Position Title: VP R&D Global Snacking
Position Type: Regular - Full-Time
Requisition ID: 43251
Vice President, R&D - Global Snacking [Chicago]
About the role . Reporting to the Chief Innovation & Marketing Officer, the Vice President, R&D - Global Snacking provides enterprise leadership and accountability for all aspects of global Snacking product development and product stewardship. This role translates McCain's enterprise growth ambitions into a differentiated, consumer-led innovation and renovation agenda, while accelerating speed to market and ensuring flawless execution across regions and channels.
The VP will lead the global Snacking R&D organization, shaping strategy, capability, and culture to deliver winning products at scale. Success in this role requires deep cross-functional partnership with Marketing, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Quality, Sales, and regional business leaders to drive sustainable P&L performance, technical brand stewardship, and superior consumer and customer experiences.
What you'll be doing Enterprise Snacking R&D Strategy • Define and lead the global Snacking R&D strategy aligned to McCain's enterprise growth agenda, brand strategies, and long-term innovation ambitions.
• Translate strategic intent into a robust, multi-year innovation and renovation pipeline that delivers competitive advantage and sustainable growth
Innovation Pipeline & Speed to Market • Own the global Snacking innovation portfolio, ensuring clear prioritization, disciplined investment, and accelerated speed to market.
• Challenge traditional ways of working and remove structural, functional, and decision-making barriers that slow innovation delivery.
• Champion agile, test-and-learn approaches that enable faster concept development, prototyping, and commercialization.
Annual Operating Commitments & Governance • Lead the development and execution of Annual Operating Commitments, ensuring alignment across regions, platforms, timelines, resources, and budgets.
• Ensure strong portfolio governance, transparent decision-making, and disciplined stage-gate execution from concept through launch.
Technical Brand Stewardship & Go-to-Market Excellence
• Integrate product, process, and technology strategies with brand positioning to ensure consistent, high-quality product experiences across all channels (Retail, Foodservice, QSR).
• Safeguard long-term brand equity through strong technical stewardship, regulatory compliance, and food safety excellence.
People Leadership & Organizational Capability • Build, lead, and inspire a high-performing global R&D leadership team and broader technical organization.
• Develop future-ready capabilities, talent pipelines, and succession plans across Snacking R&D. Foster a culture of collaboration, accountability, inclusion, and continuous improvement across regions and disciplines.
Financial & Business Leadership • Accountable for global Snacking R&D investment effectiveness, including budgets, resource allocation, and ROI.
• Partner with Finance and business leaders to balance growth, margin, risk, and capability investments.
Executive & Enterprise Leadership • Act as a trusted strategic advisor to the Chief Innovation & Marketing Officer and the President, Global Snacking as well as the broader executive team.
• Represent Snacking R&D in enterprise forums and contribute to cross-category, cross-platform innovation and capability building
What you'll need to be successful Education - Bachelor's or Master's degree in Food Science, Food Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or a related scientific discipline.
- MBA or advanced business training preferred.
Experience - 15+ years of progressive leadership experience within R&D, Innovation, or Product Stewardship in consumer-packaged goods, food, or snacking categories, including senior global roles.
- Proven track record of leading complex, global innovation portfolios and delivering strong commercial and brand results at scale.
- Experience managing large, multi-site, multicultural organizations and significant R&D and capital budgets.
- Dairy and/or cheese experience is an asset.
Knowledge & Skills - Deep expertise in Snacking product development, including frozen and ready-to-eat platforms; coatings; frying and baking technologies.
- Strong business acumen with the ability to balance growth, margin, risk, speed, and long-term capability building.
- Demonstrated success accelerating speed to market through simplification, agile execution, and decisive leadership.
- Executive presence with exceptional influencing, stakeholder management, and communication skills.
- Strong understanding of global regulatory, food safety, and nutrition landscapes.
- Fluent in English; additional languages an asset.
Key Competencies . Strategic Agility - Translates global trends into clear portfolio and innovation direction.
Agile Ways of Working - Champions experimentation, rapid learning, and adaptive execution.
Collaboration & Influence - Builds alignment and momentum across regions and functions without direct authority.
Innovation Leadership - Drives bold thinking and breakthrough growth while managing ambiguity.
People & Capability Development - Builds strong leaders, teams, and future talent pipelines.
Courage & Resilience - Challenges the status quo and leads change with conviction and balance.
Travel • Willingness to travel approximately 15- 25% based on business needs - globally
Compensation Package : - 300,000 - 350,000 USD annually + Bonus eligibility + Long-term incentive eligibility
The above reflects the target compensation range for the position at the time of posting. Hiring compensation will be determined based on experience, skill set, education and training, and other organizational needs. This posting is for an existing vacancy.
Benefits: At McCain, we're on a mission to create a winning culture that puts employee safety and well-being at the heart of what we do, every day. We understand and appreciate that each person's needs are unique and ensure our benefits & well-being programs reflect that. Employees are eligible for the following benefits: health coverage (medical, dental, vision, prescription drug), retirement savings benefits, and leave support including medical, family and bereavement. Well-being programs include vacation and holidays, company-supported volunteering time, and mental health resources. Coverages are aligned with applicable law and can vary by work level, location, and nature of the role. Additional benefit detail available during the application process.
Your well-being matters to us, and we're here to provide you with the necessary resources to support you in being your best self at work - and at home.
Job Family: Research & Development
Location(s): US - United States of America : Illinois : Chicago || US - United States of America : Illinois : Lisle || US - United States of America : Illinois : Oakbrook Terrace
Company: McCain Foods USA, Inc.
