About this Senior Research & Development Manager role at Van Leeuwen Ice Cream
We started Van Leeuwen Ice Cream in a yellow truck on the streets of NYC in 2008 with a mission to make good ice cream that makes you feel good.
Nowadays, people can spend so much time on what’s “healthy” they don’t stop to consider what’s healthy. As far as we’re concerned, happiness is healthiness. We strive to ensure every scoop, store and employee feels and creates one community to contribute to the overall brand.
Van Leeuwen Ice Cream is hiring a full-time Sr. R&D Manager based out of our Greenpoint NYC office. This is a great opportunity for an experienced individual to work closely with the founding team of Van Leeuwen Ice Cream as the company continues on its major growth. The ideal candidate is someone who is a true foodie, innovative, driven, and can thrive in a fast-paced environment (and loves ice cream!).
The Senior R&D Manager will report directly to the VP of Commercialization. The main responsibility of this role is to ensure that Van Leeuwen Ice Cream continues to churn out the most innovative, high quality ice cream possible, keeping food trends and branding in mind always.
This role will be based out of our Greenpoint, Brooklyn office and be in office at least four to five days a week.
Job Responsibilities
Flavor Innovation + Renovation
- Lead developing new recipes that can be effectively commercialized while making sure they are of intended quality and cost
- Continually monitor existing recipes for flavor, texture, and appearance, and propose recipe changes based on product performance
- Create flavor concepts and formulas for LTO flavors (new store openings, collaborations, seasonal pints, events, etc)
- Manage and maintain all of Van Leeuwen’s formulations
- Build out costing models for all recipe development to confirm product P&L’s
- Research flavor trends and innovations based on the ice cream industry, restaurant menus, internet trends, new ingredient innovation, and seasonal products
- Gather all necessary documents for internal ingredient and supplier approval
- Work with material suppliers on meeting our ingredient guardrails with existing or custom products
- Continually evaluate ingredients and suppliers based on costs, availability, or improving quality of our final product
- Receive, log, test, and approve samples of new or substitution ingredients before ordering for full scale production
- Participate in QA tastings to review amounts of inclusions and formula changes, and address production procedures and/or issues
Co-Manufacturer Management
- Support launches with co-manufacturers to maximize quality, productivity, and revenue
- Collaborate with QA/Food Safety and co-manufacturers to correct production related issues
- Work closely with the Supply Chain team to improve strategic decision-making and maximize production efficiencies
- Verify and cross-reference copacker BOMs to ensure products will meet intended standards
- Support in-person trials and first productions (up to 30% travel)
Marketing/Wholesale & Retail
- Write flavor descriptors for all new products including monthly specials, new toppings, or updated ingredients
- Work directly with collaborating brands and marketing team to create flavors, send samples, and get final BOMs approved and ingredients ordered for new flavors
- Work closely with Sales & Marketing to find portfolio gaps to create new CPG skus
- Ship samples of VL products to wholesale buyers and collaborating teams (often creating custom small batch samples)
- Generate ingredients, allergen statements, and nutritional panels for CPG products.
- Proof and approve final artwork for packaging alongside marketing and FSQ
Job Requirements
- 4 to 6 years of experience in an R&D or commercialization role
- Food Science or Engineering background required
- Dairy/Ice Cream Development Experience preferred
- Experience in Food Manufacturing ideal
- Proficiency in TraceGains, Google, and Microsoft product suites a plus
- Strong attention to detail
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills across external and cross-functional partners
- In-office 4-5x/week
- Innovative spirit and creativity
- Must be comfortable working in-store scoop shifts once a quarter, while adhering to DOH guidelines
Compensation + Benefits
$105,000 - 140,000m annual compensation depending on experience, paid weekly
Eligible for annual 10% bonus
- Employee Scoop Card (Enjoy Ice Cream from any of our scoop shops nationwide)
- Medical, Dental + Vision Insurance with 70% Employer Contribution
- 401k with up to 4% Employer Match
- Cell Phone Reimbursement Plan
- Wellness Reimbursement Plan
- Flexible Time Off - No accrual required
- Paid Sick Time
- Paid one month sabbatical (eligible after 4 years of continued employment)
- Yearly Performance Reviews
Van Leeuwen Ice Cream is committed to pay transparency and equity among all employees and provides employees an environment where pay transparency and dialogue on compensation are allowed. Van Leeuwen Ice Cream complies with Equal Employment Opportunity laws as well as federal, state, and local laws on compensation, pay transparency, and pay equity.
The actual base salary offered will depend on a variety of factors, including without limitation, the qualifications of the individual applicant for the position, years of relevant experience, level of education attained, certifications or other professional licenses held.
