R&D Category Manager - Consumer Foods

Role Overview

Kinisla seeks a commercially astute R&D Category Manager to lead the research and development efforts within its Consumer Food category. Reporting directly to the VP of R&D, this position entails full ownership of consumer food innovation portfolios, ensuring that development initiatives align with consumer insights, manufacturing capabilities, cost considerations, and strategic aims. This leader will transform innovation pipelines into scalable, commercially feasible offerings and prioritize projects on strategic value, impact, and growth potential.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead R&D strategic planning and innovation within Consumer Food categories including Butter spreads, Snacking, and Dairy Innovation.
• Develop long-term innovation roadmaps driven by consumer insights, market trends, cost factors, production capability, and business objectives.
• Manage project portfolios ensuring alignment of priorities, resource allocation, timelines, and risk assessment with business needs.
• Bridge Front-End Innovation with execution teams to convert scientific and technological opportunities into viable product/process solutions.
• Collaborate with Marketing, Commercial, Business Development, and customer-facing teams to refine briefs, support workshops, and identify new growth avenues.
• Coordinate with NPI, Operations, Quality, Regulatory, and Supply Chain to guarantee manufacturability, compliance, quality, and successful product launches.
• Foster strong relationships with suppliers, customers, third-party manufacturers, and external partners for technology scouting and execution acceleration.
• Clarify roles, decision rights, and handoffs to boost speed, accountability, and project progression across functions and sites.
• Uphold portfolio discipline via project prioritization, stage-gate governance, KPI tracking, business readiness, and transparent communication.
• Mentor R&D platform leads and technologists to cultivate an agile, high-performing Consumer Food R&D team.

Candidate Profile

• Possesses Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Food Science, Dairy Technology, Food Engineering, Nutrition, or a closely related field.
• Holds minimum seven years of experience in R&D, product development, technical category management, or innovation leadership within sectors such as dairy, chilled foods, snacking, spreads, or related consumer foods.
• Demonstrates proven capability to integrate consumer and market insights into commercially relevant development pipelines.
• Has extensive knowledge of food formulation, processing, scale-up, sensory evaluation, shelf-life, packaging, and manufacturing constraints.
• Experienced in leading cross-disciplinary projects involving Marketing, Commercial, Operations, Quality, Regulatory, Supply Chain, and external collaborators.
• Exhibits strong project and portfolio management competencies including prioritization, governance, risk control, stakeholder communication, and disciplined delivery.
• Possesses commercial acumen balancing consumer appeal, technical feasibility, manufacturability, and business outcomes.
• Excels in leadership, influencing, communication, and coaching skills, adept at working effectively across multiple sites and disciplines.

Preferred Expertise

• Experience leading consumer dairy food innovations including Butter spreads, cheese, snacking, and adjacent growth platforms.
• Familiarity creating category roadmaps, innovation pipelines, customer workshop materials, and technical sales content.
• Knowledgeable about stage-gate processes, portfolio management tools, KPI reporting, and R&D project tracking systems.
• Exposure to supplier scouting, external partnerships, technology landscaping, and open innovation initiatives.
• Understanding of areas such as nutrition, sustainability, packaging, cost optimization, and manufacturing enhancements within consumer food portfolios.

Benefits

• 25 days annual leave excluding bank holidays.
• Health Care Allowance.
• Matched pension scheme with employer contribution up to 10%.
• Access to a benefits platform offering discounts and cashback from major retailers.
• Employee Assistance Program.

About Kinisla

Kinisla is a vertically integrated farm-to-fork company with a prominent consumer foods division and leading dairy ingredients and nutritionals business. With over five decades of industry expertise, they partner with family farms and deliver market-leading dairy brands like Cheestrings, Charleville, and Dairygold. Their operations span manufacturing sites in Ireland and the UK, supported by a global workforce exceeding 1,700 employees.

Diversity and Inclusion

Kinisla embraces a culture of diversity and inclusiveness, welcoming candidates of all backgrounds without discrimination based on protected characteristics. The recruitment process is merit-based and committed to positivity and equality for all.

Additional Information

Note: Kinisla does not accept unsolicited CVs from recruitment agencies without signed terms of business, nor any recruiter fees associated with direct candidate submissions.