Director/Sr. Director – Product Development (Foodservice Packaging)

About the role

Your Job As the leader of the Product Development (PD) team, you will be responsible for accelerating and scaling the PD capability for the Anchor Packaging business within the GP Foodservice Solutions platform. This role entails translating customer needs and market insights from commercial and cross-functional teams into scalable, commercially successful products for restaurants, retail foodservice operations, convenience stores, and food processing segments — from next-generation containers and cling film to new categories across multiple substrates. Working at the center of a growth-oriented business, you will partner closely with Sales, Operations, Engineering, Sustainability, and customers to rapidly turn concepts into manufacturable solutions, leading development from prototyping and testing through trials and full commercialization. You will help shape a strong innovation pipeline, build business cases for new solutions and capabilities, and ensure products are cost-effective, operationally scalable, and aligned with evolving sustainability goals.

Responsibilities

• Build and scale a high-performing product development capability, strengthening processes, talent, and tools to support rapid business growth and an expanding innovation pipeline.
• Turn customer needs and market insights into scalable, differentiated foodservice packaging solutions across multiple substrates including plastic and paper.
• Lead product development from concept to commercialization, including ideation, prototyping, customer trials, and launch.
• Partner with Sales, Engineering, Operations, Sustainability, and key customers to deliver solutions that are manufacturable, cost-effective, and performance-driven.
• Build strong business cases and value propositions for new products, supporting pricing, investment, and capital decisions.
• Ensure new solutions meet functional, regulatory, and sustainability requirements, including recyclable, compostable, and material-reduction opportunities.
• Monitor market trends, competitive activity, and regulatory changes to shape the innovation pipeline and prioritize high-impact opportunities.
• Serve as a technical leader in customer engagements and report progress, milestones, and growth opportunities to senior leadership.

Requirements

• Team builder who can develop talent, strengthen processes, and scale a product development organization to support rapid growth.
• Customer-centric innovator who is energized by solving real-world problems and delivering solutions that create measurable value for customers.
• Strong cross-functional leader who builds alignment and drives results across Sales, Engineering, Operations, Sustainability, and Product Development.
• Strategic thinker and disciplined executor who can connect technical solutions to value propositions and translate ideas into scalable, commercially viable products.
• Technically grounded, with experience developing products across multiple materials, formats, or manufacturing platforms.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree
• 7 years of innovation/product development experience in foodservice packaging, consumer products, or related industries
• Leadership and supervisory experience
• Experience working cross functionally (Sales, Engineering, Operations, Legal, Sustainability, etc.) to deliver solutions
• Experience working directly with customers to understand needs and develop solutions
• Customer Facing experience
• Thermoforming experience
• Experience in the foodservice or food processing space, including role of packaging in meeting market needs
• Foodservice Innovation experience
• Knowledge of kitchen/food processor operations