Global Culinary Innovation Senior Manager (FMCG)

Location: Nijmegen, Netherlands

Company

hirify.global is a global food company focused on using culinary expertise, innovation, and technology to create scalable food products and customer solutions.

What you will do

• Lead, coach, and develop a diverse global team of chefs while establishing priorities, standards, and accountabilities.
• Own the global culinary innovation roadmap and portfolio across mid- and long-term programs.
• Translate emerging food trends, eating occasions, and technologies into tested recipes, menus, product prototypes, applications, and regional pilots.
• Build culinary methods, quality standards, playbooks, knowledge resources, data, and digital tools that can be scaled across regions.
• Partner with R&D, Marketing, Insights, Sales, Nutrition, Technology, regional teams, and external customers.
• Develop external partnerships and represent the culinary function with senior leadership and industry stakeholders.

Requirements

• Formal culinary education, apprenticeship, or equivalent professional chef qualification.
• 15+ years of experience, including restaurant or food service experience and leadership in FMCG, food manufacturing, or corporate innovation.
• Proven experience managing and developing chefs or culinary professionals across locations, cultures, or regions.
• Experience leading complex innovation portfolios and multidisciplinary teams from exploration through prototype validation and regional adoption.
• Strong understanding of food, ingredients, culinary techniques, menus, eating occasions, and commercial product scaling.
• Fluent English required; willingness to work across time zones and travel internationally.

Nice to have

• International experience.
• Experience building external partnerships with chef associations, universities, agencies, customers, or technology partners.

Culture & Benefits

• Opportunity to shape culinary expertise as a growth and competitive advantage across a global business.
• Work with talented chefs and build a connected international culinary community.
• Focus on food insight, culinary craft, technology, distinctive experiences, and sustainable growth.
• Inclusive leadership environment centered on high standards, psychological safety, feedback, and talent development.