Director of R&D - Wholesale, Industrial, Foodservice and International

Principal Essential Duties & Responsibilities

• Partner with leadership to set the technical consumer/customer strategy for assigned business segments; partners with Marketing and Commercial leadership to translate insights (demographics, usage, unmet needs, and trends) into an innovation and renovation pipeline with clear value propositions and technical feasibility.
• Own segment/portfolio technical strategic plan execution and multi-year roadmaps; defines priorities, success metrics, and resource models, and ensures execution through a disciplined operating cadence (stage-gate, KPI reviews, risk registers, and executive updates).
• Drive the technology strategy for the segment(s), including scouting, evaluation, and adoption of new ingredients, processes, packaging, and manufacturing technologies; build external partnerships (suppliers, co-manufacturers, academia) to accelerate innovation, quality, and cost competitiveness.
• Direct program execution and optimizes resource allocation across multiple projects and teams with limited guidance; champion and continuously improve the NPD/stage-gate process, including governance, capability building, and portfolio trade-off decisions. Provide end-to-end scope, timelines, and resource/budget estimates for major initiatives.
• Lead competitive and market landscape assessments and translates findings into technical strategy, differentiated product design, and risk/opportunity recommendations for senior leadership.
• Ensure best-in-class safety, regulatory, and food-safety/GMP compliance culture across labs, pilot plant, and manufacturing environments; establishes governance, audit readiness, and corrective-action prioritization for the segment portfolio.
• Build and lead high-performing teams; set expectations, develop leaders, and drive succession planning and capability development. Manage 4 or more direct and support multiple indirect team members through ongoing feedback, performance management, and organizational design improvements.
• Persist with cross-functional partners, customers, and key suppliers; lead critical issue resolution, decision forums, and escalation paths to protect timeline, quality, and brand equity for complex initiatives.
• Make and influence complex, high-impact technical and business decisions for assigned segments, balancing risk, cost, quality, speed-to-market, and regulatory considerations; define mitigation plans and ensure alignment with enterprise standards and policies.
• Support the management of budgetary line items for the segment portfolio (OPEX and, as assigned, CAPEX), assist with forecasting, vendor spending, and business case/ROI development; collaborate with Finance and Operations to help identify cost-to-win and margin improvement opportunities.

Minimum Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s Degree in Food Science, Meat Science or related discipline
• 10+ years’ work-related experience
• A minimum of 4 years’ experience at the management level
• A minimum of 7 years’ relevant consumer products and food industry experience
• Proven track record of new product development and commercialization
• Must be an expert in the product development process from concept through commercialization
• Outstanding cross-functional team player
• Ability to translate customer/consumer needs and business objectives into innovative new product design requirements
• Must be an expert in poultry processing and/or related food product systems
• Excellent communication, detail orientation and organizational skills, along with excellent analytical and presentation skills
• Prior supervisory and project management experience
• Must be able to travel up to 25% of the time

Preferred Education and Experience

• Master’s Degree/PhD

Physical Requirements and Environmental Factors

• Position is mostly sedentary but may require occasional moving to other offices or buildings.
• May need to move light equipment or supplies from one place to another.
• May need to access files, supplies and equipment.
• Work activity is in an office, open-partitioned, cubicle environment.
• When in a plant environment:
• Exposure primarily consists of wet and moist floors which include metal and plastic grating surfaces.
• May be exposed to temperatures of 28 degrees to 100 degrees Fahrenheit with both ambient and 100% humidity.
• May handle products from 25 degrees to 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
• May be exposed to noise ranges of 50 db to 110 db.
• May be exposed to all chemicals used in poultry, food, and processing facility.
• Must wear and use protective and safety equipment required for the job as directed by the Company.