Manager, Product Research & Analytical (Frozen Handheld and Spreads Research & Development Team)
Hostess Brands, LLC

Your Opportunity as the Manager-Product Research & Analytical (Frozen Handheld and Spreads Research & Development Team)

In this role you will be responsible for leading the Products Research (PR) and Analytical teams within our Frozen Handheld and Spreads (FH&S) business unit. As Products Research leader, you act as the voice of the consumer for new and current business product development through cultivating a deep understanding of consumer needs and translating those needs into technical product design criteria. As Analytical leader, you play a crucial role in ensuring effective technical methods and robust data are utilized to support innovation and foundational knowledge. You will manage and coach a team of 7 employees, guide their project prioritization and proactively integrate PR and Analytical learning into ongoing Research & Development (R&D) learning in support of the business priorities. Scope for this role includes all brands within FH&S projects, projects range from Current Business support and Renovation to Upstream Innovation and involves partnerships with peers in FH&S R&D as well as across other R&D SBAs

Location: Corporate Offices in Orrville, Ohio

Work Arrangements: Supporting our Presence with Purpose Model with a minimum in person expectation of 40-50%.

In this role you will:

• Lead PR team to understand the needs of the consumer. Translate consumer driven insights and understanding to technical measures and methods. Guide prototype development through benchmarking prototype performance against consumer driven success criteria. Verify that final products deliver on the consumer driven success criteria for product design. Support product claims substantiation & identify new research methodologies.
• Lead Analytical team to identify, develop, and/or execute technical methods that measure performance of our products and ingredients. Apply these learnings in support of ingredient specifications, prototype development and final product design. Support product claims substantiation & identify new research methodologies. Manage effective utilization of Analytical labs, meeting all QA/HSE requirements.
• Determine priorities, define the work, and set expectations for your employees to deliver against the business and R&D objectives. Foster a culture of innovation and train, develop, and improve the performance and engagement of employees within your team.
• Provide technical and strategic oversight for both the PR and Analytical functions within R&D. Set strategies for evaluating innovation (product, package, cost, etc), coordinate activities cross-functionally and externally, develop accurate and robust consumer and technical methods and build consumer or technical models. Lead, manage, and improve standard procedures and methods.
• Provide technical and business judgments based on mastery and experience that help guide business decisions. Communicate statistical confidence & risks associated with your team's data to aid better decision making
• Be a champion for PR and Analytical, proactively connect and engage within FH&S R&D and cross-functional partners to meet SBA business results. Engage with peers across SBAs and in relevant Communities of Practice (COP).
• Influence others, anticipate issues, and proactively put plans in place to address them. Take ownership of decisions and broad implications.
• As a member of the FH&S R&D Leadership team, collaborate with peers to lead strategic development, continuous improvement, ID&E, and culture within R&D. Lead a QA or HSE Key Element, resource allocation, and manage Products Research & Analytical spending against aligned budget.

The Right Place for You

We are bold, kind, strive to do the right thing, we play to win, and we believe in a strong community that thrives together. Our culture is rooted in our Basic Beliefs, and we believe in supporting every employee by meeting their physical, emotional, and financial needs.

What we are looking for:

Minimum Requirements:

• BS, MS, or PhD in Science or Engineering
• 7+ years combined experience in R&D, QA, TSO, and/or Engineering roles (including at least 4 yrs in R&D)
• 4+ years Consumer Product Goods' experience
• 4+ years' experience working in (highly desired) or with (minimum) Products Research within the CPG industry and a track record of leveraging this experience to iteratively learn and develop innovation
• 2+ years' experience working in (highly desired) or with (minimum) Analytical within the CPG industry and a track record of leveraging this experience to apply Analytical methods to develop innovation and/or specifications
• People management experience leading a team in Research & Development, requiring delegation, prioritization, coaching, and driving business results.
• Experience partnering internally and externally with strong collaboration.
• Demonstrated skills in strategic and critical thinking, impactful scientific research, method development, and analysis and interpretation of scientific data
• Demonstrated ability to consistently deliver high-impact results
• Ability to continually integrate new learnings with existing knowledge
• Experience effectively communicating, verbally and in writing, complex ideas to a variety of stakeholders within and outside the Company
• Examples of delivering in a changing and fast-paced environment, managing multiple projects simultaneously
• Drives accountability for self and team

Learn more about working at Smucker:

• Our Total Rewards Benefits Program
• Our Thriving Together Philosophy Supporting All Impacted by Our Business
• Our Continued Progress on Inclusion, Diversity and Equity

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