Principal Scientist, R&D - Product Dev

Principal Scientist, Sliced  Cheese Technical Category Manager 

Come grow your R&D career at KHC with this exciting opportunity to join the Process Cheese team!  This R&D Principal Scientist role will manage Process Cheese categories and brands and build strong technical and consumer focus to drive our core business across North America within the Meat, Cheese, Coffee, and Snacking Business Unit.  This role interfaces directly with the business and offers the ability to lead technically challenging projects and initiatives focused on growth, productivity, and brand maintenance.  Success in the role requires cross-functional leadership, strategic influence, problem solving, end-to-end understanding of product development, and prioritization to drive multiple projects simultaneously.  Successful candidate will have a technical background in food science/engineering, demonstrated cross-functional leadership and communication capabilities, strength in the commercialization process, proven ability to design product testing at plant scale, a growth mindset, and powerful teamwork skills.  If you’re looking to bring your leadership to a team that is technical and passionate about all things cheese, this is the place for you! 

This role will be based out of the Glenview, IL Kraft Heinz Innovation Center and will require travel approximately 30% of the time. 

Responsibilities 

• Lead technical development and delivery of strategic 3YP for Sliced cheese categories, including growth, productivity, and maintenance 

• Operate from technical seat as a holistic business partner, connecting business needs to technical solutions and strategy, translating research findings into substantial business opportunities, and building strategic execution plans with cross-functional teams 

• Work directly with cross-functional teams, plants, and suppliers as the R&D category manager to manage projects and direct developers across all projects in the category 

• Run technical timelines, provide clear and timely communication, complete risk assessments, raise issues, and develop contingency plans demonstrating strong project management skills 

• Operate with agility and drive for results with big picture context to ensure speed to market with right first time execution 

• Communicate regularly with the R&D and cross-functional leadership teams 

• Lead budgets and dotted line resources for projects and initiatives within the category  

• Design and implement tests, analyze data, draw conclusions, document findings, present results, and commercialize products 

• Interface with all related technical experts and internal category scientists to understand technologies and applications 

• Elevate the competence and know-how of junior developers through training, coaching, and external networking 

• Collaborate with teams to understand and ensure product quality and food safety requirements are defined and delivered through the completion of raw material, finished product and quality specifications that deliver consistent, high-quality products 

• Adopt a culture of diversity & inclusion, sustainability, learning, and working like an owner 

Requirements 

• Bachelor’s Degree – Food Science, Dairy Science, Food Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Biological Engineering, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Microbiology, or related field plus a minimum of 6 years of product development experience within CPG, food and beverage, or a related industry; or master’s degree plus a minimum of 5 years of relevant experience, or PhD plus a minimum of 4 years of relevant experience 

• Ability to lead, coach, develop, and inspire others while driving engagement within the team 

• Strong experience in R&D commercialization with a high degree of autonomy 

• Experience in translating consumer testing results into product development strategy and execution 

• Strong learning agility and ability to think on the fly 

• Ability to work effectively in a team environment, managing a complex network of stakeholders 

• Understanding of ingredient interactions/functionality 

• Self-motivated problem solver and critical thinker with the drive to deliver objectives in a dynamic, fast-paced environment 

• Manage multiple assignments/tasks concurrently with the ability to prioritize work for self and others 

• Experience across a broad range of cheese and dairy ingredients, formulations, and manufacturing processes desired but not a prerequisite 

• Understanding of Design of Experiments 

• Excellent verbal and written communication 

• Excellent influencing skills  

• Willingness to travel 30% pending business needs.  Travel could include (but not limited to): within United States and Canada to internal plants, co-manufacturers, and suppliers