Apply on Employer Site

Liquid I.V. · 1 day ago

Senior Manager, Innovation Product Development

El Segundo, CA

Full-time

Hybrid

Senior Level, Lead/Staff

$126K/yr - $189K/yr

8+ years exp

Liquid I.V. is a company focused on developing transformative hydration solutions. They are seeking a Senior Manager for Innovation Product Development to lead and execute the delivery of their new product innovation pipeline while managing a team of product development scientists.

Food and BeverageHealth CareNutritionWellness

No H1B

Responsibilities

Manage the entire innovation product development (PD) lifecycle with team from idea/concept creation with marketing, new raw material and manufacturing qualification, safety assessments, regulatory reviews, prototype development, specification development, technical transfers, scale-up support, and post-launch support

Coach and develop an agile PD team – ensure they are well supported. Effectively mobilize resources to meet key business objectives and milestones. Manage and hold team accountable against OKR’s to ensure the team is meeting their performance goals

Own and execute independent PD projects, in addition to managing your team

Build and present strategic and tactical content/presentations to leadership, peers, and working teams. Coach team and independently create effective content that helps communicate & drive key business decisions. Ideal content should clearly story-tell situations and recommendations to leadership for effective alignments

Help strengthen and foster relationships with co-development and manufacturing partners. Execute development agreements with Legal with eye on: IP protection, cost, and define SOW’s

Assist in the development of project briefs for innovation concepts, research and define the products feasibility, and development technical guardrails and parameters to meet launch objectives and targets

Monitor and maintain on-time delivery of critical project milestones and timelines within the innovation PD budget

Own, track, and operationalize the Innovation PD budget

Assist in the enterprise annual operating planning process, which includes, but not limited to inputs into PD operations budget, overhead resource planning, and organizational strategy to support the 3 year Innovation calendar

Coach PD team to design and execute effective experiments. Implement R&D activities to ensure final product meets consumer expectations, product efficacy, shelf-life stability, scalability from benchtop, cost, sensory, and aesthetic requirements in accordance with the brand strategy and program goals

Partner with marketing, scientific affairs, procurement, and external suppliers/partners to learn and identify new trends (i.e. flavors, ingredients, format, benefits, new product territories, etc). Partner with supply chain, quality, regulatory, science, and manufacturing teams to drive feasibility of said trends and ideas

Lead team to identify and create best-in-class flavors, with goal to deliver on our superiority measures

Partner with quality and regulatory to define and execute stability and analytical testing criteria required for all products

Participate in artwork review and approval process for primary and secondary components, copy for marketing collateral and training materials for storytelling, marketing, and educational needs

Deliver operationally effective and meaningful specifications for new products to ensure customer quality is met

Identify and operationalize improvement opportunities to the innovation process for both R&D and company as a whole (in partnership with cross-functional leaders)

Travel as necessary to: represent team at industry conferences/tradeshows, supervise formula development, and support pilot/production runs at manufacturers as needed to meet project milestones

Qualification

Food scienceProduct developmentFlavor designTeam managementConsumer researchR&D budget managementQuality assuranceAnalytical skillsCoachingAgilityProblem-solvingPresentation skills

Required

Master's degree in food science or related field required

8+ years of progressive growth experience working in CPG, but preferably in food and beverage industries. Start-up experience, a plus

Minimum 3+ years' experience managing technical teams

Both food and dietary supplement experience a must

Proven experience leading and inspiring high-performing teams & individuals

Consumer obsessed; to deliver the best sensory and efficacy benefits to customers

Is an enthusiastic innovation leader, inspires new ideas, and is plugged into the industry to bring forth new opportunities

Deep technical expertise in areas such as powdered beverages, dietary supplements, food science, and flavor design/development

Strong working knowledge of consumer research, health and nutrition, food manufacturing processes, quality assurance principles, PD systems and processes, ingredient supply market, and packaging science

Demonstrated analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to coach a team to define problems, create both scrappy & detailed experiments, collect and interpret data, draw valid conclusions, and propose solutions

Experience developing and managing R&D budgets, with experience in Annual Operating Plans

A polished and poised technical manager with strong influencer, oral & written presentation skills that can adapt presentation and communication to both technical and non-technical colleagues

Strong working knowledge of R&D program management

Strong ability to coach, grow talent, understanding of training and development programs, performance management, and building capabilities within the team for both short and long-term career growth

Agile and adaptable to change and demonstrates ability to motivate team amidst aggressive business objectives and priority shifts