R&D Director, Global Dairy Ingredients

Land OLakes is seeking a R&D Director Global Dairy Ingredients (GDI) to set technical strategy and lead product development across our dairy-based seasonings and ingredients dairy protein platforms and commodity dairy ingredients. As a customer-facing leader on the R&D leadership team you will translate customer commercial and manufacturing needs into scalable solutions build technical capability and talent and position R&D to deliver on current commitments and future growth in high-value dairy ingredients.

Key Responsibilities

Customer-Facing Product Development & Commercialization

• Lead end-to-end B2B product development across dairy-based seasonings and ingredients dairy protein powders and GDI commodity ingredients.

• Represent R&D as the senior technical partner in strategic customer engagements co-development sessions product demonstrations qualification reviews and issue resolution.

• Ensure technical solutions are scalable manufacturable repeatable compliant and aligned with customer expectations product specifications and business value.

Portfolio Strategy Prioritization & Capability Roadmaps

• Own the GDI product development strategy and roadmap translating commercial strategy customer segmentation and manufacturing realities into clearly prioritized technical work.

• Make resource and priority tradeoffs visible; balance urgent customer needs with foundational learning and longer-term capability building.

• Build technical roadmaps for high-value dairy proteins commodity ingredient optimization dairy-based seasoning systems and emerging customer applications.

People Leadership Talent Development & Succession

• Lead coach and develop managers scientists technologists and technical contributors; set clear expectations for technical rigor customer responsiveness and execution discipline.

• Create role clarity decision rights development plans and succession plans to build leadership depth and technical bench strength for the GDI platform.

• Foster a culture of ownership collaboration inclusion continuous improvement learning and disciplined documentation.

Cross-Functional Integration & Technical Sales Support

• Partner closely with Sales Marketing Strategic Operations Manufacturing Quality Regulatory Procurement Finance and Supply Chain to enable faster decisions and better handoffs from concept to launch.

• Support technical selling by translating product functionality application performance processing constraints and customer value into clear messages for technical and non-technical audiences.

• Serve as the escalation point for technical risk prioritization customer-impacting issues and commercialization tradeoffs.

External Partnerships Market Foresight & Continuous Improvement

• Maintain awareness of customer market competitive regulatory and technology trends relevant to B2B dairy ingredients and dairy proteins.

• Develop external partnerships with suppliers universities co-manufacturers engineering firms application labs and technology providers to accelerate capability building and close technical gaps.

• Champion improved tools templates data practices stage-gate discipline and knowledge capture to increase speed consistency and R&D effectiveness.

Qualifications

• M.S. in Food Science Dairy Science Chemistry Chemical Engineering or related field required; Ph.D. and/or MBA preferred.

• 15 years of progressive R&D product development and technical leadership experience in food dairy or ingredients.

• Direct experience with dairy proteins spray drying and membrane filtration strongly preferred.

• Proven people leadership strong B2B customer presence and the ability to translate complex technical concepts into business value.

• Demonstrated ability to manage complex portfolios lead cross-functional teams prioritize competing work and make sound decisions under time pressure.

Work Environment

• Arden Hills MN four days per week in office when not traveling; office lab pilot plant and manufacturing environments. Travel estimated at 1035%.

The salary range for this role is $188080 - $282120. In most cases candidates offered employment can expect to be hired at a pay rate near the middle of our salary ranges.

Land OLakes does not use Automated Decision-Making Technology as defined by California law to substantially replace human decision-making or make significant decisions about applications for employment or contracting opportunities.

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About Land OLakes Inc.

Join us and be part of a Fortune 250 farmer- and member-owned cooperative that is reimagining the business of food. We have been named a Top Workplace by Indeed and LinkedIn and to the TIME 100 Most Influential Companies list.

We provide a broad portfolio of benefits to keep you and your family at your best. Land OLakes is Where Your Future Takes Root.

Land OLakes and our global entities support diversity in employment practices.

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