Sr Manager, R&D - Plastic Rigid Materials

The Kraft Heinz Company • Glenview, IL

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

As the Rigid Plastic Packaging Senior Manager within the Sustainability & Materials Center of Excellence, you will lead a team of technical experts charged with developing rigid plastic packaging solutions to serve the North American portfolio. The objective of the team is to develop material and format solutions that meet sustainability requirements, addressing innovation, compliance, and value engineering initiatives. The team will develop and lead technical strategies and deliver novel, functional, cost-competitive solutions. In this role you will partner with Innovation, Process, and Platform packaging teams as well as cross-functional stakeholders to translate technical and sustainability requirements into viable, commercial, manufacturable solutions. The role includes leading the team to identify material/polymer/packaging technology solutions and research pathways, and leading proof of concept, technology scale-up, and seamless transition of technologies to the business units. The ideal candidate combines deep technical packaging expertise with strong sustainability knowledge and proven experience managing complex projects and technical teams.

Requirements

• BS/MS/PhD degree in Engineering, Materials, Chemical or Packaging Engineering preferred or related discipline.
• Minimum 8 years of R&D technology development and commercialization experience in packaging and project leadership experience (consumer goods, food & beverage, pharma or similar preferred).
• Demonstrated experience managing end-to-end development projects, identifying and driving packaging technology initiatives, leading external partnerships, and coordinating cross-functional teams.
• Demonstrated experience in people management
• Strong technical knowledge of materials (polymers, barriers and additives, etc.) and manufacturing constraints, including converting processes (e.g., filling, labeling, molding, injection molding, extrusion blow molding, thermoforming), bottle closure and dispensing systems.
• Proven project management/PMO skills; experience with governance, risk management, budget management, and stakeholder reporting.
• Expert knowledge of design of experiments and statistics; strong technical problem solving.
• Excellent communication, negotiation and interpersonal skills; ability to influence at all levels.
• Previous experience leading complex, multisite or global packaging or technology launches.
• Expert knowledge of sustainable packaging solutions, material/package industry standards and regulations.
• Experience with pilot line setups and scale-up to industrial production.
• Willingness and ability to travel up to 25% of the time.

Responsibilities

• Lead and prioritize a portfolio of complex rigid plastic packaging technology strategies and initiatives, including balancing technology exploration with proof of concept of novel technologies and managing complex partnerships across the value chain, demonstrating value and business case for technology applications.
• Build, coordinate and manage relationships and partnerships with suppliers and technology providers (e.g., resin, coating, material suppliers; packaging manufacturers), and external partners (e.g., universities, institutes, start-ups, open innovation networks).
• Identify material/polymer/packaging technology solutions that avoid material bans and regulatory risks.
• Advance recyclable, reusable, and compliant rigid packaging formats aligned with enterprise sustainability goals and legislative requirements.
• Deliver packaging designs to Performance-Based Specifications (PBS), ensuring solutions meet defined functional, quality, shelf-life, consumer experience, and manufacturing performance outcomes (rather than prescriptive designs).
• Provide technical leadership and oversight on packaging reviews, ensuring design decisions align with enterprise standards, manufacturability, sustainability, and long-term platform strategy.
• Own project and portfolio-level budgets, resourcing strategies and capacity planning, ensuring delivery within approved financial guardrails; develop and maintain project plans, schedules, budgets, and resource allocations; monitor progress, assess risk, and proactively escalate tradeoffs.
• Serve as an accountable owner for governance, escalation and go/no-go decisions; represent packaging steering forums and influence stakeholders.
• Act as technical expert for junior developers and direct team to flex onto projects requiring problem solving.
• Partner with legal to build robust IP strategies; conduct exploration to build an IP portfolio to drive competitive advantage.
• Mentor, coach and train junior project team members and contribute to PMO best practices and templates.
• Build and sustain a high-performing technical team; manage, coach, mentor and retain employees, including goal-setting, performance management, salary planning and hiring.
• Build strong succession and upskilling plans for junior talent, maximizing apprenticeship with more senior/experienced team members.

Benefits

• Medical, Prescription Drug, Dental, Vision, Screenings/Assessments
• Paid Time Off, Company Holidays, Leave of Absence, Flexible Work Arrangements, Recognition, Training
• Employee Assistance Program, Wellbeing Programs, Family Support Programs
• 401k, Life, Accidental Death & Dismemberment, Disability

What This Job Offers

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