Senior R&D Manager

Position Summary :

The Senior R & D Manager is responsible for leading the daily operations and strategic direction of the Senior Bakery R&D Team. This role ensures the efficient use of resources to deliver timely, high-quality results in product development, documentation, and specification management. While primarily focused on team and project leadership, the Senior Manager also plays a hands-on role in key initiatives requiring technical depth and cross-functional collaboration.

Acting as the central point of contact for internal and external stakeholders, this position partners closely with the Sales , Category , and Operations teams—as well as the Director of R&D —to align objectives and ensure seamless project execution. The Senior Manager provides technical leadership through plant trials, process evaluations, troubleshooting, and continuous improvement, while also collaborating with suppliers to advance formulation, processing, and quality capabilities across the bakery portfolio.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and develop a team of scientists, providing guidance, strategic direction, and critical decision-making support on project scope, feasibility, and execution.
• Oversee the investigation, planning, and commercialization of new products and processes, driving innovation and growth across the bakery category.
• Evaluate incoming project requests and allocate team resources effectively based on capability, workload, and business priorities.
• Track and report project progress, ensuring accurate documentation and strong communication across R&D, Sales, Marketing, and Operations.
• Conduct regular one-on-one and team meetings to review project milestones, address challenges, and plan next steps.
• Champion the professional growth of R&D team members through tailored development plans aligned with the company’s High-Performance Team culture.
• Build and maintain strong cross-functional relationships to support efficient project delivery and continuous improvement.
• Participate in customer and category planning meetings to identify opportunities, assess feasibility, and lead the execution of resulting initiatives.
• Provide technical leadership in the optimization of existing products, scaling formulations from bench to commercialization.
• Assist in the development of formulations, processing parameters, and technical specifications to ensure successful transition to production.
• Conduct performance reviews, provide coaching, and ensure team alignment with company goals and PMD guidelines.
• Perform other related duties as assigned.

Minimum Requirements

Education & Experience

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities