We believe being healthy should not require tradeoffs. SCN BestCo is a leading innovator, developer and manufacturer of Vitamin, Mineral & Supplement (VMS), Over-the-Counter (OTC) and prebiotics/probiotics in enjoyable forms such as gummies, lozenges and chews. With over 50 years of excellence, our team leads the way in changing how consumers make healthier choices. With unique food science expertise and proprietary processes, we’ve pioneered many firsts. Our passion to create new to the world products has guided and continues to be core to our mission of making health and wellness more enjoyable. Come join us and become a part of our winning formula!

The Director, Research & Development (R&D) drives the core innovation pipeline/portfolio, directing and coordinating the planning, research, and development functions to improve existing and create new products, processes, and services. This position not only drives core innovation but helps define and optimize the innovation process, developing high performance teams to deliver it as well as continually helping to improve efficiency of our base business.

• Recruit, hire, train, develop, and mentor department staff, evaluate staff performance, and develop goals and objectives to create an empowered high-performance team and cultivate top talent.
• Define onboarding and training programs that ensure R&D staff are consistently operating to current best approaches or improving on them.
• Lead the product development process from ideation to commercialization, working closely with sales, marketing, and operations teams to bring new products to the market and develop customers to meet growth objectives.
• Create and drive the core innovation pipeline of new products, actively manage resources vs customer need, and oversee product portfolio/lifecycle management.
• Create and champion best-in-class formulation and product development approaches.
• Improve efficiency/impact of relevant tools and processes related to innovation and scale-up activities.
• Collaborate with Technical Transfer and Engineering teams to formulate and/or scale-up new and existing products to realize manufacturing efficiencies, whilst maintaining key design criteria.
• Drive capacity, transferring products with improved efficiency and delivery of technical programs.
• Actively participate in a cross-site R&D Leadership team and help build a high-performance cross-site culture to fully leverage and develop talent, including supporting the optimization of the company’s approach to innovation and improved capabilities.
• Provide leadership, mentorship, and subject matter expertise (SME) training to technical development talent throughout the company.
• Cultivate a productive collaborative environment across different product teams and functional teams.
• Provide site and company leadership by participating and driving key company initiatives through the Site Leadership Team (SLT).
• Review and analyze proposals submitted to determine if benefits derived and possible applications justify expenditures.
• Submit proposals considered feasible to management for further consideration and recommend allocation of funds to support them.
• Develop and implement methods and procedures for monitoring projects, such as preparation of records of expenditures and research findings, progress reports, and staff conferences, to inform management of status of each project.
• Prepare reports on progress and recommend the addition, expansion, or discontinuance of projects.
• Prepare and administer research and development budget.
• Actively develop supplier relationships and leverage consulting firms where necessary to access new capabilities.
• Negotiate contracts with third parties as needed to access additional capabilities.
• Travel to engage with suppliers and development partners may also be needed with some international travel possible.

Education & Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in food science, chemistry, chemical engineering or related field.
• 12 years’ experience in Product Development or Research & Development.
• 10 years’ progressive professional leadership and management experience.
• Advanced knowledge of product development in the OTC, dietary supplement or food & beverage industry.
• Advanced skill in Microsoft Outlook, Excel, Word, and ERP/CRM software.
• Strong communication skills both written and oral.
• Strong leadership skills including the ability to manage and create a winning team to meet company goals.
• Ability to analyze data to determine gaps/inefficiencies in processes and drive improvements.

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities (KSAs):

• Ability to apply critical thinking in problem solving. Must be able to demonstrate practical problem solving and trouble shooting skills. Ability to demonstrate practical problem solving and trouble shooting skills. Ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions. Ability to interpret an extensive variety of technical instructions in mathematical or diagram form and deal with several abstract and concrete variables.
• Proficiency with Root Cause Analysis (RCA) and Corrective & Preventive Actions (CAPAs).
• Strong communication, organization, and prioritization skills. Must have the ability to communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing, with internal staff and management. Ability to read, analyze, and interpret general business periodicals, professional journals, technical procedures, or governmental regulations. Ability to write reports, business correspondence, and procedure manuals. Ability to effectively present information and respond to questions from groups of managers, clients, customers, and the general public.
• Ability to work under pressure in a fast-paced team oriented, ever-changing manufacturing environment. Strong analytical, design, project management, problem solving, planning, written and verbal communication, cross-functional leadership skills and ability to influence matrixed teams.
• Ability to work with mathematical concepts such as probability and statistical inference, and fundamentals of plane and solid geometry and trigonometry. Ability to apply concepts such as fractions, percentages, ratios, and proportions to practical situations.
• Ability to contribute to complex aspects of a project and manage projects independently and collaboratively.

• Master’s or PhD in a relevant field of study.
• Contract manufacturing experience.