Product Development Manager Jobs

Cronos Group is an innovative global cannabinoid company with international production and distribution across five continents. Cronos Group is committed to building disruptive intellectual property by advancing cannabis research, technology and product development. With a passion to responsibly elevate the consumer experience, Cronos Group is building an iconic brand portfolio. Cronos Group’s portfolio includes PEACE NATURALS™, a global health and wellness platform and our adult-use brand Spinach™.

At Cronos Group, we hire talented people who thrive on solving difficult problems and give them the opportunity to hone new skills and approaches. If you want to play a part in shaping an innovative industry and help build a historically significant company, we want to meet you.

As the Product Development Manager, you will be responsible for managing a Pre-Roll Product Development Team, overseeing internal and external projects and initiatives related to product development. The product development Manager will manage product development teams and work closely with key interdisciplinary stakeholders to drive product projects forward from concept to commercialization. There is a key emphasis on communication, administrative and organizational skills while managing and administrating multidisciplinary projects across the business. The ideal candidate must be highly motivated, energetic, and able to work as part of a team and at a fast pace.

This position is based out of Stayner, ON.

What You'll Be Doing:

• Develop templates and processes for drafting formal product specifications and review & approve formal product specifications for all raw materials, work-in-progress/intermediate products, and final finished goods.
• Work with Regulatory Affairs to ensure Product Development compliance with the applicable laws, regulations and guidance governing cannabis products and their formats.
• Communicating research outcomes and commercialization project status to senior leadership team with the ability to communicate roadblocks, mitigations, and project acceleration opportunities.
• Lead the inputs on: Cost-of-Goods Sold, cannabinoid ratios, formulations and other technical considerations for the development of Profit & Loss models; working cross functionally with marketing & finance teams.
• Responsible for representing Research and Development organization and responsible for driving Product Development decisions in the commercialization processes; facilitating two-way communication between the business and the R&D organization to deliver on the business needs.
• Manage day-to-day workload and priorities for wet-lab work; directly supervising Product Development technicians and scientists, and ensuring projects are completed on-task and on-schedule and within budget.
• Act as lead technical contact between the business and contract manufacturing partners, contract research partners, consultants and other Product Development specific projects and activities with 3rd party vendors.
• Design, review, and approve Product Development experiments, reports, and formal documentation while communicating relevant results to the business to drive strategic decision making, acting as a thought leader and decision maker for technical considerations.
• Oversee the team responsible for Change Controls within the Quality Management System for any product change, new product innovation, or line-extension / renovation of existing products. Assist or lead Corrective Action Preventative Action Plans and Deviations within the Quality Management System as required and acting as technical subject matter expert.
• Travel to and from global Cronos Group Facilities, 3rd party contract manufacturers, and other remote locations for product development purposes, technical consultations, and manufacturing scale-up, optimization and troubleshooting, as required.
• Continual survey of competitive landscape and adjacent markets for novel products, innovations, industry trends; leading technical analysis and communicating results to cross functional business units.
• Manage Product Development teams responsible for the development of cannabis product formats including Processed Flower, Infused Flower, Pre-Roll, Infused Pre-Rolls, and other product formats related to Pre-Rolls.
• Work with marketing and procurement teams to identify and utilize various raw materials and packaging for product development with an emphasis on Cost-of-Goods-Sold as well as functionality in final formulation.
• Responsible for implementation and systems for inventory traceability and administrative documentation of all cannabis product being used for product development activities as well as tech-transfer and scale-up activities.
• Review and approve R&D stability for Product Development, overseeing R&D stability for durable dates, shipping conditions, real-time and accelerated conditions for all products and formats.
• Develop and communicate new products, cost-savings initiatives, quality improvements, or novel product attributes to the marketing team; working through business case development and implementation when appropriate.
• Develop process development critical parameters and general protocols for tech-transfer and scale-up activities of products working closely with engineering and/or contract manufacturers. Lead process validation and qualification as required.
• Assist with the development and lead the implementation of formal Product Development framework, reporting, capacity planning, resource management and budget development.

Your Environment

• Overtime as required
• Able to work in varying temperatures
• Frequent time spent in the laboratory, standing, bending, crouching
• Busy office environment with frequent disruptions
• Able to conduct presentations for management and peers
• Office environment: manual dexterity required

You'll Need to Have:

• Highly independent. Must be comfortable with establishing objectives, then working independently to achieve them, seeking the directors’ input as needed.
• Team player with excellent interpersonal skills. Must be able to establish and maintain effective, cooperative working relationships with all departments and organizational levels.
• Minimum 4 years’ experience directly managing teams.
• Minimum 5 -10 years’ experience in product development in a consumer-packaged goods industry and must have experience working within the cannabis industry.
• Minimum bachelor’s degree in science or related discipline; graduate degree preferred.
• Must have experience using QMS: specifically Change Controls, CAPAs, DMS (SalesForce is an asset)
• Must have a strong working knowledge regulatory requirement on consumer-packaged goods & cannabis licensed producers (specifically derivative products such as edibles, vape pens, topicals, beverages).
• Must have experience tracking inventory through LIMS or ERP systems (SAP and SalesForce experience is an asset)
• Must have proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Projects).

We are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment, and we welcome and encourage applications from people with disabilities and people with diverse backgrounds, identities, and cultures. For candidates with disabilities, accommodations are available upon request in all phases of the selection process.