Commercialization Manager - Ice Cream

Idaho Milk Products•Jerome, ID

13d•Onsite

About The Position

The Commercialization Manager, Ice Cream is responsible for owning the end-to-end commercialization process for new customer and product launches within the ice cream manufacturing business. This role serves as the primary connector between Sales, Customer Service, R&D, QA, Procurement, Finance, Demand Planning, Operations, and customers to ensure opportunities are transitioned into clear, executable launch plans. Unlike a traditional sales role, this position focuses less on transactional selling and more on customer onboarding, launch readiness, project execution, cross-functional accountability, and successful transition from customer commitment through first production and post-launch handoff. This role leverages strong project management, communication, problem-solving, and customer-facing skills to support scalable growth of the ice cream business.

Requirements

3–7 years of experience in food commercialization, project management, customer onboarding, food manufacturing, or sales support.
Strong project management, organization, communication, documentation, and follow-up skills.
Ability to manage multiple launches, priorities, timelines, risks, and changing business needs.
Ability to build relationships and drive accountability across commercial, technical, operations, quality, procurement, finance, demand planning, and customer service teams.
Analytical problem-solver with sound decision-making, risk management, reporting, and customer-facing capabilities.

Nice To Haves

Ice cream or CPG experience preferred.
Experience managing cross-functional projects, product launches, customer initiatives, manufacturing start-up activities, or contract manufacturing support preferred.

Responsibilities

Own commercialization for new ice cream customers, products, packaging formats, and SKU launches from commitment through first production and post-launch handoff.
Translate customer requirements, timelines, risks, and deliverables into clear action plans for Sales, Customer Service, R&D, QA, Procurement, Operations, Demand Planning, and Finance.
Serve as the central project owner for launch readiness, cross-functional accountability, and alignment between customer expectations and plant execution.
Lead commercialization projects, launch meetings, stage-gate trackers, timelines, milestones, and action-item ownership.
Coordinate trials, packaging and artwork readiness, specifications, documentation, ingredient and packaging availability, costing inputs, production readiness, and customer updates.
Monitor progress, mitigate launch risks, escalate roadblocks, and keep projects on time and within scope.
Serve as a key point of contact during onboarding, commercialization, trials, first production, and transition to routine execution.
Partner with Sales, Business Development, Customer Service, R&D, QA, Procurement, Demand Planning, Finance, and Operations to define expectations, resolve issues, and improve the customer experience.
Provide regular updates to leadership on launch status, readiness, project risks, resource needs, and key milestones.
Develop and improve tools, templates, stage-gate processes, trackers, and best practices for scalable ice cream commercialization.