Sr Manager, R&D Plastic Rigid Materials

Job Purpose

As theRigid Plastic PackagingSenior Managerwithin the Sustainability & Materials Center of Excellence you will lead a team of technical experts charged with developing rigid plastic packaging solutions to serve the North American portfolio. The objective of the team is to develop material and format solutions that meet sustainability requirements addressing innovation compliance and value engineering initiatives. The team will develop and lead technical strategies and deliver novel functional cost-competitive solutions.In this role you will partner with Innovation Process and Platform packaging teams as well as cross-functional stakeholders to translate technical and sustainability requirements into viable commercial manufacturable solutions. The role includesleading the team toidentify material/polymer/packaging technology solutions and research pathways and leading proof of concept technology scale-up and seamless transition of technologies to the business units. The ideal candidate combines deep technical packaging expertise with strong sustainability knowledge and proven experience managing complex projects and technical teams.

Essential Functions & Responsibilities

• Lead and prioritize a portfolio of complex rigid plastic packaging technology strategies and initiatives including balancing technology exploration with proof of concept of novel technologies and managing complex partnerships across the value chain demonstrating value and business case for technology applications.

• Build coordinate and manage relationships and partnerships with suppliers and technology providers (e.g. resin coating material suppliers; packaging manufacturers) and external partners (e.g. universities institutes start-ups open innovation networks).

• Identify material/polymer/packaging technology solutions that avoid material bans and regulatory risks.

• Advance recyclable reusable and compliant rigid packaging formats aligned with enterprise sustainability goals and legislative requirements.

• Deliver packaging designs toPerformance-Based Specifications (PBS) ensuring solutions meet defined functional quality shelf-life consumer experience and manufacturing performance outcomes (rather than prescriptive designs).

• Provide technical leadership and oversight on packaging reviews ensuring design decisions align with enterprise standards manufacturability sustainability and long-term platform strategy.

• Own project and portfolio-level budgets resourcing strategies and capacity planning ensuring delivery within approved financial guardrails; develop and maintain project plans schedules budgets and resource allocations; monitor progress assess risk and proactively escalate tradeoffs.

• Serve as an accountable owner for governance escalation and go/no-go decisions; represent packaging steering forums and influence stakeholders.

• Act as technical expert for junior developers and direct team to flex onto projects requiring problem solving.

• Partner with legal to build robust IP strategies; conduct exploration to build an IP portfolio to drive competitive advantage.

• Mentor coach and train junior project team members and contribute to PMO best practices and templates.

• Build and sustain a high-performing technical team; manage coach mentor and retain employees including goal-setting performance management salary planning and hiring.

• Build strong succession and upskilling plans for junior talent maximizing apprenticeship with more senior/experienced team members.

People Management Responsibilities

• Team (salaried):targeting 3direct reports

Key Outputs & Deliverables

• Deliver technology strategy and prioritize a portfolio of complex rigid plastic packaging technology/format initiatives to deliver against sustainability innovation and value engineering initiatives.

• Lead and deploy a team of packaging technical experts to deliver7 to 10concurrent complex packaging technology projects annually meeting committed timelines budgets and technical performance targets from concept through proof of concept and handover.

• Ensure full compliance with evolving sustainability and regulatory requirements for portfolio projects including:

• Minimizing Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) fees

• Designing packaging solutions that avoid material bans and regulatory risks

• Advancing recyclable reusable and compliant packaging formats aligned with enterprise sustainability goals and legislative requirements

• Deliver packaging designs to PBS ensuring solutions meet defined functional quality shelf-life consumer experience and manufacturing performance outcomes.

Expected Experience & Required Skills

• BS/MS/PhD degree in Engineering Materials Chemical or Packaging Engineering preferred or related discipline.

• Minimum 8years of R&D technology development and commercialization experience in packaging and project leadership experience (consumer goods food & beverage pharma or similar preferred).

• Demonstrated experience managing end-to-end development projects identifying and driving packaging technology initiatives leading external partnerships and coordinating cross-functional teams.

• Demonstrated experience in people management

• Strong technical knowledge ofmaterials(polymers barriersand additives etc.) andmanufacturing constraints including converting processes (e.g. filling labeling molding injection molding extrusion blow molding thermoforming) bottle closure and dispensing systems.

• Proven project management/PMO skills; experience with governance risk management budget management and stakeholder reporting.

• Expert knowledge of design of experiments and statistics; strong technical problem solving.

• Excellent communication negotiation and interpersonal skills; ability to influence at all levels.

• Previous experience leading complex multisite or global packaging or technology launches.

• Expert knowledge of sustainable packaging solutions material/package industry standards and regulations.

• Experience with pilot line setups and scale-up to industrial production.

• Willingness and ability to travel upto25%of the time.

Work Environment & Schedule

This positionoperatesprimarily in a hybrid work environment and is based at the Kraft Heinz R&D Innovation Center in Glenview IL. Our hybrid model provides flexibility based on business needs allowing employees to work virtually up to two days per week with an expectation to work on-site at least three days per week at the Glenview Innovation Center (Glenview IL).

Physical demandsinclude but not limited to

• Regular office work

• Physical presence at labs and manufacturing sites (internal and external) to perform experimental and validation testing