Senior Manager - R&D Innovation

MINIAT HOLDINGS LLC • Chicago, IL

2h

About The Position

The Sr R&D Innovation Manager is responsible for providing senior-level technical leadership and execution oversight for research and development initiatives that drive innovation, product development, and process improvement. This role partners closely with the Director, Growth & Innovation to translate strategic roadmaps into technically sound, scalable, and commercially viable solutions, ensuring disciplined execution from concept through commercialization. Senior R&D Manager is accountable for ensuring initiatives are technically robust, operationally feasible, and executed to meet business objectives.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Engineering, Chemistry, or related scientific field, Masters degree preferred.
• 10+ years of experience in R&D, product development, or innovation project management in a manufacturing environment, preferably food or CPG.
• Proven track record managing cross-functional innovation or new product development (NPD) projects from concept through commercialization.
• Exceptional project management, organizational, and communication skills.
• Knowledge of regulatory and quality requirements (FDA, USDA, SQF, etc.)
• Basic knowledge of USDA label requirements.
• Strong communication skills.
• Strong working knowledge of office productivity software, collaborative project management tools (Teams, Sharepoint, etc).

Nice To Haves

• Masters degree preferred.

Responsibilities

• Serves as the primary technical authority for complex product formulations, processing methods, and scale-up challenges.
• Leads technical problem-solving for high-risk or high-impact initiatives, including root-cause analysis and solution design.
• Reviews, challenges, and approves technical approaches, formulations, and processing assumptions before scale-up.
• Provides expert guidance on ingredient functionality, process optimization, yield improvement, and quality risk mitigation.
• Evaluates emerging technologies, ingredients, and process innovations from a feasibility and manufacturability lens, providing recommendations to the executive leadership.
• Acts as escalation point for technical issues impacting cost, quality, safety, or commercialization timelines.
• Identifies emerging trends and technologies in the food and beverage industry.
• Tests and documents competitor, customer, and internal products to better understand where and how the organization can provide value to potential and existing customers (taste, texture, nutrition, quality, cost, yield, and convenience).
• Researches and incorporates new flavors, ingredients, and processes into new product ideas.
• Plans, sets up, and leads product evaluations, including sensory testing and performance assessments, to gather feedback and guide product development decisions.
• Develops and implements training programs for new products run procedures, ensuring that both manufacturing managers and line personnel are equipped to replicate R&D processes at full production scale.
• Design and execute new product line test runs and first production runs with the operations team.
• Partners with Operations to write the new product processing or Work Instructions.
• Lead shelf-life testing and related product validation work.
• Use data-driven methodologies to analyze performance, feasibility, and return on investment for innovation initiatives.
• Recommend products and processes by evaluating current ones, assist in implementing new or improved processes, process aids, systems, and technologies.
• Acts as the senior R&D technical representative in cross-functional project teams.
• Supports strong Master Data Management - maintaining integrity through setup and change management processes for formulas, specifications, ingredients, process instructions, product detail, and technical data sheets.
• Initiates and follows through on required documentation in laboratory notebooks. Maintains an accurate record of work and activities such as project objectives, accurate formulas, conditions, required equipment, etc.
• Writes and maintains all new product processing and customer specifications, ensuring accuracy and compliance; manages the creation, revision, routing, and approval of South Chicago Packing specifications and Technical Data Sheets (TDS).
• Responsible for USDA Label approval & documentation.
• Maintains up-to-date knowledge of USDA regulations and ensures all product development, including processing methods of labeling, complies with current regulatory standards.
• Ensure regulatory, safety, and quality standards are met throughout all phases of development.
• Supports Customer requests for product and technical information on questionnaires, RFPs, and audits.
• Continually expands industry knowledge and professional network by staying informed of emerging trends, technologies, and attending relevant conferences and expos.
• Provides technical leadership in the following: building customer and industry relationships, translating customer needs into innovative solutions, identifying opportunities beyond the primary area of focus, and assess potential value creation and optimization.
• Collaborates with sales and business development teams to thoroughly understand customer needs to execute business/customer development plans from a technical perspective.
• Advocate for customer satisfaction through internal and external training, tips, observations, feedback, insights, and data.
• Coordinate sending samples to customers and potential customers, ensuring a great first impression of our products.
• Responsible for the mentorship and management of fractional or contract R&D team support including interns, contracted project support through 3rd party vendors, etc.

Benefits

• Medical
• Vision
• Dental
• Discretionary bonus up to 18% (50% personal performance based & 50% company performance)
• 401(k) with matching up to a max of 4%
• 120 hours PTO in the 1st 12 months

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior