Schwan's Company

Description

(Overview)

Schwan’s Company, a U.S. affiliate of the global lifestyle company, CJ CheilJedang Corporation, is a leading U.S. manufacturer and marketer of quality foods offered through retail-grocery and food-service channels. Our many popular brands include Red Baron®, Tony’s®, Big Daddy’s®, Villa Prima™ and Freschetta® pizza; Mrs. Smith’s® and Edwards® desserts; and Pagoda® and Bibigo Asian-style snacks. Schwan’s is a place for people with an appetite for more. To learn about joining a team where you can belong, contribute, and thrive, visit www.schwansjobs.com.

We are hiring for an R&D Sr. Director, Technology Development, in Bloomington, MN.  In this role you will be responsible for championing technology platforms leveraging ingredients, formula, processing, and packaging technologies to enable future competitive differentiation.  Identification and advancement of these platforms requires a design-thinking mindset and strong strategic engagements with internal colleagues and key supplier partners, as well as the technical curiosity for open innovation and entrepreneurial solutions.   The role is also responsible for advancing R&D’s technology intellectual property, as well as providing technical solutions to solve urgent business issues.

Travel requirement is ~ 25%.

Responsibilities

• Champion the strategic direction for the global technology roadmap within the CJ CheilJedang Food Division. Also define the domestic technology roadmaps, while collaborating with R&D partners, including ingredients, formula, processing, and packaging technologies within each category.
• Coordinates with business unit and domestic/global functional leaders (e.g. Marketing, Manufacturing, Corporate Engineering) to ensure compatibility of technology roadmaps with product roadmaps and prioritize them appropriately to enable future competitive differentiation.
• Manages and coordinates Schwan’s Technology Development Stage-Gate process.
• Works with R&D partners domestically and globally to ensure Schwan’s TD project portfolio is resourced appropriately. Focus will be on advancing applied research by identifying, sourcing/developing, and applying the technologies within our categories, including collaboration projects with global R&D teams.
• Influences Sr. Business Leaders (e.g. Marketing and Supply Chain) based on business strategies to identify and acquire external technology to deliver on current and future business deliverables.
• Leverages Technology Development team members to provide technical services support as appropriate for critical business issues.
• Develops and effectively manages external technical partnerships with strategic suppliers and other open innovation partners to advance external technologies with mutual business benefits and competitive differentiation.
• Develops and refines Schwan’s strategy on technology intellectual property and champions its execution with a focus on commercializing opportunities. Ensures best practices are defined and implemented for protecting and leveraging intellectual property across the R&D organization.
• Builds and successfully maintains professional relationships internally and externally to stay current on consumer trends and new technologies (e.g. artificial intelligence, proteins, aroma, etc)
• Directs and manages the performance and provides leadership and technical guidance to staff to deliver on project and department goals.
• Develops, communicates and manages internal and external budgets.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s Degree or equivalent. (Ph. D. in Food science or related fields preferred)
• 12 years or more related experience
• Strong working knowledge of a global R&D organization preferred
• Must possess technical knowledge in various product platforms or categories including ingredients, formulations, processing techniques, and equipment
• Expert knowledge of food design, ingenuity in building a competitive advantage with technology and a focus on unmatched quality
• Proven ability to build beneficial relationships with external partners
• Practical expertise with intellectual property matters (patents, trade secrets, joint development agreements, etc)
• Demonstrates extensive knowledge and use of objective data, subjective data, collection methods, scientific methods, experimental design and statistical analysis
• Possesses ability to effectively communicate technical ideas, solutions, reports and department plans to both technical and non-technical audiences at all levels across the organization

The employing subsidiaries of Schwan’s Company are Equal Employment Opportunity Employers. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to disability, age, race, color, religion, gender, vet status, national origin, or other protected class.

Job Type: Full-time Business Unit: Req #: 24-2733

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