AM Line Cook

Orbital Kitchens•New York, NY

About The Position

The supplied job description describes a Director of Research & Development role at Orbital Kitchens, responsible for leading the company’s culinary R&D function. The Director owns product development from concept through commercialization, delivering products that taste great, meet margin targets, and perform consistently at volume across more than 20 brands and production kitchens. The role sets R&D strategy and prioritizes an innovation pipeline aligned with company growth, brand priorities, market opportunities, and operational needs. It leads development and improvement of menu items, recipes, ingredients, concepts, processes, and technologies, and establishes standards for taste, quality, consistency, scalability, and profitability. The Director oversees the product lifecycle, including concept development, recipe testing, costing, yield and shelf-life testing, stabilization, large-batch validation, tastings and approvals, launch, and post-launch review. The role builds and leads the R&D team; ensures concepts are feasible for high-volume production; partners with Finance, Procurement, Supply Chain, and Operations on costs and margins; and provides complete documentation and launch handoffs. It also establishes R&D KPIs and uses performance results and operational feedback to drive continuous improvement.

Requirements

At least 5 years in culinary R&D, product development, or related food-industry leadership, including team leadership and taking products from concept through commercialization.
Strong culinary foundation and knowledge of food science, recipe development, scaling, shelf life, yields, food costing, production systems, and quality control.
Business acumen to balance culinary quality with feasibility, cost, and margin.
Excellent project-management skills across multiple concurrent initiatives.
Strong leadership, communication, analytical, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
Working knowledge of food safety, sanitation, quality assurance, and FDA, USDA, state, and local regulations.
Experience developing or supporting SOPs, SSOPs, and HACCP plans.

Nice To Haves

High-volume, multi-unit, commissary, or manufacturing experience.
Culinary or food science education.
ServSafe, PCQI, or SQF certification.

Responsibilities

Set culinary R&D strategy based on company growth objectives, brand priorities, market opportunities, and operational needs.
Build and prioritize an innovation pipeline to maximize return on R&D resources.
Lead development and improvement of menu items, recipes, ingredients, concepts, processes, and technologies.
Set standards for taste, quality, consistency, scalability, and profitability.
Own product development from concept through commercialization, including recipe testing, food costing, yield and shelf-life testing, stabilization, large-batch validation, tastings and approvals, launch, and post-launch review.
Manage concurrent projects with clear priorities, timelines, and success criteria.
Build, mentor, and lead a high-performing R&D team, setting expectations and accountability while encouraging creativity, disciplined experimentation, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
Validate labor, equipment, storage, capacity, workflow, food safety, and execution complexity to ensure concepts are production-ready.
Partner with Finance, Procurement, Supply Chain, and Operations to manage food cost, yields, waste, sourcing, and margin while maintaining quality.
Provide recipes, specifications, yields, build sheets, quality standards, and SOPs for approved products.
Lead product launches with Operations, Production, Training, and Marketing; validate results and hand off clear ownership.
Set R&D KPIs and use sales, margin, operational feedback, and launch results to improve the development process.