Director Of Product And Process Development

Grand River Foods is a leading food solutions company serving customers in the North American grocery and food service industry. As a member of the Sunrise Farm family, we remain as dedicated as ever to both providing a quality work environment for our employees, as well as producing only the highest quality products for our customers. We are known for the great care we take with clients and employees alike.

Position Summary: The ideal candidate will have product development and process development, experience supporting retail, foodservice, and industrial sales within a further processed food manufacturing facility involving meat, dairy, and plant-based proteins. The role is expected to focus on the management of the full-life cycle of products and processes, from innovation, launch, on-going production, and end of life.

PRIORITY: Leading, developing, implementing, and managing team activities to optimize resource utilization while maximizing the service and innovation provided to our customers to deliver superior bottom line performance.

POSITION RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Develop production recommendations based on available capabilities between facilities.
• Lead the development of products and processes for the execution of mid-to-long term production strategies in partnership with Sales and Operations teams.
• Perform audits of facilities to validate adherence to process parameters as originally developed.
• Develop and monitor analytics related to product launch performance across the network.
• Provide regular updates and status reports to management and staff.
• Responsible for the development of Bills off Materials for new products, maintenance projects, and annual reviews for update of performance standards.
• Capital equipment inputs relative to equipment selection.
• Continuous Improvement – oversight of process improvements across facilities with focus on throughputs, yields, manpower efficiencies, quality, and other aspects of the manufacturing process. This includes the approval of all process changes to ensure that sensory and quality attributes of products are not compromised.
• Work with Operations to develop and monitor adherence to sensory and quality standards.
• Act as a back-up to facility-based Product and Process Development Managers.
• Bring forward industry leading manufacturing techniques and practices and lead implementation.
• Lead project management (stage gate process) for new developments, product maintenance, and process improvement.
• Ensure plant training on product manufacturing techniques and processes is provided for all new product launches.
• Responsible for innovation in production methods and processes.
• Establish and maintain positive working relationships with customers and suppliers.
• Provide oversight of the entire product costing process from development of bills of materials, through staffing and equipment requirements, to throughput, yield, and the setting of performance expectations.
• Ensure accuracy and submission of product related documentation, SOP’s, packaging, etc.
• Oversight of sensory review processes at all facilities and head office.
• Ensure processes developed maximize manufacturability by optimizing the use of both physical and human assets.
• Manage teams through Product and Process Development Managers across the Further Processing Division and support initiatives within the Primary Processing Division.

REQUIRED SKILL, EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS:

• Degree/Diploma in Food Science and/or Engineering.
• Excellent customer presentation skills.
• Proficient use of Office and other software.
• Minimum of 10 years of product development experience in a further processing environment, working with animal proteins.
• 15 years of progressive experience, with touchpoints in multiple, if not all, functional areas of product and process development within a manufacturing environment.

COMPETENCIES AND ATTRIBUTES:

• Strong critical thinking and communication skills (written and verbal) to share ideas and influence others, including senior management team.
• Evaluate business risk, and work with executive committees.
• Promote a healthy work culture ensuring solutions-based thinking and a cross functional ‘all for one’ team environment.
• Analytically minded with a knack for streamlining processes.
• Ability to achieve successful strategic change and innovation.
• Ability to implement new business strategies with strong change leadership skills.
• Coach, mentor, and train all Product Development team members to enhance performance and to develop and retain high-potential employees.

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At Sunrise Farms we are proud to be an equal-opportunity employer. All qualified individuals, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or any other identifying characteristic are encouraged to apply.