Vice President, Research and Development

Saputo Inc. • Milwaukee, SC

3d

About The Position

The Vice President, Research & Development will set and execute the Ingredients Division’s technical and innovation strategy, translating customer needs, market insights, dairy science, and manufacturing capabilities into differentiated, scalable, and profitable solutions. This executive will own the dairy-ingredient innovation portfolio across whey- and milk-based proteins, carbohydrates, cultures, and specialty solutions; lead optimization of existing products and processes; and identify technologies that expand Saputo’s capabilities and competitive advantage. The role will build a world-class, customer-focused technical organization and establish disciplined governance from discovery and formulation through pilot validation, scale-up, regulatory clearance, customer qualification, and first commercial production, balancing speed, technical risk, quality, sustainability, and return on investment.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Dairy Science, Food Science, Food Engineering, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, or a related discipline required; master’s degree or PhD strongly preferred.
• Fifteen or more years of progressive R&D, innovation, technical, or product-development experience in dairy, food ingredients, nutrition, or a closely related industry, including significant leadership of managers and multidisciplinary technical teams.
• Demonstrated success defining strategy and commercializing B2B dairy ingredients from bench through pilot, factory scale-up, customer qualification, and sustained production.
• Deep knowledge of dairy-component chemistry and functionality, including proteins, carbohydrates, minerals, cultures, and relevant separation, concentration, drying, fermentation, formulation technologies.
• Strong record of converting customer and market insights into differentiated technical roadmaps, application solutions, and commercially compelling value propositions.
• Executive-level business and financial acumen, including portfolio prioritization, budget leadership, capital evaluation, cost-benefit analysis, pricing and margin awareness, and measurement of innovation return.
• Working knowledge of food safety, quality systems, regulatory and labeling requirements, technical documentation, intellectual property, and risk management relevant to dairy ingredients.
• Experience establishing stage-gate governance, technical standards, knowledge-management practices, digital tools, and data-driven portfolio and scale-up decision processes.
• Proven ability to attract, develop, and retain technical talent, build succession depth, lead through change, and create a culture of scientific rigor, ownership, inclusion, collaboration, and disciplined execution.
• Exceptional communication and influence skills, with the ability to translate complex science for customers, plant teams, commercial leaders, and executives and to build alignment across functions, geographies, and external partners.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree or PhD

Responsibilities

• Define and execute the strategic R&D and technology roadmap aligned with division growth priorities, customer segments, manufacturing capabilities, and emerging dairy-ingredient opportunities.
• Own the innovation and renovation portfolio, including stage-gate governance, business cases, resource allocation, technical risk assessments, milestone discipline, and transparent decisions to accelerate high-value work and stop low-value projects.
• Lead end-to-end development and commercialization of whey- and milk-based proteins, carbohydrates, cultures, and specialty ingredient solutions from scientific discovery, formulation, and application testing through pilot trials, scale-up, customer qualification, and first commercial production.
• Serve as the senior technical partner to strategic customers, leading co-development, technical selling, demonstrations, qualification reviews, and resolution of complex formulation, functionality, processing, and quality challenges.
• Partner with Commercial, Sales, Operations, Engineering, Quality, Regulatory, Procurement, Finance, and Supply Chain to ensure solutions are consumer- and customer-relevant, manufacturable, repeatable, compliant, cost-effective, and supported by compelling value propositions.
• Advance process technology and technical capability, including separation, concentration, drying, fermentation, formulation, sensory, analytical, pilot-plant, and application-development platforms; partner with Engineering on capital feasibility, design, commissioning, and validation.
• Drive productivity and margin expansion through formulation, yield, throughput, quality, energy, water, waste, and raw-material optimization while protecting product performance, food safety, and customer requirements.
• Establish robust technical standards, specifications, experimental design, data integrity, documentation, knowledge management, and product/process validation practices across laboratories, pilot facilities, and plants.
• Champion digital R&D capabilities, including portfolio analytics, formulation and process modeling, competitive intelligence, searchable technical knowledge, and data-driven prediction of scale-up and product performance.
• Ensure technical compliance with applicable food safety, quality, labeling, regulatory, and customer standards in partnership with Quality and Regulatory; provide executive oversight for technical risk and customer-impacting issues.
• Lead intellectual-property strategy for the division by monitoring the competitive patent landscape, protecting trade secrets, guiding invention disclosures and patent filings, and managing freedom-to-operate considerations with Legal.
• Build an external innovation ecosystem with suppliers, universities, research institutes, start-ups, and industry groups to access emerging science, specialized capabilities, and partnership opportunities.
• Build, inspire, and retain a high-performing multidisciplinary organization; clarify roles and decision rights; strengthen technical career paths; and establish succession, capability, and workforce plans for critical expertise.
• Manage the R&D operating and capital budgets, quantify portfolio value and risk, and regularly communicate pipeline health, commercialization readiness, capability gaps, and business impact to the Ingredients Division leadership team.

Benefits

• Development opportunities that enhance your career fulfillment.
• Meaningful compensation & benefits that help you care for your family.
• Opportunities to contribute to your community and enhance the lives of others through Saputo products.

What This Job Offers

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