Role Overview:

This role exists first to close the gap between what R&D and ideation create and what actually runs, reliably and at full scale, on a co-manufacturer's equipment. It starts with taking a formula from gold-standard bench sample through trial, first production, and continuous improvement. Once a product is running cleanly, this person stays connected as a technical resource to the wider site-facing quality team, so the process knowledge and relationships built during commercialization inform ongoing production rather than getting handed off and lost. This is a new position on the Manufacturing team, created because our fastest-growing need isn't more ideation; it's the ability to take what R&D and ideation create land it intact at full manufacturing scale and then keep it running to spec day to day. The ideal person has lived on both sides of that line: formulation and scale-up trials on one side, hands-on plant and quality experience (blenders, augers, packaging lines, audits) on the other.

What You'll Own

Commercialization & Scale-Up (primary focus):

• Own the transition of new formulas from bench-top “gold standard” samples through plant trials, first production runs, and continuous improvement, ensuring the process, not just the recipe, transfers to each manufacturer's specific equipment (e.g., tumble blenders vs. ribbon blenders vs. V-blenders).
• Loop in early on new formulations, before they're finalized, to flag equipment or process mismatches before they become a rework problem.
• Partner with the sensory and R&D teams to determine whether a site-specific standard is warranted when equipment differences make an exact match to the master gold standard impractical, and document the rationale.
• Lead the handoff from trial/first production into steady-state production, staying attached to the SKU and site rather than dropping it once it's running.
• Partner with New Product Launch teams during launch planning to confirm our manufacturing network has the equipment and process capability to take a product from pilot production to full-scale, everyday production runs, flagging capability gaps early enough to address them before launch.
• Support the Sr. Director of Manufacturing & Supply in maintaining a clear, current view of existing and prospective manufacturing capabilities across the network, and help organize a portfolio of manufacturers so future projects can be matched to the right site with confidence.

Guidance to the Site-Facing Technical/Quality Team:

• Act as a resource and advisor to the wider site-facing technical/quality team, sharing the process and equipment context built during commercialization so they can troubleshoot day-to-day production issues without starting from scratch.
• Provide insight on performance against sensory and quality targets set by the sensory/R&D team, helping the site-facing team interpret drift and connect it back to the original scale-up intent.
• Lend expertise to site audits (SQF, BRC, customer audits) as needed, helping pressure-test risk assessments and confirm corrective/preventive actions go deeper than “retraining,” without owning the audit relationship day to day.
• Flag when a site's day-to-day practice appears to be drifting from what's documented, and route it to the site-facing quality owner for follow-up.

Issue Support & Root-Cause Investigation:

• Support root-cause investigations when something breaks (an out-of-spec test result, a quality deviation, an ingredient or process failure) by contributing process knowledge and clarity on how the product is expected to be produced at that specific co-man.
• This role is not the required first responder; it strengthens the investigation rather than owning the initial response.
• Coordinate with the broader manufacturing coverage team and site-facing quality owners so investigations draw on the right process expertise without depending on any one person's availability.

Relationship Management:

• Build genuine, collaborative relationships with co-manufacturer teams (quality, engineering, and operations) grounded in the mindset that Ryze and the co-man are on the same team working the same problem.
• Represent Ryze's standards clearly and directly, including in difficult conversations, while maintaining the trust needed for co-mans to raise issues early rather than hide them.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor Degree preferred plus 8 years of experience.
• Experience spanning both R&D/formulation scale-up (bench  pilot  first production) and hands-on plant or co-manufacturer support; ingredient-supplier or contract- manufacturing background is a strong plus.
• Working knowledge of blending and processing equipment (paddle blenders, V- blenders, ribbon blenders, augers, packaging lines) across food, beverage, or nutritional products.
• Direct experience with GFSI audits (SQF, BRC) and food safety/quality documentation, ideally from both the auditee and technical-support sides, comfortable advising the site-facing quality team rather than owning the day-to-day audit relationship.
• Demonstrated ability to build trust-based relationships with manufacturing partners and to have direct, difficult conversations when needed.
• Comfortable with variable travel to assigned manufacturing sites, planned around commercialization and launch milestones rather than as the primary on-call, short-notice responder.