The role you're interested in...

The successful candidate will be an experienced R&D leader who provides strategic direction and technical oversight for scale-up, process engineering, packaging engineering and manufacturing support activities. This role will lead pilot plant operations (internal and external), scale-up efforts at co-manufacturing facilities, and process and packaging improvement initiatives focused on cost optimization and operational efficiency.

The position will lead a team of 5-10 technical professionals and technicians, ensuring pilot plant, scale-up and packaging activities align with business objectives and enable a seamless transition from product/package development, through commercialization. Responsibilities include establishing robust scale-up processes, supporting manufacturing troubleshooting, and ensuring products can be efficiently and reliably produced at commercial scale.

Success in this role requires strong cross-functional leadership and shared accountability for project outcomes. The leader will build effective partnerships with internal stakeholders, co-manufacturers, and external service providers to drive projects from development through successful commercialization. This role reports into our VP, Product Development.

If you are ready to flex your thinking between technical problem solving, guiding, enhance scale up program, and coaching team members, then welcome aboard.

The work environment...

So, what's it like to work here? If you're based in the greater Bay Area, you'll walk into our Emeryville office each Tuesday morning and start the in-person portion of our hybrid work week at our weekly all-company meeting and find close to 200 of your colleagues, some sitting with their dogs, talking excitedly through the week ahead and watching a newer teammate tell their personal life and career journey followed by a quick update on any hot topics that might be relevant to the week ahead.

We are a dynamic, HYBRID workplace, with an expectation that all employees come into the office Tuesday through Thursday. We are very intentional about connecting in person for things like innovation, impromptu collaboration, having respectful challenges to get to better decisions, leadership role-modeling, and culture building. Great work cultures are built on stories about what great looks like in practice, and great stories during virtual meetings just don't happen. The expected pay scale for this role is $200k to $220k, which may vary based on relevant experience, qualifications, geographic area (if applicable), and internal equity for the role.

At the beginning of 2026, we moved into our massive modern 133,000 square foot headquarters in Emeryville, California, complete with spacious personal workspaces, gym with rock-climbing wall, a café, free onsite parking, tons of greenery, and many transportation options.

You're excited about this opportunity because your time will be filled with...

Critical Thinking & Technical Leadership: 40% of your time

• Lead scale-up, commercialization, pilot plant operations, and manufacturing support activities
• Drive continuous improvement of scale-up and commercialization processes to ensure efficient transitions from development to production
• Build strategic partnerships with co-manufacturers and external service providers to ensure R&D objectives are met
• Oversee and integrate technical packaging activities in scale-up and commercialization initiatives
• Provide technical leadership in processing, manufacturing performance, packaging engineering, risk management, and problem-solving
• Ensure product, package and process compliance through collaboration with cross-functional partners
• Identify emerging technologies, trends, and external capabilities to strengthen R&D and commercialization
• Provide input on long-term capability, equipment, facility, and talent needs

R&I People Leadership & Culture: 40% of your time

• Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing technical team
• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, innovation, and continuous learning
• Manage resource allocation and priorities to ensure successful project execution
• Contribute as an active member of the R&I Leadership Team
• Build strong partnerships across functions and external organizations to drive project success
• Represent and advocates for R&I by providing technical insight, strategic thinking, and leadership across the business

The daily stuff that everyone does but few quantify: 20% of your time

• Attending meetings and presentations
• Participating in company-wide activities and events galore
• Impromptu conversations with colleagues
• Administrivia like email, calendaring, expense reports, and other non-value-added work

What are we looking for?

