Sr. Director Product Development

Sr. Director of Product Development

Bring your passion for flavor! Based in New Orleans Reily Foods Company provides iconic foods and beverages that have created meals and memories for over 120 years! Found in Foodservice and Retail outlets across the country our premier branded products include French Market Coffee Luzianne Iced Tea Blue Plate Mayonnaise Swans Down Cake Flour and Carroll Shelby Chili to name a few.

As Sr. Director of Product Development you will guide the companys innovation agenda across our core categories: coffee tea mayonnaise and ready-to-drink (RTD) beverages. This role manages the strategic direction for R&D promotes innovation and ensures the successful commercialization of products that strengthen our leadership in both retail and foodservice channels.

In support of our corporate strategy and long-term growth plans you will lead a multi-disciplinary R&D organization foster external partnerships and bring a balance of technical excellence consumer-centric innovation and disciplined project management.

Key Responsibilities

Leadership

• Serve as the senior product development leader contributing to enterprise-wide strategy and decision making
• Champion an innovation-first culture across the organization aligning technical priorities with brand marketing and commercial objectives
• Represent R&D and Innovation at the enterprise level and with key customers and partners

Innovation & Growth Strategy

• Execute an innovative multi-year R&D roadmap for beverages condiments and adjacent categories
• Drive new platform creation in refrigerated RTD beverages while extending innovation across coffee tea mayonnaise and emerging whitespace categories
• Partner with culinary professionals chefs and foodservice operators to translate culinary and foodservice insights into scalable commercial products
• Integrate consumer insights trend analysis and technology scouting into the innovation process to anticipate and shape future demand

Technical & Operational Excellence

• Lead world-class product development scale-up and commercialization capabilities leveraging advanced processing and packaging technologies
• Ensure quality safety and regulatory standards that protect brand equity and ensure compliance across global markets
• Drive operational excellence by applying project management frameworks to deliver on-time in-budget and high-impact launches
• Oversee intellectual property strategy safeguarding innovation pipelines

Organizational Leadership & Talent Development

• Lead inspire and develop a high-performing R&D and Innovation team across multiple technical disciplines
• Establish organizational structures processes and KPIs to maximize innovation output and business impact
• Cultivate external partnerships with suppliers academic institutions start-ups and research organizations to expand innovation capability

Qualifications

• Degree in Food Science Chemistry Chemical Engineering or related field strongly preferred.
• 10 years of progressive R&D experience in the food & beverage industry preferred experience in RTD beverages.
• Proven success in team leadership setting strategy and delivering innovation pipelines across both retail and foodservice channels.
• Demonstrated ability to partner with culinary professionals and foodservice operators to drive product innovation.
• Strong business and financial acumen with experience integrating R&D strategy into corporate P&L objectives.
• Expertise in project management methodologies with a track record of bringing complex cross-category innovation to market.
• Extensive knowledge of safety regulatory frameworks ingredient technologies packaging systems and shelf-life management.
• Experiencein Food and Beverage Manufacturing andFood and Beverage Quality Standards.
• Exceptional professional presence communication and influencing skills; able to engage at our Executive Leadership level and inspire at the plant floor