Senior R & D Manager

The Honest Kitchen-posted 1 day ago

$125,000 - $175,000/Yr

Full-time • Mid Level

Remote • Topeka, KS

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The Senior R&D Manager, Pet Food will report to VP Research & Development and will be a key technical leader driving formulation excellence, innovation, and cost-savings across The Honest Kitchen’s human-grade pet food portfolio. This role is responsible for leading the development of new products, improvements to existing recipes, and technical stewardship across dehydrated, dry, wet, baked, and treat formats. The Senior R&D Manager will partner closely with Marketing, Operations, Quality, Procurement, and Finance to ensure all products meet THK’s high standards for human-grade quality, safety, nutrition, and consistency, while enabling sustainable growth and delivering margin targets. This position requires deep technical expertise, strong cross-functional leadership, and the ability to translate consumer insights and business needs into commercially viable, high-quality pet food products.

Strategic & Technical Leadership
Deliver functional and individual goals aligned with the Annual Operating Plan (AOP), including innovation milestones, cost-savings initiatives, vendor optimization, and productivity targets.
Serve as a technical leader within the R&D team, demonstrating sound scientific judgment, data-driven decision-making, and an understanding of pet nutrition, food safety, and processing fundamentals.
Product Development
Lead development of new human-grade pet food products and the reformulation of existing items across multiple platforms (dehydrated, dry, wet, treats, supplements).
Translate project briefs into robust formulas and commercialize recipes that meet brand guardrails, AAFCO requirements, regulatory standards, sensory targets, operational capability, and COGS goals.
Conduct bench development, pilot trials, co-manufacturer trials, and plant scale-ups to ensure successful commercialization.
Commercialization & Technical Documentation
Own the creation and maintenance of all Product Formulation Documentation, including ingredient breakdowns, spec sheets, process parameters, work instructions, nutritional panels, preparation instructions, and shelf-life validation requirements.
Partner with Operations to establish process control points, critical limits, and technical guardrails to ensure consistency across manufacturing locations.
Build cost models and collaborate with Finance & Procurement to ensure new products and reformulations deliver the required margins.
Regulatory & Quality Alignment
Collaborate with Regulatory to ensure compliance with:
AAFCO regulations
FDA labeling requirements
human-grade ingredient and production standards
claim substantiation
ingredient documentation and spec verification
Ensure formulas and processes support THK’s high standards for quality, food safety, and transparency.
Stakeholder Engagement & Communication
Engage effectively with Marketing, Sales, Operations, and QA throughout the development cycle to ensure alignment on objectives, timelines, risks, and deliverables.
Provide clear, proactive updates through structured communication forums, cross-functional meetings, and project trackers.
Identify, escalate, and resolve critical issues with urgency and professionalism.
Cost Savings
Mine existing recipes and processes for cost-savings, ingredient simplification, process efficiencies, and margin improvement opportunities.
Innovation
Maintain a pulse on category trends, processing advances, and ingredient innovations to keep THK at the forefront of the industry.

Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Animal Science, Chemical Engineering, or related technical field with 7+ years of product development experience
Proven track record of developing formulas concept → bench → pilot → plant → launch.
Experience working with pet food, high-moisture and low-moisture systems, extrusion, dehydration, thermal processing, treats, or baked snacks strongly preferred.
Strong understanding of:
AAFCO nutritional requirements
Food safety and HACCP
ingredient functionality
processing fundamentals
Highly organized, detail-oriented, and disciplined in documentation and follow-through.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills; able to influence, present, and build alignment with cross-functional partners.
Collaborative team player with the ability to challenge assumptions respectfully, assert recommendations, and drive toward solutions.
Ability to travel as needed to co-manufacturers, ingredient suppliers, and production facilities.
Proficiency in MS Office, SmartSheets, and C5 Formulation

Experience working with pet food, high-moisture and low-moisture systems, extrusion, dehydration, thermal processing, treats, or baked snacks strongly preferred.

We offer a competitive compensation package, including salary and robust employee benefits.
Time off: We offer a highly competitive time-off schedule, including unlimited vacation and additional sick time, along with a generous company-paid holiday schedule.
Benefits: Various health insurance plans with generous employer contributions to premiums. We also offer vision, dental, short-term disability, long-term disability, accident, critical illness, an employee assistance program, and an FSA/HSA.
Financial wellness: Enjoy perks such as a company 401 (k) with an employer match.
Mission-Driven: Employees can take up to 40 hours of volunteer time per year, and we offer donation matching for nonprofit organizations of their choice.
Pet Friendly: Pet-friendly offices, Team calls, discounts on pet insurance, and of course, free pet food!
Collaborative Team: We offer a fun, team-oriented work environment where you feel you make a difference every day.

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