Senior Manager, R&D
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AI Summary
Who We Are
Chomps is America’s fastest-growing meat snack brand, redefining convenient snacking with a commitment to real ingredients and bold, satisfying flavors. Crafted from 100% grass-fed, grass-finished beef and venison, along with antibiotic-free turkey and chicken, each Chomps meat stick delivers 10+ grams of high-quality protein without sugar, hormones, soy, dairy, artificial preservatives, artificial nitrates, or MSG. Seasoned with a blend of flavorful herbs and spices, Chomps provides a nutritious protein snack for the whole family. As a minority-owned, family-operated, and B Corporation-certified business, Chomps prioritizes thoughtful sourcing and recently earned the non–ultra-processed food certification through the non-GMO project. Discover a new standard in snacking at www.chomps.com.
Traits of a Chompian
If you’ve been called scrappy, resourceful, and persistent, then you might just be a Chompian. You’re a team player who’s self-motivated and action-oriented. You’re committed to delivering efficiency and accuracy, and you happen to be great at proactive cross-functional communication. You’re a critical thinker and a natural problem solver who enjoys details, research, and data. You take initiative and complete ownership of everything you do, and you’ll go the extra mile for your team, consumers, and audience. You’re hungry to learn with a passion to grow and improve every day. You also take a keen interest in health, fitness, and nutrition. Sound like you? Then we want to meat you.
What You Will Do
At Chomps, we're building a team that takes ownership, moves quickly, and holds a high bar for product quality. As the Senior Manager, R&D, you will provide technical and strategic leadership across manufacturing support, commercialization, quality improvement, and continuous improvement initiatives. This role is responsible for driving operational excellence across our manufacturing network while ensuring products consistently meet expectations for quality, cost, and performance.
You will lead complex cross-functional initiatives that impact multiple manufacturing locations and co-manufacturing partners, helping shape the long-term capabilities of our products and processes. Working closely with Manufacturing, FSQA, Procurement, Supply Chain, and Marketing, you will identify opportunities to improve yields, reduce costs, increase scalability, and strengthen product quality.
As a people leader, you will develop and grow a high-performing R&D team while establishing priorities, processes, and technical standards that enable the business to scale. You will be expected to operate with a high degree of autonomy, influence decisions across functions, and serve as a trusted technical leader throughout the organization. This is a hands-on leadership role that requires both strategic thinking and a willingness to engage directly in plant-level problem solving.
Responsibilities
- Strategic Leadership
- Develop and execute R&D strategies that support manufacturing excellence, product quality, and business growth.
- Identify and prioritize opportunities to improve operational performance across the manufacturing network.
- Serve as a key technical advisor to Operations and Executive Leadership on manufacturing, commercialization, and quality initiatives.
- Establish long-term roadmaps for process improvement, capability development, and technical innovation.
- Team Leadership and Development
- Lead, coach, and develop a growing R&D team, fostering accountability, technical excellence, and career growth.
- Establish team priorities and allocate resources to support business objectives.
- Build organizational capability through mentoring, talent development, and succession planning.
- Create systems and processes that improve team effectiveness and project execution.
- Commercialization and Manufacturing Excellence
- Lead commercialization efforts from concept through full-scale production.
- Oversee complex plant trials, scale-ups, and process validations across multiple manufacturing locations.
- Ensure new products and process changes are successfully integrated into manufacturing operations.
- Partner with Operations and Supply Chain teams to improve launch readiness and execution.
- Manufacturing Support and Continuous Improvement
- Provide technical leadership and support for manufacturing and co-manufacturing partners.
- Lead root cause investigations and resolution of significant quality, process, and operational challenges.
- Drive initiatives focused on improving yield, throughput, labor efficiency, and overall equipment performance.
- Develop scalable solutions that improve consistency across manufacturing sites.
- Quality, Cost, and Performance Optimization
- Lead initiatives to improve product quality, consistency, and consumer experience.
- Identify and implement opportunities to reduce costs while maintaining product integrity.
- Use data, plant performance metrics, and consumer feedback to prioritize improvement efforts.
