Manager, R&D - Product Development: Desserts (Food Science)

Location: Glenview, Illinois, United States; hybrid schedule with in-office presence at least three days per week. Requires up to 30% travel to internal plants, co-manufacturers, suppliers, and other business locations in the United States and Canada.

New hire base salary: $104,200–$130,200 per year, plus eligibility for a performance-based bonus.

Company

hirify.global develops and manages a portfolio of food and beverage brands, including dessert products.

What you will do

• Lead product development across dessert categories, including brand maintenance, portfolio evolution, innovation, renovation, and productivity initiatives.
• Manage, coach, and develop product developers while building technical and leadership capability.
• Translate business, supply, and regulatory requirements into development plans and drive projects from concept through commercialization.
• Lead product testing, qualification, and commercialization across laboratory, pilot plant, and production environments.
• Partner with R&D, operations, quality, regulatory, marketing, and supply chain teams to resolve technical issues and deliver against timelines.
• Manage priorities, resources, tradeoffs, documentation, technical rigor, and executional discipline across planned and unplanned initiatives.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Life Sciences, or a related field plus at least 6 years of product development experience in CPG, food and beverage, or a related industry; alternatively, a master’s degree plus at least 5 years of relevant experience or a PhD plus at least 4 years.
• Demonstrated experience leading, coaching, and developing technical talent.
• Strong knowledge of ingredients, product formulation, processing equipment, ingredient interactions, and laboratory test methods.
• Experience leading product development and commercialization across multiple projects and priorities.
• Strong communication, influencing, project management, problem-solving, prioritization, and tradeoff decision-making skills.
• Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, cross-functional environment with changing priorities and a high degree of ownership.
• Strong technical judgment, including the ability to design experiments, interpret results, and adjust plans.
• Willingness to travel up to 30% within the United States and Canada.
• Ability to lift up to 30 pounds and navigate laboratory, storage, and manufacturing environments.

Culture & Benefits

• Hybrid work schedule with an open-workspace office environment and visits to external locations.
• Healthcare coverage, prescription drug, dental, vision, screening, and assessment programs for employees and eligible dependents.
• Paid time off, company holidays, leave of absence, flexible work arrangements, recognition, and training.
• Employee assistance, wellbeing, family support, life insurance, accidental death and dismemberment, disability, and 401(k) programs.
• Performance-based bonus eligibility and learning opportunities supporting physical, social, emotional, and financial wellbeing.