Director Research & Development

At PBI-Gordon Companies, and our subsidiaries PBI-Gordon Corporation, Pegasus Laboratories, and PetAg, Inc, our priority is people, pets, and the places they go.  As employee owners, we support each other in building our careers as well as our companies.  Our foundation is rooted in integrity, innovation, partnership, and pride. Come grow with us!

Position Summary: 

The PetAg Head of R&D is responsible for leading development efforts for new products, product improvements and new or improved manufacturing processes. Additionally, this role will have direct responsibility for leading product development through a formal stage gate process. This position will require proven ability to work with geographically diverse cross- functional team members and third-party resources throughout the R&D process, resulting in collaboratively generated innovative outcomes.

 

Primary Responsibilities/Activities:  

• Manage and oversee the development of a robust product pipeline of pet supplement products to support the strategic plan. 

• Manage and set budget expectations for the department. 

• Develop a strong team that can manage deadlines and budget expectations, while creating innovative and high value products to meet market and customer needs. 

• Work cross-functionally with marketing and sales to understand market and customer needs and with Operations to ensure alignment with production strategy. 

• Use a rigorous stage gate process to ensure appropriate project management. 

• Develop a change control process for tracking ingredients, formula, packaging, process changes throughout the manufacturing and development ecosystem. 

• Develop raw materials standards and specifications to provide to procurement for securing ingredient inputs. 

• Manage new product development from prototype creation through to scale up and commercialization. 

• Plan, execute and supervise new product development trials either in house or with contract manufacturing partners. 

• Perform appropriate testing to substantiate product claims, food safety requirements, nutritional guarantees and shelf-life stability. 

• Oversee the planning and execution of internal product reviews, technical investigations, formulation and process improvement, new ingredient/processing technologies and LCF (Least Cost Formulation) management. 

• Lead and oversight of Quality and Regulatory functions regarding: 

• label and testing requirements for new and existing products,  

• adherence to AAFCO, USDA, FDA and FSMA guidelines, 

• compliance with international product registration requirements. 

• Provide subject matter expertise to support the development and delivery of educational content and collateral both internally and externally. 

  

Qualifications 

• An advanced degree in Food Science and/or related field is required, including a solid understanding of companion animal nutrition.  Direct experience in pet nutrition is highly desirable. 

• 10+ years of successful hands-on experience guiding product development - from prototype to commercialization.  

• Demonstrated leadership and people development skills. 

• Deep knowledge of methodologies and pre-commercialization product testing requirements including required testing protocols for claims support, nutrients and Guaranteed Analysis, and shelf stability. 

• Solid working knowledge of AAFCO, NASC, FDA, USDA-APHIS and FSMA regulations as they pertain to pet foods and nutritional supplements. 

• Product development, formulation, and manufacturing experience including process development and scale up of liquid, powder, tablet, and soft chew formats. 

• Knowledge of formulation development software from Format S