R&D Project Manager

Job Description

Drive Innovation. Shape the Future of Industrial Baking.

At Cerelia, we don’t just make baked goods—we craft experiences that bring people together. As a leading innovator in the industrial bakery sector, we're looking for a seasoned R&D Project Manager to help lead our next wave of product innovation and commercialization. You’ll combine technical expertise, project leadership, and creative thinking to develop standout products that meet market demands and delight customers—across both branded and custom portfolios.

This is not a behind-the-scenes role. You’ll be at the heart of the action—from the first idea on the drawing board to full-scale plant production—leading multidisciplinary teams, engaging customers, managing complex projects, and turning vision into reality.

What you will do

Own the Innovation Lifecycle: From concept to commercialization, drive R&D projects that push boundaries, set trends, and respond to evolving customer and market needs.

Champion Product Development: Lead the design, formulation, and scaling of innovative baked goods. Create prototypes, test ingredients, and oversee product trials with a focus on quality, feasibility, and commercial viability.

Be the Bridge: Collaborate across departments—Marketing, Sales, Manufacturing, Quality, Finance, and Procurement—to ensure product success. Act as a central connector between R&D and Operations.

Lead with Influence: Inspire project teams, engage stakeholders, and guide new product launches with a hands-on, results-oriented leadership style.

Support Operations Excellence: Drive process optimization, troubleshoot production challenges, and develop SOPs that ensure smooth plant integration.

Elevate Product Integrity: Maintain rigorous records of formulations, specifications, and compliance data (labeling, nutrition, regulatory, etc.), ensuring accuracy and traceability at every step.

Engage the Market: Stay ahead of the curve by researching trends, attending trade shows, and identifying new ingredients, technologies, and packaging innovations.

What you bring

Experience: 8–10 years in product development and project management in the food industry, ideally with significant time spent in the bakery or industrial baking sector.

Technical Know-How: A solid background in Food Science, Food Technology, or a related field (BSc or equivalent). Deep knowledge of ingredient functionality, sensory evaluation, and food processing.

Project Leadership: A proven track record of successfully managing end-to-end product development projects, balancing creativity with practical implementation.

Cross-Functional Expertise: Comfortable collaborating across departments and leading teams with clarity, influence, and purpose.

Regulatory Knowledge: Familiarity with FDA regulations, labeling, nutritional requirements, and food safety standards.

Tools of the Trade: Proficient in Microsoft Office, Genesis R&D software, and digital tools for specification and project documentation.

Innovation Mindset: Curious, forward-thinking, and always looking to improve, adapt, and stay ahead of the market.

Why Cerelia?

Innovation is in Our DNA: We thrive on new ideas, and we’re not afraid to shake things up.

Real Impact: Your work will directly shape the products millions of consumers enjoy.

Collaborative Culture: We believe in the power of teams and shared success.

Growth Opportunities: We invest in our people—supporting professional development, training, and advancement.

Our Core Values:

Strategic: Develops, recommends and implements strategic operations plans while anticipating long term trends and needs. Ensures operations capacities and capabilities are developed to meet anticipated needs. Ensures staff our well developed to meet the increasing responsibilities and complexities of their jobs.

Service Oriented: Becomes knowledgeable of our business and understands the relationships between our customers, suppliers and Cerelia/English Bay. Places priority on expediently resolving customer issues - identifies and resolves processes that are not effective, creating delays or not being responsive.

Initiative: Initiates courses of action that will lead to improved performance/effectiveness of the Business Unit Team. Sees a need and takes action to address; questions the way things are done and initiates changes where necessary; sticks with an issue until it is resolved

Information Seeking: Investigates and researches information, digs to resolve discrepancies; obtains information or opinions internally and externally to gain insight or expertise – makes well informed decisions.

Listening, Understanding & Responding: Demonstrates the ability to interact effectively with staff, other team members, customers and external contacts. Defers judgment on what someone is saying until they have they have thoroughly investigated; creates opportunities for meaningful discussion; builds rapport, trust and strong working relationships up, down and across org.

Flexibility: Demonstrates the ability to adapt and work within a variety of situations, and with various groups and individuals; adapting one’s approach as the requirements of a situation.

Self-confidence: Willing to take on a new challenge or assignment displaying confidence and enthusiasm; emphasizes the positive and upside aspects of difficult situations – every situation provides an opportunity for learning.

Results Orientation: Strives to beat or meet project deadlines; sets own high standards for quality of work; seeks ways to use time and resources more cost effectively; highly organized with the ability to set priorities and multi-task.

Team Leadership: Works cooperatively with others promoting team participation as a means to generate more ideas, greater consensus & engagement and a higher level of commitment to delivering results. Creates the environment and processes for the team to build its capacity to take on increasing accountability for results over time; building team expertise, skills, knowledge and performance levels; ensures understanding, consensus and input by keeping team members informed about decisions, the rationale behind them, how they align to the overall business objectives and site objectives.

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Full-time