Griffith Foods is a global manufacturer of food products. We provide a wide range of taste and texture components for food industry customers throughout the world. Our products include seasoning blends, dry mixes, coating systems, dough blends, crumbs, flavors, sauces and food bases that are used in an extensive variety of application from snack foods and processed meat and poultry to ready meals. Our customers include food processors, restaurant operators and grocery retailers. While our name may not be familiar to consumers, our products are key components of foods offered by many of the world's best-known companies.

Location: Proximity to Work in Alsip, IL US, Scarborough, CA or Monterrey, MX

Summary: Develops, leads and executes North America (NA) R&D activities across the Seasoning Product Category. Builds a robust technical product pipeline, through consumer centric innovation and product renovation (nutrition focused) which unleashes the growth, value and overall impact of the Seasoning Product Category in support our Aspirations and 2030 Long Range Plan.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

• Leads, in collaboration with the NA Marketing Seasoning Product Category leader, development and execution of a targeted strategic plan for NA Seasoning Product Category innovation to identify targeted research opportunities with broad customer and market application.
• Responsible for Fiscal and Long Range Plan innovation financial and impact metrics targets.
• Collaborates cross-functionally to assess market, consumer and customer needs, capitalizes on technical capability advantages and address capability gaps to identify future growth paths.
• Manages R&D process of optimizing the innovation portfolio across product categories, customer segments and geographies.
• Makes go/no-go decisions to prioritize and deprioritize projects as necessary and provides project updates in collaboration with Marketing and regional stakeholders.
• Partners with Marketing, Culinary and New Business Development to deliver proactive product platforms to deliver NA Product Platforms infused with innovation technologies and designed to solve consumer problems for a broad range of customers.
• Engages Purchasing, Finance, Supply Chain, Engineering and other functions as needed to support innovation technology development and commercialization.
• Builds innovation culture across regional/unit cross-functional teams.
• Validates business cases and assumptions to prioritize innovation projects and support resource allocation decisions.
• Identifies and executes processes to protecting the integrity and confidentiality of technical innovations (security, patentability).
• Identifies and collaborates with strategic partnerships to co-develop and promote intellectual property.
• Integrates tools and approaches that drive technology initiatives and Griffith Foods' digital transformation.
• Regarded as an internal and external Seasoning Product Category thought leader to enable Product Leadership positioning.
• Leads and manages resources to develop and execute project plans/briefs that communicate objectives, measurements, variables, methodologies, resources and timing required.
• Works with Marketing, Culinary, Sensory, Purchasing and Commercial Team teams to execute the commercialization/go-to-market execution plan.
• Identifies and engages targeted external innovation partners (suppliers, academia, consultants, NGOs).
• Works with Global R&D Product Category Leaders and regional teams to communicate, review and transfer innovative technologies, knowledge, ideas and project data.
• Works with Regulatory, Nutrition and Legal functions/resources to identify and assess the viability of new ingredients, technologies or funtionality claims.

Qualifications:

• BS and MS in Food Science, Food Technology, Food Chemistry, Chemistry or a related science.
• Must have strong Seasoning processing, food safety and formula design experience.
• Minimum of 8-10 years of technical/scientific development experience in the seasonings category and/or support within the food industry.
• 2-3 years people management experience.
• Strong analytical skills including knowledge of ingredient functionality across a range of food products.
• Strong research project planning, management and execution skills.
• Proven ability to develop and commercialize new technologies/process improvements.
• Applied research methodology identification and application.
• Demonstrated ability to organize and conduct complex experiments and provide direction to scientists.
• Proven ability to train and mentor internally and externally.
• Demonstrated experience of excellent communication, working well in a team environment, confidence, enthusiasm and initiative.
• Ability to work closely with customers.
• Excellent, concise technical writing skills.
• Fluency in English and Spanish is preferred.
• Ability to travel up to 35%.

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• Alsip, IL 60803 - Griffith Foods Headquarters, One Griffith Center, Alsip, Illinois, United States of America