• Ability to explain complex technical subject matters to non-technical team
• Ability to apply technical know-out to real world problems
• Ability to drive results, pivot quickly as needed
• Strong collaborative skills and ability to work well in teams
• Possess curiosity, creativity, and alternative thinking to develop better or new solutions with a scientific approach

Education:

• Bachelor's degree Food Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Biological Sciences, Food Science or similar field

Experience:

• 12+ years of experience in the food and beverage industry, including thermal processing and aseptic beverage processing, and high-protein RTD scale-up.
• 5+ years of people leadership experience managing technical teams.
• Demonstrated success commercializing products (product, process, package) through co-manufacturing partners and supporting manufacturing operations.
• Strong technical troubleshooting and process optimization capabilities.
• Working knowledge (incl. Mechanical) of processing and packaging equipment and manufacturing systems (batching through packaging)
• Strong working knowledge of process capability studies, statistical process control and specifications - ability to read, design and interpret specifications

Skills and mindset:

• Strong ability to build relationships and influence stakeholders across all levels of external manufacturing organizations
• Ability to translate complex technical information into clear business recommendations and drive decision-making
• Proven cross-functional leadership and project management skills with a track record of delivering results through internal and external teams
• Demonstrated experience managing project risk, solving complex technical challenges, and executing against timelines
• Excellent communication, collaboration, and influencing skills
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment while managing multiple priorities
• Willingness to travel up to 35%

What the work is like:

• You'll spend a significant portion of your day working on a computer, reviewing data, creating reports, communicating with partners, and joining virtual and in-person meetings
• This role requires frequent and ongoing use of a keyboard, mouse, phone, and other office technology
• You'll regularly navigate multiple systems at once, analyze detailed information, and shift between competing priorities and deadlines
• You'll communicate regularly with team members, cross-functional partners, external partners, and leaders through meetings, Outlook based email, messaging platforms such as Microsoft Teams, and presentations
• Occasional movement around the office may be required for meetings, collaboration, and team activities
• May occasionally lift or move office materials weighing up to 10 pounds

So, if after reading through this long list you're thinking-I'm not sure I meet 100% of these requirements, should I still apply? YES-if you embody a growth mindset, see challenges as opportunities to develop, and find innovative ways to get the real work that matters done, you sound like our kind of candidate!

The 5 capabilities or mindsets most relevant to this role:

• Emotional intelligence
• Thrive in ambiguity amid competing priorities
• Connect & Belong
• Play to Win
• Creativity, exploration, & innovativeness

You will thrive here and may just do the best work of your life if...

• You want to be an integral part of shaping and nurturing an amazing work culture
• You can be flexible in your approach to challenges and abandon past practices if they don't make sense or lead to a poor outcome
• You are comfortable being natural, casual, open, and even a bit playful at work
• You don't have a big ego and hate siloed thinking
• You can be friendly, vulnerable, and self-deprecating in one moment, and deal with a challenging, delicate people-related matter as a professional in the next
• You can do periods of focused, deep work on projects to move the needle

This may not be your ideal next career move if you like...

• ...a lot of structure, rules, and uniformity
• ...a lot of command and control management
• ...a "big company" impersonal, cog-in-the-machine vibe-that ain't us
• ...to build a beautiful, orderly bureaucracy
• ... things to not change much (we suggest the elevator business for that)
• ...workplaces where there isn't much ambiguity
• ...to resolve challenging interpersonal situations over instant messaging
• ...to work in your own "silo-of-excellence"
• ...hiding at home with your camera off, better yet, on mute, and demonstrating excellence through email
• ...to chase whatever shiny object presents itself during the day instead of real results through focus

Here's the deal with our not-so-standard, um...standard interview process because we know you are the curious type, which is why you're still reading this...

• Quick 30 min phone chat with a high energy member of our Talent Acquisition team to do a quick overview of your background and answer any burning questions you have
• Team interviews are kept to a minimum to foster a more efficient, candidate-friendly process (too many interviewers yields little value and drags out the process for you-and who wants that, right?):
  • A short series of in-person or video interviews in a 1:1 setting; these are usually with the hiring manager, one or two other team members, and a person from another team to get broader perspectives (note: we don't do panel interviews because they don't give interviewers a chance to ask you unique questions, and we assign interviewers different roles so we're probing different capabilities)
• A case study or job task to simulate what you'd actually be doing in the role might be included (since your job is not actually to be interviewed for a living, why is that the thing companies rely on so much?) Yes, there will be a small panel for this one so you don't have to do it more