Senior RD&A Manager at Kerry

About The Role

The Senior RD&A Manager will lead a product development team within a EUM that is responsible for delivering the new business strategy by driving development and innovation of new products. He / She must be the driver of change and progress in the region and connecting the region to the rest of the global organisation.
He/She should build strong customer relationships and driving customer centric solutions by seeing ahead to future possibilities and translating them breakthrough strategies.
Building partnerships and strong teams and working collaboratively with others to meet a shared objective.

Key Responsibilities

• To manage and deliver the execution of active projects to meet the strategy and growth targets.
• To manage the innovation portfolio across the various technology groups., which entails:
• Combining a clear understanding of customer needs and technical expertise in order to formulate innovation initiatives.
• Determining how Kerry can gain competitive differentiation in the region through excellence in research and driving product development that will exceed the customer’s expectations.
• Evaluating the existing product portfolio; determine where enhancements may be made to create best-in-category products.
• Recommend and screen all potential raw materials necessary to build portfolio
• In alignment with the regional leadership team and global R&D stakeholders, appropriately select and prioritize projects that add the most value to Kerry’s customers.
• Assignment of resources
• Tracking of project progress relative to milestones and launch dates.

Build and develop the RD&A team by hiring, coaching, training and providing regular feedback – particularly to the team of direct reports. Instill a high-performance culture across the RD&A function through leadership by example.
Ensure that Kerry is keeping abreast of leading-edge science to drive efficiencies and effectiveness in the quest to develop new product solutions.
Work closely with the Supply Chain / Operations function to support:

• Process improvements in the plants
• Business continuity
• Regulatory support as needed
• Productivity

 

Play a key role in as a Technical lead for select key account and remain as the main contact to drive consistency in sharing and improved of service quality.
Contribute to the regional RD&A strategy
Share a vision of excellence in R&D and create a road map for implementation.
Adopt Kerry ways of working

Qualifications And Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in Food Science
• At least minimum of 15 years work experience in RD&A various leadership roles within a regulated food / ingredients industry.
• Mix of office, laboratories and production/ processing experience
• Business Performance Management
• Strong understanding of the current market and customers
• Ability to build relationships with, impact and influence effectively in a cross-functional highly matrixed environment.
• Decisive, demonstrated ability to make difficult calls based on a combination of data, analysis and experience.
• Understanding of company’s near, mid and long-term priorities, with a sense of urgency to adapt to changing business situations.
• Up to date knowledge of key competitors and their activities within the region
• Well-developed interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to lead, motivate and develop talent