About the Role: As Senior Manager, Culinary Innovation, you'll bring food trends to life, creating bold, craveable products that balance flavor, quality, and operational feasibility. You'll lead recipe development and testing, collaborate across functions, and guide products from concept to nationwide launch
Responsibilities include but are not limited to: - Lead the creation, testing, and commercialization of new food and beverage products, platforms, and limited-time offers.
- Translate global food and flavor trends into relevant, on-brand innovation that excites guests and drives incremental growth
- Partner with Marketing, Operations, Sourcing, QA, and Finance to bring concepts from idea stage to national implementation.
- Write and manage product specifications and recipes; provide culinary and R&D approval for product changes.
- Conduct product evaluations, yield testing, and cost analysis to balance innovation with unit-level profitability.
- Collaborate with QA and Sourcing to ensure product quality, safety, and compliance with regulatory standards (HACCP, nutrition labeling, allergens, gluten-free, sodium reduction, etc.).
- Lead menu engineering initiatives for both core and value platforms, identifying gaps and opportunities in the current offering.
- Build and maintain supplier relationships, sourcing new ingredients and technologies that enhance product quality and innovation.
- Continuously research, taste, and explore emerging ingredients, preparation methods, and menu strategies to keep Subway at the forefront of culinary innovation.
- Present new concepts and platforms to brand leadership and Franchise partners with clear culinary rationale and business impact.
- Mentor and develop junior team members, fostering a culture of creativity, collaboration, and excellence.
Qualifications: - Bachelor's Degree in Culinary Arts, Food Science, or related field; advanced training preferred.
- 8+ years of experience in culinary innovation, product development, or restaurant/R&D leadership. Experience in multi-unit/QSR or food manufacturing strongly preferred.
- Strong culinary background with demonstrated expertise in recipe development, product innovation, and food science.
- Deep knowledge of industry and flavor trends, clean-label ingredients, and sensory evaluation methods.
- Proven experience in product commercialization, supplier engagement, and quality assurance.
- Strong understanding of food safety (HACCP) packaged food regulations, and government requirements.
- Excellent communication and presentation skills; ability to influence across all levels of the organization.
- Ability to balance creativity with operational feasibility and financial discipline.
- Strong leadership skills with experience managing and developing talent.
- Flexible, adaptable, and open-minded with unquestioned integrity.
- Up to 30% travel.
What do we Offer? - Insurance Plans (Medical/Dental/Vision/Life)
Actual pay is determined based on a number of job-related factors including skills, education, training, credentials, qualifications, scope and complexity of role responsibilities, geographic location, performance, and working conditions.
Job Details - Employment Indicator: Regular
