Product Development Manager

Nassau Candy•Hicksville, NY

3d•$75,000 - $95,000•Onsite

About The Position

Nassau Candy is seeking a manager for their Product Development team. This team member will be responsible for strategic category planning for their line of business and development and executions of new products. Responsible for all aspects of product construction and can create thoughtful and accurate costing models.

Requirements

Have a bachelor’s degree in business, marketing, or finance; expertise in consumer product development; food experience is ideal.
Possess thorough knowledge of financial costing, and in-depth knowledge of product construction and manufacturing
Have 6+ years in product development in food, R&D, or manufacturing.
Can successfully lead cross-functional teams and see projects through.
Blend creativity and analytical thinking.
Are passionate about and have a strong pulse on food trends and consumer preferences.
Have strong Excel & Microsoft Office skills

Responsibilities

Develop new everyday and seasonal food items for private label customers
Own and manage entire product development process from new item concept through to first production run
Provide leadership and foster effective cross-functional team collaboration (R&D, Packaging, Purchasing, Production, and Creative) to launch products successfully and on time
Lead customer pricing process of new items; work with Production and suppliers to ensure costs and assumptions are accurately captured in pricing models
Work closely with Sales team to partner on development of new products as requested by key customers and manage process to create samples and pricing
Partner with Marketing to provide clear direction of look and feel for new items as well as positioning in sales collateral and e-commerce
Oversee costing models for all product development customer inquiries including manufacturing, labor, raw materials, packaging, and transportation
Analyze product formulas to determine loss and yield and update often to ensure accurate costing.
Collaborate with production team to verify labor output and confirm all costs are accurate and reflected in costing models
Ensure concerns and challenges around product development and costs are addressed throughout the process
Deliver pricing recommendation which meets company and customer profit margin benchmarks, while ensuring a competitive retail price to the consumer
Analyze and understand category statistics and business implications
Identify competitive white space and new product opportunities
Develop strategic plans and recommendations for product line execution
Identify and implement process improvement opportunities
Perform ongoing analysis of costing model to maintain accurate costs and customer pricing
Monitor and manage on-time responses to customers’ RFQs
Potential to manage direct reports
Provide mentorship of junior associates to develop skill set and confidence in approach to product management and costing