Associate Product Developer (Hybrid: Onsite and Remote)

US Foods, Inc.

Responsibilities:

• Drive US Foods Exclusive Brands profitable growth and overall success, with focus on new innovation, and aligned with overall US Foods' strategy.

• Use technical expertise, portfolio analysis and insight to identify areas for innovation, claims/nutritional potential and improved profitability.

• Provide professional, objective opinion and feedback regarding key sensory questions in any/all food categories

• Commercialize products from ideation to launch by working closely with internal and external stakeholders.

• Contribute to continuous improvements of PD processes; represent the PD Team in cross functional team meetings

• Contribute to the definition of brand standards in regard to ingredient, nutritional and product attributes.

• Collaborate with Category Management, Culinary, Marketing, Food Safety & Quality, and other functions to drive project potential and assure aligned direction on priorities.

• Participate in the building of the Exclusive Brand category strategy in conjunction with Category Managers.

• Direct concept development within agreed business and category strategies.

• Identify and evaluate key vendors in conjunction with the product development & category teams. Develop vendor strategies based upon current vendor analyzed strengths in processing and long-term development requirements.

• Maintain solid technical and business understanding of the competitive set, and emerging technology to help identify gap or opportunity areas for technical point of difference in US Foods' products.

• Develop best-in-class nutritional attributes, formulas and product and ingredient specifications that meet corporate, regulatory, and consumer/customer needs.

• Drive for specification ownership and proprietary advantage where applicable to protect investments and block competitive potential; understand and use technical intellectual property as a key business protector and value add.

• Ensure that projects are delivered with the highest quality to the business on agreed timelines and within budget and are communicated with senior leadership and other stakeholders.

• Organize a variety of special projects and initiatives within the PD Team

• Provide support to marketing events and promotions.

Travel:

• Up to 20% overnight travel

Education/Training:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in food science. Meat science, or animal science & agribusiness may also be acceptable depending on categories. CCS (Certified Culinary Scientist by RCA) or other culinary experience/certification a plus but not required

• 2 - 3 years’ experience in product development of consumer-packaged goods, retail or foodservice industry. Prior experience in facilitation of group training is desired.

Knowledge/Skills/Abilities:

• The candidate must have a strong foundation in the core fundamentals of the culinary arts

• Strong passion for food and the drive to develop this passion throughout the organization

• Strong sensory evaluation and analysis skills

• Excellent knowledge of HACCP and its application in food industry

• Strategic decision-making approach to business interests

• High collaboration and project management skills to work across a broad business base. Ability to influence and translate technical information in a non-technical way to all levels in an organization. Strong judgement and decision making skills.

• Highly organized with a strong focus on detail and accuracy. Able to thrive in a complex, high demand, evolving environment, requiring quick responsiveness.

• Must be able to handle multiple priorities while maintaining focus on the bottom line.

• Must demonstrate a high degree of written and verbal skills and have excellent organization and presentation skills

• Must be able to work effectively as an individual with minimal supervision or as a team member as required

• Must possess strong proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, OneDrive, and Outlook.

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