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

About the role

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.

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.
• Connect the dots across material science, product design, tooling design, and manufacturing processes to develop solutions that are technically sound, manufacturable, and cost-effective.
• 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.
• 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.
• Tech-savvy, with experience developing products across multiple materials, formats, or manufacturing platforms.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree
• 7 years of innovation/product development experience in foodservice packaging, consumer products, or related industries
• Experience in product innovation and application development to develop commercially successful products
• 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
• Ability to travel up to 30%

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Packaging, Materials Science, or a related field
• 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

Skills

• Excellent collaboration and communication skills
• Forward-thinking and strategic mindset
• Disciplined execution and ability to drive results
• Passionate about helping teams grow and solve real-world problems
• Technical grounding and experience developing products across multiple materials, formats, or manufacturing platforms

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Flexible spending and health savings accounts
• Life insurance and disability coverage
• Retirement plans
• Paid vacation/time off
• Education assistance
• Infertility assistance, paid parental leave, and adoption assistance (may vary by geographic region)

Pay

Compensation range is determined by available market data. The actual amount may be higher or lower than the range provided considering each candidate's knowledge, skills, abilities, and geographic location.

Schedule

Full-time position with occasional travel required.