    • Facilitate customer, supplier, and raw material setup activities in Dishaka’s systems.
    • Manage film and case artwork development lifecycle.
    • Assist with the creation of BOMs, formulas, routings, and overall finished goods set-up in Dishaka’s ERP system.
    • Manage project-specific certifications such as Kosher, GFCO, NGP, etc.
    • Assist in the creation of product records and specifications in customer portals or tech spec documents.
    • Process commercialization checklists for purchasing meetings and ensure all raw materials, POs, packaging, and freight activities align with project needs.
    • Collaborate with QA to establish critical limits for new products, ensuring required formula, raw material, specification, and allergen information is complete and accurate.
    • Lead pre-production meetings, first production runs, customer samples, final approvals, and R&D release.
  • Launched Stage
    • Provide ongoing R&D support for assigned accounts.
    • Handle customer requests for certifications, documentation, product information, portal updates, and product changes.