Job Overview: The Manager Research & Development (Core) leads a team responsible for all product development within the Core R&D portfolio, including front-end innovation, commercialization, product optimization, and technical support across High Liner Foods' product portfolio.
This role provides day-to-day leadership for the R&D team and project portfolio, ensuring resources are effectively prioritized and projects are delivered in alignment with customer needs, business objectives, technical requirements, and commercialization timelines.
Essential Duties and responsibilities - Lead, coach, and develop a team of R&D professionals while setting priorities, assigning work, and ensuring accountability for project results.
- Manage the Core R&D project portfolio, prioritizing resources based on business value, customer timelines, technical complexity, risk, and team capacity.
- Lead front-end innovation and product-development activities, including opportunity identification, ideation, concept development, technical feasibility, and pipeline advancement.
- Translate customer needs, consumer insights, culinary trends, and business priorities into actionable product, technology, and commercialization plans.
- Oversee product development and optimization through stage-gate processes, including formulation, benchtop testing, sensory evaluations, customer samples, specifications, shelf-life studies, and validation.
- Partner with Sales, Marketing, Operations, Engineering, Quality Assurance, Regulatory, Procurement, Supply Chain, suppliers, and customers to deliver successful product launches.
- Lead product scale-up and commercialization through line testing, first production, launch, and post-commercialization review.
- Serve as an escalation point for complex product, process, ingredient, manufacturing, quality, sensory, and shelf-life challenges, using scientific and root-cause problem-solving methods.
- Evaluate ingredient substitutions, supplier changes, formula modifications, process improvements, quality enhancements, yield opportunities, and cost-saving initiatives.
- Identify and advance new ingredients, technologies, processing methods, equipment, tools, procedures, and best practices that improve product quality, manufacturing performance, R&D efficiency, and speed to market.
Qualifications - Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Food Engineering, Culinary Science, or a related technical discipline required.
- Minimum of 6 years of progressive experience in food R&D, product development, process development, or food manufacturing.
- Minimum of 2 years of direct people-management experience.
- Demonstrated experience leading and developing technical professionals.
- Proven experience developing and commercializing food products from concept through scale-up, first production, and launch.
- Experience managing multiple product-development projects, plant trials, technical investigations, and cross-functional teams.
- Experience working within a stage-gate or structured product-development process.
- Strong technical judgment with the ability to balance customer and consumer expectations with product quality, food safety, cost, yield, manufacturing capability, and business objectives.
- Seafood, frozen food, value-added protein, coatings, sauces, formed products, or fully cooked product experience is strongly preferred.
- Culinary training and knowledge of sensory-evaluation methodologies are assets.
- Strong project-management, problem-solving, decision-making, organizational, and communication skills.
- Ability to manage multiple priorities and deliver results in a fast-paced environment.
- Proficient in Microsoft Office and applicable product-development, specification, project-management, and documentation systems.
Current employees please note: this position is referral bonus eligible! See our policy for more details.What's in it for you?Join High Liner Foods for a career where you shape your path, backed by great benefits, flexible work, and a culture of diversity, innovation, and sustainability. Immerse yourself in opportunities to make a real impact and grow with us in our mission to nourish lives. Start your adventure where endless possibilities to thrive together await.
- Competitive Salary
- Heath, dental & vision coverage
- Pay for performance incentives
- Employee & Family assistance programs
- Wellness Programs
- Retirement Planning
- Supplemental Parental Leaves
- Disability Support
- Family friendly Flex policies & Summer hours
- Volunteer hours
- Learning and mentorship opportunities
- Safety focused work environment
To learn more please visit our Career/LinkedIn/Indeed page
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