Commercialization Manager

Why you will love working at Maola:

• Owned by a cooperative of family farmers who are passionate about cultivating sustainable dairy goodness and bottling fresh Maola brand milk and dairy products.
• 100 years of dedicated stability and growth across 11 states.
• Competitive pay, Medical, Dental, Vision, 401(k), Life Insurance, Time Off Provisions, and more, available no later than one month after hire.
• Our employees are an integral part of who we are — what you do and what you think matters.

SUMMARY

The Commercialization Manager role will own, oversee, and manage the process of converting innovative fluid milk beverage concepts from the benchtop to market. This role is essential in ensuring that product ideas are effectively designed, optimized, and launched into the market while maintaining quality and compliance standards. This role requires an analytical thinker with a strong background in product development, problem solving and cross-functional team leadership. The ideal candidate will be purposeful, with a proven ability to execute complex commercialization strategies within a fast-paced, competitive industry.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES.

The essential duties and responsibilities of the Commercialization Manager:

• Concept Validation: Collaborate and advise with product development and marketing stakeholders (internal and external).
• Process Development: Develop, oversee, and own the commercialization process, utilizing a “stage-gate” approach for product development.
• Product Launch: Coordinate product launch activities across all functions, ensuring a smooth transition from development to commercialization.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Lead cross-functional teams, including marketing, sales, quality assurance, production, supply chain, customers and third parties to facilitate seamless product transitions from development to manufacturing.
• Pilot Testing: Coordinate and oversee initial runs to assess production scalability, identify potential challenges, and implement necessary adjustments prior to full-scale production.
• Regulatory Compliance: Ensure all products meet relevant regulatory standards and safety guidelines, overseeing documentation and approvals required for manufacturing.
• Project Management: Develop comprehensive commercialization plans, including timelines, resource allocation, and risk assessments, to ensure timely market entry.
• Performance Monitoring: Track product performance during the transition phase and after launch, analyzing data to drive continuous improvements and address any issues that arise.
• Training and Support: Provide training and support to manufacturing teams on new products, ensuring they understand production requirements and quality expectations.
• Innovation and Continuous Improvement: Drive the continuous improvement opportunities within the commercialization process, identifying areas for optimization and innovation.
• Status and Performance Updates: Provide relevant reports, updates and analysis as needed to ensure cross functional and senior management awareness / alignment.
• Other Duties. This role may also be required to perform other FSQR related activities not included in this description.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree in food science, Food Technology, Chemical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Business Administration, or a related discipline.
• 5 years of experience in product commercialization within the food and beverage industry, preferred focus on dairy or fluid milk beverages.
• Proven expertise in translating product concepts into successfully commercialized products.
• Strong project management skills.
• Problem-solving abilities and a thorough understanding of manufacturing processes and quality assurance.
• Communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence and collaborate effectively across departments.

LANGUAGE SKILLS
Excellent written and communication skills along with developed interpersonal skills. Ability to effectively communicate with management, customers, peers, and plant personnel.

REASONING ABILITY
Ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions. Ability to interpret an extensive variety of technical instructions and deal with several abstract and concrete variables.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit, use hands to type; and talk or hear. The employee is occasionally required to stand, walk; reach with hands and arms. The employee must occasionally lift and or move up to 10 pounds. The employee will be required to travel to company sites and off-site meetings. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, and peripheral vision.

WORK ENVIRONMENT
The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.

Maola Local Dairies, owned by the farmers of Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative Association (MDVA), sustainably produces a full suite of nutritious dairy products through our network of six dairy processing plants. With a keen eye on quality, freshness, and love for the environment, Maola delivers dairy products that are both nutritious and sustainable to our local communities. For more information about Maola, please visit www.maolamilk.com.