R&D Manager

R&D Manager

We are seeking a highly skilled and motivated Sr.

Manager of Process Technology R&D to lead efforts around new process development.

This individual will serve as a technical leader in Process Technology for the Dairy Foods organization, having responsibilities that span mentoring and directly managing individuals.

This is a working-manager role, with approximately 20% of responsibilities focused on people management and 80% focused on leading projects and initiatives.

The individual will lead projects focused on scale-up, foundational research, technical problem solving, and process technology innovation.

The ideal candidate will have strong technical problem‑solving skills, using engineering fundamentals, statistical design, and modeling to inform approaches and enable innovation, strengthen technical capability, and support business growth.

Job Description:


* Serve as both a people leader with direct people leadership responsibilities (~20% of time) and a technical leader (~80% of time)


* Lead and coordinate project activities related to scale-up from bench/and or pilot plant to commercial scale.

Define process design for new, improved, or revised products and processes and support implementation of commercial designs.

Evaluate project progress and leadteam members towards the achievement of tactical project/businessobjectives.Use sound experimentalmethodology, statistics/modeling, and scale-up methodologies to drive results.


* Serve as a technical leader, mentoring and training other team members, with both indirect (mentoring) and direct (management) responsibilities.


* Execute technical projects with medium to high complexity which could include new process and/or product development, foundational learning, process improvement, and technical problem solving.


* Apply deep understanding of engineering principles (mass & energy balances, thermodynamics, and fluid dynamics) to inform scale-up, process design, and process improvement/troubleshooting and coach others to do the same.


* Lead collaboration and leverage relationships with cross-functional R&D and non-R&D teams, including Product Development, Food Chemistry, Manufacturing, Project Engineers, Marketing, Sales, Quality, Operations, and external parties on moderately complex projects and initiatives.

Skills and Competencies


* Demonstrated people leadership skills.


* Ability to coach, mentor, and influence team members and cross-functional partners through both formal and informal authority


* Demonstrated experience with key dairy unit operations, with a high preference for an individual with membrane filtration and/or spray drying experience; expertise in other unit operations will be considered


* Deep understanding of dairy chemistry and dairy processing techniques and unit operations is required.


* Strong project management skills with the ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously.


* Excellent commu...