Research and Development Manager – Food Innovation & Product Development

About the role

The Food Innovation & Product Development Manager leads technical efforts to turn food concepts into safe, scalable, market‑ready products. Reporting to the Director of Operations, the role works closely with entrepreneurs, farmers, startups and established food businesses while supporting the Division’s mission to strengthen the regional food economy.

Key responsibilities

• Lead end‑to‑end development of new food and beverage products, from concept through commercialization.
• Create and optimize formulations for flavor, texture, stability, shelf life and manufacturability.
• Conduct bench‑top, pilot‑scale and production‑scale trials and troubleshoot processing challenges.
• Translate formulations into scalable manufacturing processes and support scale‑up to commercial production.
• Provide technical consulting to clients on formulation, ingredients, packaging, food safety, regulatory compliance and commercialization strategies.
• Mentor R&D staff, interns and student employees and maintain documentation of best practices.

Required profile

• Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Food Engineering, Food Technology or a related field.
• Minimum 5 years of experience in food product development, manufacturing or commercialization.
• Proven ability to manage multiple projects and prioritize competing deadlines.
• Strong communication and client‑service skills with a collaborative mindset.

Required skills

• Food formulation and process development.
• Bench‑top, pilot‑scale and production‑scale trial execution.
• Food safety systems and regulatory compliance.
• Shelf‑life studies, process validation and thermal processing.
• Ingredient and packaging evaluation.
• Manufacturing specification development.