Sr R&D Manager – Food Ingredients

Kinsa is recruiting for a: Sr. R&D Manager – Ingredients
Location: Eastvale, CA

Mission:
Our client, a producer of premium ingredients, is looking for a Sr. R&D Manager to add to their team. In this role, you will be responsible for overseeing complex product development projects from concept through commercialization, driving cost optimization, and ensuring technical excellence aligned with global regulatory and market requirements.

Successful candidates MUST HAVE experience in a food processing plant environment (and/or other singular qualifier under Competencies/Culture below).

Compensation/Benefits:                                                                         

• Compensation: 160-175k
• Medical, Dental, Vision
• Paid Vacation/Holidays
• Retirement Benefits
• Relocation Assistance

What you’ll be responsible for:

• Serve as a customer-facing technical leader, building relationships with key accounts
• Lead presentations of R&D concepts, technical proposals, and commercialization plans to internal executives and external customers.
• Direct the design, development, and commercialization of innovative food products with a global reach
• Work cross-functionally with Operations, Sales, QA, Regulatory, Procurement, and external partners
• Lead plant trials, pilot runs, and product scale-ups
• Translate business challenges into R&D opportunities that deliver value, efficiency, and differentiation in the marketplace
• Drive strategic pipeline development and prioritize projects to support both short-term growth and long-term innovation
• Develop a high-performing team of scientists and technologists
• Oversee experimental design, technical documentation, and validation processes
• Monitor industry trends, global flavor profiles, ingredient innovations, and new processing technologies
• Manage vendor relationships and co-manufacturer technical activities as needed

Competencies/Culture:

• Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Chemical Engineering, or a related field
• 8+ years for progressive R&D leadership experience in a food processing environment
• Experience with customer support and presentation
• Experience with product formulation, ingredient functionality and scale-up
• Experience with regional regulatory standards (EU, APAC, LATAM)
• Experience leading R&D Projects
• Experience with Centrifuge, Titrator (salt, TA), Brix, Hunter Color, Desiccator, Moisture Oven
• Experience with blenders, Colloid Mill, Lightning Mixer, Viscometer, Brookfield Viscometer
• Ability to travel 20-30%

Referrals are our best source for the top talent our clients need so if you know of anyone with these skills in the food and beverage industry, please pass me their name and email/phone number, or share this job posting with them. Kinsa pays referral bonuses if someone you refer gets hired by our client!

Check out our other food and beverage industry career opportunities at https://kinsa.com/food-beverage-industry-jobs/.
 Recruiter Information:
Rob Navarro
RobN@kinsa.com