Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end product lifecycle across core, value-added, and innovation platforms in current and future dairy categories (i.e., cheese, dairy-ingredients, and future adjacent dairy categories).
• Current Cheese Categories include Cheese Curds, Block/Specialty Natural Cheese, and Cheese Spreads & Process Cheese.
• Lead portfolio strategy including innovation prioritization, renovation, cost optimization, and SKU rationalization across Retail, Foodservice, and Industrial Product Lines .
• Lead new product development (NPD) from concept through launch, including stage-gate management, business cases, and commercialization readiness.
• Translate consumer, customer, and market insights into compelling product concepts and value propositions.
• Establish and manage a stage-gate innovation process , ensuring speed, rigor, and cross-functional alignment.
• Own product P&Ls, pricing strategy, margin targets, and post-launch performance tracking.
• Lead development of sales tools, sell-in stories, innovation decks, and customer presentations .
• Support key customer meetings and innovation sell-in as a product and brand subject-matter expert.
• Lead R&D to translate consumer and customer insights into scalable, compliant, and commercially viable dairy products .
• Partner with Operations, QA, Supply Chain, and Finance to ensure formulations meet cost, yield, quality, shelf-life, and manufacturing constraints .

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business, or related field (MBA preferred).
• 15+ years of progressive experience in branded dairy foods or CPG food manufacturing , with leadership across product management and brand marketing .
• Demonstrated experience leading product development with Innovation and R&D teams in a manufacturing environment.
• Demonstrated experience positioning and building successful Branded Businesses including developing and executing strategic plans and annual business and marketing plans.
• Strong understanding of dairy processing, formulation, shelf-life, regulatory, and labeling requirements .
• Proven ability to influence cross-functional teams in a mid-sized, resource-constrained organization.

Preferred

• Experience across retail, foodservice, and industrial dairy channels .
• Background in clean label, high-protein, or value-added dairy innovation .
• Experience managing external agencies and research partners.

Benefits

• Benefits eligible the 1st of the month following 30 days of employment.
• Medical, Health Savings Account, Dental, Vision, Accident, Critical Illness and Hospital insurances available.
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and additional free resources.
• 401k match, Paid Time Off & Holiday Pay