- Monitor key performance indicators and drive accountability for results.
- Cross-Functional Leadership
- Partner closely with Operations, FSQA, Procurement, Supply Chain, Marketing, and Commercial teams to align priorities and execute business objectives.
- Influence decision-making through technical expertise and business acumen.
- Communicate project status, risks, and recommendations to leadership and stakeholders.
- Build strong relationships with external suppliers, co-manufacturers, and technical partners.
- Documentation and Governance
- Ensure robust documentation of formulations, process changes, validations, and technical learnings. \
- Establish standards and best practices for project execution and manufacturing support.
- Maintain visibility into project portfolios, timelines, and performance metrics.
Who You Are
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Food Science, Meat Science, Engineering, or a related field.
- 7 – 10+ years of experience in food manufacturing, product development, commercialization, process improvement, or technical operations.
- Experience in meat snacks, meat processing, or shelf-stable animal protein products
- Demonstrated success leading complex manufacturing and commercialization initiatives across multiple facilities.
- Strong knowledge of food processing, formulation, quality systems, and manufacturing operations.
- Experience supporting and influencing co-manufacturing partners.
- Proven people leadership experience, including coaching, performance management, and talent development.
- Strong business acumen with the ability to balance quality, cost, speed, and scalability.
- Ability to influence cross-functional teams and drive alignment without direct authority.
- Excellent problem-solving, communication, and project management skills.
- Experience leading continuous improvement or operational excellence initiatives.
- Track record of delivering measurable improvements in yield, quality, cost, or manufacturing performance.
- Experience building teams and organizational capabilities within a high-growth environment.
- Ability to travel up to 50%.
Position: Senior Manager, R&D
Reports to: Senior Director, R&D and Continuous Improvement
Location: Remote
Type: Full-Time, exempt
Salary Range Opportunity:
- The salary range for this role is $140,000 - $150,000 + 20% annual bonus
Compensation Philosophy & Total Comp:
- Our salary ranges are based on verified market data and our philosophy of paying competitively for our size and industry
- Individual pay rate decisions are based on several factors, including qualifications for the role, experience level, skillset, and balancing internal equity relative to peers at the company
- In addition to base salary, full-time team members receive medical, dental, and vision insurance, 401K 6% match, and monthly reimbursements for wellness and home office.
Other Perks:
- Ability to make an impact: Join a rapidly growing and entrepreneurial-spirited team at a pivotal point to positively impact the food industry.
- Opportunities to grow: Advance within Chomps quickly based on outstanding performance.
- Unlimited PTO and 15+ paid holiday days. Hybrid & flexible remote schedule. Chicago office open to those in the area.
- Paid maternity and paternity leave.
- Bi-annual total team in-person activities.
- Company-wide Continual Education budget.
- Unlimited snacks: Enough meat sticks that if you wanted to eat your body weight in them you could (no judgment here).
Our Commitment
Chomps is committed to a diverse and inclusive workforce. To achieve our mission of making nutritious food more accessible we greatly benefit from a range of perspectives, which comes from diversity of all types, at all levels of the organization. Achieving true diversity and inclusion is the right thing to do and the smart thing for our business.
We're aware of the research showing that historically underrepresented groups are less likely to apply for a job if they don't believe that they meet all of the criteria. Do you hesitate to submit an application because you believe you need to check every box? Please apply anyway with a thoughtful cover letter! We would love to hear from you to discuss how you can help us build a great team at Chomps.
You must reside in the United States to be considered for this position. Chomps does not provide employment-based visa sponsorship at this time. Candidates must be authorized to work in the U.S. without the need for visa sponsorship now or in the future.
Important Notice:
It has come to our attention that fraudsters have been posing as Chomps employees or recruiters and contacting job-seeking candidates regarding potential job opportunities. These fraudulent messages sometimes include a request for payment and confidential personal information. Please note that the Chomps recruiting process does not include asking candidates for payments or other confidential financial information. If you are applying for a job, you can confirm the legitimacy of a job posting by viewing current open roles: https://chomps.com/pages/chomps-careers. If you have questions please email us at people@chomps.com
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