John Soules Foods · 1 day ago
Sr Director of Product Development
Tyler, TX
Full-time
Onsite
Director/Executive
12+ years expJohn Soules Foods is a thriving family-owned food company that has made a positive difference for its customers and consumers for nearly 50 years. The Senior Director of Product Development leads end-to-end innovation and commercialization for the company's ready-to-eat grilled poultry and beef and breaded poultry portfolio, overseeing Culinary Innovation, R&D, and Specifications & Labels while collaborating cross-functionally to deliver innovative products.
Food and Beverage
Responsibilities
Partner to develop the company’s innovation vision for ready‑to‑eat proteins, balancing culinary trends, unmet customer needs, commercialization feasibility, and plant capability
Translate market, culinary, and customer insights into a prioritized innovation pipeline and renovation agenda (quality upgrades, reformulations, cost/value engineering)
Partner with Sales and Marketing to translate insights into innovation briefs, ensuring concepts are differentiated and grounded in consumer and operator interest/appeal
Champion a consumer‑first, customer‑centric mindset—linking culinary trends and sensory performance to commercial outcomes
Lead the full lifecycle of product development—from ideation, benchtop prototyping, and culinary gold standards through scale-up, plant validation, and launch readiness
Create and enforce standardized process development frameworks, ensuring every new product has defined process parameters, critical control points, technical specifications, and yield expectations
Direct resource allocation to align with organizational prioritization and customer timelines to ensure on-time project completion
Oversee thermal process development (lethality, chilling, shelf life) and collaborate with FSQA to align with regulatory and food safety requirements
Champion “design for manufacturability”—ensuring plant capabilities, equipment constraints, and throughput objectives are integrated early in development
Set and track commercialization KPIs such as time‑to‑market, spec completeness, yield targets, and first‑run success
Partner with Operations on line trials, yield improvements, OEE considerations, and post-launch optimization to ensure products perform consistently at scale
Lead a top-tier culinary team to drive rapid prototyping, chef-driven ideation, and trend scouting; oversee gold‑standard development and commercialization handoffs to R&D
Establish sensory targets and culinary guardrails; embed structured tasting protocols, benchmarking, and product scorecards
Connect culinary creativity to grounded feasibility—ensuring innovation is both bold and operationally executable
Guide culinary direction for flavors, formats, and eating experiences in ready‑to‑eat proteins (e.g., marination, smoking, cooking profiles, saucing, coatings)
Own feasibility, formulation, thermal processing parameters, shelf life, and manufacturability across RTE poultry and beef SKUs
Lead development of robust process instructions, including marination systems, breading systems, cook profiles, and packaging parameters
Partner with Operations to develop comprehensive specs, optimize yields and throughput, and resolve technical issues during scale‑up and sustained run
Drive complexity reduction, renovation, and continuous improvement through specification and formula optimization
Ensure scientific rigor through structured experimentation, data-driven decision making, and validated process controls
Identify and explore new research opportunities, partnerships, and technologies that can lead to breakthrough products or processes
Oversee creation and maintenance of specifications, technical data, ingredients, nutrition facts, and compliant USDA-FSIS labels
Develop and drive process integrity to ensure label accuracy, claim substantiation, version control, and change management excellence for every launch and revision
Govern technical specifications and master data (ingredients, finished goods, allergens, nutrition, claims, etc.) across PLM/ERP systems
Serve as the escalation point for regulatory reviews (USDA‑FSIS oversight for meat/poultry, FDA where applicable), label approvals, and audit readiness
Drive high discipline in stage‑gate governance, ensuring clear documentation, aligned timelines, and accountable decision making
Support customer-facing innovation, including product showings, technical sell-ins, and joint development projects
Co-lead commercialization teams with Operations, Supply Chain, FSQA, Finance, Sales, and Marketing to align expectations, risk assessments, and launch plans
Partner with cost accounting teams to ensure cost modeling, yield assumptions, and margin targets are accurate
Collaborate with procurement on ingredient strategies, supplier validation, and cost savings
Collaborate with the legal to assist with patent applications and intellectual property protection related to new products or processes
Lead and develop a high-performing team of culinary, R&D, and regulatory leaders
Build a culture of innovation, experimentation, accountability, and continuous improvement
Foster cross-functional engagement and create an environment where creativity and technical rigor coexist
Set clear goals, create development plans, and build succession; recruit diverse talent across culinary, food science, meat science, and labeling disciplines
Qualification
Required
BS/BA in Food Science, Meat Science, Culinary Arts, Chemical Engineering, or related field required
12–15+ years in Product Development for poultry/meat or refrigerated/ready‑to‑eat foods; 7+ years in director level leadership roles
Deep knowledge of RTE poultry/meat processing (marination, tumbling, cooking, chilling, slicing, breading, packaging—MAP/Vacuum, shelf life, etc.)
Proven success delivering consumer-validated innovation from ideation through scale-up and commercialization
Proven track record launching at scale with OTIF discipline and achieving margin/COGS targets
Exceptional cross‑functional collaboration, executive communication, and stakeholder management
Strong financial acumen (cost modeling, yield/throughput impacts, and P&L considerations)
Proven experience in leading and managing teams, with responsibility for strategic planning, team development, and performance management
Analytical aptitude for data analysis and sensory science; ability to set targets and interpret consumer testing outcomes
Strong grasp of USDA‑FSIS regulatory requirements (labels, claims, standards of identity), HACCP, allergen control, and GFSI schemes
Proficiency with PLM/ERP systems (e.g., SpecRight/TraceGains/M3), formulation and spec management, and labeling workflows
Preferred
MS/MBA preferred
Poultry/meat strongly preferred
Additional experience with sauces, starches, and vegetables preferred
Benefits
Vacation / Sick days
Medical, Dental, Vision Benefits
Telemedicine
Onsite Clinic – Tyler and Valley
Free annual health screening
401 (k) with company match
STD and LTD
Life insurance & other voluntary benefits
Career Development: We support professional growth through continuous learning and development opportunities.
Company
John Soules Foods
John Soules Foods is a food & beverages company that provides chicken and beef products.
1001-5000 employees
H1B Sponsorship
John Soules Foods has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2022 (1)
Funding
Current Stage
Late StageLeadership Team
K
Keith Lewis
CFO and Executive VP
Recent News
Food Business News
2025-02-09
2024-11-12
Company data provided by crunchbase