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For more than 115 years, Ferrara has created sugar confections that enable moments of sweetness, celebration, and connection for candy lovers of all generations. Today, the company is the #1 sugar confectioner in the United States. Ferrara boasts a passionate team of nearly 9,000 employees creating and delivering hundreds of products sold under 20 popular brands like Brach’s®, NERDS®, SweeTARTS®, Laffy Taffy®, and Trolli® to more than 66 million U.S. households annually and popular Dori snacking products under brands such as Dori, Gomets, Pettiz, and Yogurte 100 in Brazil. Additionally, Jelly Belly, known world-wide for its confections, was acquired in November of 2023.

Expert I - R&D

Job Location: Chicago

Want to make an impact?

We are looking for someone that is strategic, self-motivated, and driven to explore new ways of thinking. This individual will lead breakthrough innovation white space exploration, including fuzzy front-end innovation prototype development and technology scouting. This is a key role to enable the breakthrough innovation strategy at Ferrara through rapid prototyping for innovation white space concept exploration and technology scouting of enabling ingredient and process technology.

This position reports to the Sr. Director - Breakthrough Innovation and will be located in Chicago at the Old Post Office. Travel is ~10-20%.

Ways you will make a difference

Fuzzy Front-end Innovation Prototype Development
Effectively bring concepts to life through creation of potential product applications from enabling technologies
Rapid prototyping through benchtop/pilot plant development to explore innovation white space product concepts
Translates strategic opportunities into early exploratory prototypes to define potential paths for breakthrough innovation
Lead the technical identification, scouting and evaluation of new ingredient & processing technologies to support the creation and execution of the 5-year strategic pipeline.
Provide technical determination of highly complex technical solutions for ingredient technology & processing equipment for the 5+ year strategic pipeline and make recommendations to the product & process R&D team on technology needs
Build technical expertise in the sugar category by networking with subject matter experts within the company and externally to identify enabling ingredient & process technologies for breakthrough innovation.
Partner and work closely with Marketing, Insights, Supply Chain, Operations, Engineering, Packaging functions, etc. toward delivering on innovation strategic plan.
Understands and demonstrates the Company’s core values.
Work autonomously, leveraging a self-starter mentality, and ability to bring definition and direction to highly ambiguous situations.

Skills that will make you successful

Rapid prototyping capability to translate innovation exploration white spaces from the Marketing team into exploratory conceptual prototypes to bring opportunities to life
Creativity in applying existing ingredient & process technology in novel ways or identifying new technology for developing new product concepts for breakthrough innovation
Technology understanding in both ingredient technology and process technology in consumer packaged foods (ideally candy confections) and ability to efficiently scout and scope technologies for viability
Experience in breakthrough innovation and/or process engineering for fuzzy front-end innovation product development
Very strong interpersonal skills with ability to influence with integrity through persuasive communication to win support at more senior levels within R&D, Operations and Supply Chain, Marketing and to build effective relationships with a wide range of stakeholders.
Good technical, analytical, and communication skills; ability to interpret data and distil into useful and actionable information.
Self-starter, self-motivating: able to balance competing priorities without losing momentum and manage uncertainty and complexity in fast evolving CPG environments.
Ability to create and use networks to actively seek and take advantage of ideas, best practices, and solutions.

Experiences that will support your success

BS in Food Science or related field required, Master’s preferred
Experience in development of products and/or developing strategies for long-term growth and pipelines.
Experience in Sugar Confection prototype development as we all as commercialization experience.
Experienced product development, with at least 7-10 years across a range of types of Innovations for long-term with new technologies to close-in line extensions.
Experience in research and identifying key insights to drive development and design
Strong record of successful delivery of key deliverables against tight timelines
Comfortable working with ambiguity and succeeding despite challenges

What We Offer

At Ferrara, we're proud to support our employees with comprehensive benefits that enhance health, financial wellness, and include paid time off (PTO). Eligible employees may also receive an annual bonus based on company performance. Learn more about our benefits @ https://flimp.live/Ferrara-Benefits-Resource-Center.

Compensation

The salary range for this position is $99,600 - $139,400 annually

Ferrara’s success in industry-leading innovation has been driven by deep consumer insights, strong retailer co-creation and partnerships, and a dedication to diversity of thought, experience, and people. A privately held company, Ferrara has its global headquarters in Chicago and an operational network of more than 27 locations in North America, Brazil, and China that includes manufacturing, distribution, sales, and R&D facilities. Ferrara is a privately held Ferrero related company. Learn more at www.ferrara.com or www.linkedin.com/company/ferrara-.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. In order to provide equal employment and advancement opportunities to all qualified applicants and employees, employment decisions and opportunities at Ferrara will be based on merit, qualifications, and abilities, without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, marital or civil union status, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, military or veteran status, disability, handicap, genetic information, pregnancy (childbirth or related medical condition), or on any other basis prohibited by law. This policy governs all aspects of employment, including selection, job assignment, compensation, discipline, termination, and access to benefits and training.