Research & Development Manager

Hlf 2023•Portsmouth, NH

About The Position

The Manager Research & Development (Core) leads a team responsible for all product development within the Core R&D portfolio, including front-end innovation, commercialization, product optimization, and technical support across High Liner Foods’ product portfolio. This role provides day-to-day leadership for the R&D team and project portfolio, ensuring resources are effectively prioritized and projects are delivered in alignment with customer needs, business objectives, technical requirements, and commercialization timelines.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Food Engineering, Culinary Science, or a related technical discipline required.
Minimum of 6 years of progressive experience in food R&D, product development, process development, or food manufacturing.
Minimum of 2 years of direct people-management experience.
Demonstrated experience leading and developing technical professionals.
Proven experience developing and commercializing food products from concept through scale-up, first production, and launch.
Experience managing multiple product-development projects, plant trials, technical investigations, and cross-functional teams.
Experience working within a stage-gate or structured product-development process.
Strong technical judgment with the ability to balance customer and consumer expectations with product quality, food safety, cost, yield, manufacturing capability, and business objectives.
Strong project-management, problem-solving, decision-making, organizational, and communication skills.
Ability to manage multiple priorities and deliver results in a fast-paced environment.
Proficient in Microsoft Office and applicable product-development, specification, project-management, and documentation systems.

Nice To Haves

Seafood, frozen food, value-added protein, coatings, sauces, formed products, or fully cooked product experience is strongly preferred.
Culinary training and knowledge of sensory-evaluation methodologies are assets.

Responsibilities

Lead, coach, and develop a team of R&D professionals while setting priorities, assigning work, and ensuring accountability for project results.
Manage the Core R&D project portfolio, prioritizing resources based on business value, customer timelines, technical complexity, risk, and team capacity.
Lead front-end innovation and product-development activities, including opportunity identification, ideation, concept development, technical feasibility, and pipeline advancement.
Translate customer needs, consumer insights, culinary trends, and business priorities into actionable product, technology, and commercialization plans.
Oversee product development and optimization through stage-gate processes, including formulation, benchtop testing, sensory evaluations, customer samples, specifications, shelf-life studies, and validation.
Partner with Sales, Marketing, Operations, Engineering, Quality Assurance, Regulatory, Procurement, Supply Chain, suppliers, and customers to deliver successful product launches.
Lead product scale-up and commercialization through line testing, first production, launch, and post-commercialization review.
Serve as an escalation point for complex product, process, ingredient, manufacturing, quality, sensory, and shelf-life challenges, using scientific and root-cause problem-solving methods.
Evaluate ingredient substitutions, supplier changes, formula modifications, process improvements, quality enhancements, yield opportunities, and cost-saving initiatives.
Identify and advance new ingredients, technologies, processing methods, equipment, tools, procedures, and best practices that improve product quality, manufacturing performance, R&D efficiency, and speed to market.