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HireReady Partners

Company Overview:
<ul>
<li>Our client is a well-established, high-growth food manufacturing company with approximately $1 billion in annual revenue and multiple production facilities across the Southeast and South-Central U.S. The company produces ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook protein products distributed nationally through major retail, food service, and restaurant channels. This is a stable, family-oriented organization experiencing strong continued growth.</li>
</ul>

Job Summary:
<ul>
<li>The New Product Introduction (NPI) Manager leads cross-functional projects from concept through commercial launch while owning and improving the processes that enable successful product commercialization.</li>
<li>This role drives alignment across R&amp;D, Quality/Food Safety, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing, and Sales to ensure projects are executed efficiently and consistently.</li>
<li>The position also leads SOP development, process standardization, and continuous improvement initiatives to build a scalable, repeatable product launch model.</li>
<li>This is a high-visibility, hands-on role suited for a highly organized, process-driven individual who thrives in a fast-paced, high-project-volume environment.</li>
</ul>

Qualifications:
<ul>
<li>Bachelor’s degree in Business, Project Management, Supply Chain, or a related field required</li>
<li>5+ years of experience in product management, project management, or product commercialization</li>
<li>Experience in food manufacturing or CPG strongly preferred</li>
<li>Demonstrated experience leading cross-functional projects</li>
<li>Experience with SOP development or process improvement initiatives preferred</li>
</ul>

Key Responsibilities:
<ul>
<li>Project Leadership
<ul>
<li>Lead end-to-end product launch projects from concept approval through plant trials, scale-up, validation, and launch</li>
<li>Manage multiple projects simultaneously across retail, industrial, and foodservice channels</li>
<li>Develop and maintain integrated project plans, including timelines, risk registers, budgets, and launch readiness criteria</li>
<li>Identify and resolve risks, bottlenecks, and dependencies</li>
<li>Drive stage-gate execution and ensure decision readiness at each milestone</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Process Development &amp; Manufacturing Readiness
<ul>
<li>Ensure new products are launched with documented, repeatable, and capable processes</li>
<li>Support identification of equipment needs, line modifications, or capital improvements required for new product launches</li>
<li>Own and maintain SOPs across the product launch lifecycle</li>
<li>Drive adoption and consistency of processes across teams</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Cross-Functional Collaboration
<ul>
<li>Serve as the central point of contact across R&amp;D, Quality, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing, and Sales for assigned projects</li>
<li>Coordinate with Product Development on formulations, specifications, and customer expectations</li>
<li>Coordinate with Operations on production readiness, capacity planning, and scheduling</li>
<li>Coordinate with Supply Chain on raw materials, packaging, and supplier alignment</li>
<li>Coordinate with Quality to ensure compliance with food safety, allergen control, labeling, and validation requirements</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Continuous Improvement
<ul>
<li>Embed continuous improvement principles into launch activities to enhance efficiency, quality, and cost performance</li>
<li>Identify opportunities to standardize and optimize processes across plants</li>
<li>Support post-launch reviews to assess performance and drive sustained improvements</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>

Work Environment:
<ul>
<li>This role is based in a professional office setting with occasional travel (10-15%) to manufacturing facilities for plant trials and startups. During plant visits, occasional exposure to varying temperatures and typical manufacturing environment conditions should be expected.</li>
</ul>

Benefits:
<ul>
<li>Competitive base salary plus bonus eligibility, medical/dental/vision, 401(k) with company match, paid time off, and career development support.</li>
</ul>