R&D Director (CONFIDENTIAL RESEARCH)

Job Summary

The R&D Director is responsible for driving innovation and competitive differentiation through strategic product and process development. This role leads the creation and execution of innovation roadmaps, managing projects from concept to commercialization while collaborating closely with cross-functional teams. The Director champions the exploration of emerging food trends, new materials, and technologies to bring unique, market-leading products to life. They build and maintain key external partnerships, continuously improve existing products and processes, and support business growth through innovation. Additionally, the role emphasizes team leadership, mentoring, and fostering a high-performing R&D team aligned with company objectives.
Job Description

• The R&D Director will provide visionary leadership and champion innovation to ensure a relentless focus on delivering unique, market-leading new product offerings. Key responsibilities include:
• Strategic Innovation & Product Development
• - Develop and execute strategic innovation and renovation roadmaps for products and processes, driving future competitive differentiation.
• - Proactively research and evaluate emerging food trends, identifying and presenting commercially viable concepts ahead of competitors.
• Project Management & Technical Leadership
• - Define, develop, and manage R&D projects and product development initiatives.
• - Lead cross-functional teams in product development and process improvement projects from concept to market launch.
• - Evaluate project feasibility, including cost analysis and resource allocation.
• - Research new materials, technologies, applications, and processing equipment to enhance innovation.
• - Build and maintain external technical partnerships with suppliers and open innovation partners to leverage external technologies for mutual business benefits.
• - Identify and implement improvements to existing products and processes.
• Execution of R&D Strategies
• - Develop and implement R&D plans that support company and team objectives.
• - Collaborate with operations and engineering to research and introduce new processes that improve production efficiency and create new business opportunities.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration
• - Partner with marketing, operations, and quality teams to ensure alignment and feasibility of new product innovations, maximizing performance against business objectives.
• - Engage with CTO/Global R&D teams to share and leverage innovations across regions.
• Project Prioritization & Management
• - Manage multiple complex projects concurrently, identifying and resolving priority conflicts among various business initiatives.
• Stakeholder Engagement
• - May participate in sales and product demonstrations for customers when needed, effectively communicating product benefits and innovations.
• Team Leadership & Development
• - Provide mentorship and clear guidance to the R&D team, setting priorities and timelines to drive results.
• - Foster team development through coaching and professional growth opportunities.
• Adaptability & Additional Responsibilities
• - Embrace flexibility by taking on responsibilities beyond the primary job scope as needed to support business success.

Qualifications

• - Strong understanding of CPG food manufacturing, marketing and business to some extent.
• - Highly developed communication and teamwork skills, leadership, interpersonal, and project management, coupled with organizational sensitivity, and the ability to influence key decision makers at all levels
• - High levels of integrity, autonomy, creativity, self-motivation, problem solving tools including root cause analysis and ability of use of discretion and sound decision-making.
• - Strong organization skills including data analysis, R&D documentation and the presentation material & report creation
• - Good working knowledge of quality systems and HACCP/HARPC plan
• - Good understanding of cost accounting and costing skills.
• - Fair understanding to labeling requirement of FDA & USDA
• - Fair understanding in nutrition and operation of Genesis program
• - Good on Microsoft Excel, Word, and Power Point
• - Able to work in hot, cold and wet environment
• - Must be able to regularly lift and/or move up to 10pounds, frequently lift and/or move up to 25pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 50pounds
• - Specific vision abilities required by this job included close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus
• - Must be able to physically perform the basic life operational functions of walk; stand, reach over shoulder, reach overhead, reach outward, bend, talk, hear and repetitive motions stoop, kneel, crouch, and taste or smell.
• - M.S. degree in Food Science, Food Technology, Food Engineering, Microbiology or related area from an accredited university.
• - 15+ years of R&D experience in CPG food manufacturing industry? including significant time in a managerial role overseeing a team of professionals
• - Experiences in Operations and project management plus.
• - Bilingual in Korean required

What's On Offer

Apply online or feel free to contact us directly for more information about the opportunity. Due to the high volume of applicant, we regret to inform that only shortlisted candidates will be notified. Thank you for your understanding.