Senior Manager, Research and Development (Product Growth & Customer Support)

Bay State Milling Job Description

Job Title:                        R&D Product Growth & Customer Support Sr. Manager

Department:               Research and Development

Reports To:                  Director of Research and Development

FLSA Status:               Exempt

About Bay State Milling:

Bay State Milling Company (BSMC) is a growing 5th generation family-owned supplier of plant-based ingredients, including grains, seeds, pulses, flours and mixes with unique nutrition, flavor and functional attributes. Our goal is to be a leading supplier of plant-based ingredients for the next generation of foods in North America and we are well on our way with some of the most innovative, nutrient dense whole food ingredients available.

Our Research & Development (R&D) team works out of a state of the art Innovation Center just outside of Boston, MA. In a modern, open and collaborative environment, we develop, analyze and apply our ingredients across a variety of food categories including commercial and artisan bread, pasta, pizza, tortillas, bars, sweet goods, snacks, and plant-based beverages. The R&D team is tasked with developing BSMC’s future ingredients, and applying those ingredients in finished foods. As the company is focused on growth, we foster growth and development of the expanding Bay State Milling team to meet the changing needs of the food system and consumers.  We are organized into four business units as follows: 1. Traditional Wheat Flour; 2. Gluten Free Oats; 3. Ancient Grains & Seeds; and 4. Varietal-specific solutions for nutrition and functionality.

Why we need you:

This R&D Product Growth and Customer Support Sr. Manager will play a key role in customer-focused R&D projects and will lead a team of R&D scientists who focus on customer product development and internal product support, working with our diverse ingredient portfolio. This role is critical to R&D’s ability to work with our Business Units to acquire new ingredient business and support the business we have. This role, along with this role’s direct reports, will help demonstrate our ingredient’s unique functional performance, sensory, or nutritional benefits in finished food applications and will provide formulation guidance and manufacturing support to customers to scale-up foods created from our ingredients. In addition, this person and their direct reports will be responsible for optimizing our ingredient performance and putting processes and testing in place to increase the value of these ingredients for our customers. Lastly, this person will have oversight of our Innovation Center facility, equipment and processes to maintain a state-of-the-art center for current and future innovation.  This role will report to the Director of R&D and will work closely with members of our business units including marketing, sales, quality assurance, operations and leadership.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

• Lead R&D projects and R&D team, focusing on customer product development and internal product support. This may include:
• Formulation with our ingredient portfolio including: wheat flours, oat flours and flakes, ancient grains, grain blends, baking mixes, oilseeds, and chickpea flour.
• Prototype development for trade shows and customer presentations.
• Building technical content for marketing documents demonstrating an ingredient’s value proposition.
• Competitive ingredient analysis.
• Analytical testing.
• Collaboration with Sales and customers.
• Customer support and commercialization at customer’s plants.
• Collaboration with BSM mills/plants for product optimization trials
• Proving insights, conclusions and recommendations to internal and external stakeholders based on R&D led work
• Manage a group of R&D Scientists, Sr. Scientists, and our Innovation Center Facility.
• Provides leadership, development and coaching for growing R&D team
• Oversight of our Innovation Center.
• Collaborates cross-functionally and externally; Communicates R&D findings to both technical and non-technical audiences including Sales, Marketing, Quality Assurance, Technical Service, and Customers.
• Act as a technical resource on project teams through knowledge of food science principles and food manufacturing.
• Travel within the US and occasionally outside of the US (~15% of time) for customer support, plant trials, trade shows and educational conferences.

Qualifications:

• Minimum B.S. Degree in Food Science, Bakery Science, Nutrition Science, or Cereal Science from an accredited college or university
• Minimum 12 years of R&D experience in any or preferably all of the following applications: bakery, pasta, snacks, beverage.
• Experience in benchtop food product development through commercialization at manufacturing plants.
• Experience managing teams and/or a R&D lab
• Experience at an ingredient manufacturer is a plus.
• Passion for the food industry and alignment with BSMC’s core values of Integrity, Collaboration, Creativity, Quality, and Caring.