Product Development Manager
Sugar Foods
Commerce, CA · Posted September 4, 2026
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Product jobs in the rankings
Rankings about product jobs
- Best cities for product jobs #1 New York (738 openings)
- Best cities for product pay after cost of living #1 Santa Clara ($224k)
- Most requested AI skills in product jobs #1 AI product management (17.9%)
- AI tools named most often in product jobs #1 Claude (3.2%)
- Employers with the most product jobs #1 Amazon (356 roles)
How AI is used in this kind of work
Among marketing managers, AI is already used for a large share of the tasks. Measured exposure for marketing managers: 32% (high).
Share of this job’s tasks that AI is already used for at work, from real usage. It is not a forecast of job loss, and a low number means no use seen yet. Source: Anthropic Economic Index.
About the job
Job Description: Manager, Product Development Department: R&D – CO/Peachtree
Position Summary
The Product Development Manager provides technical leadership and oversight for product development activities within R&D. This role combines hands-on product development expertise with leadership and coaching to drive high-quality, efficient and scalable development work while strengthening technical rigor, critical thinking and accountability across the team.
Key Responsibilities
Provide technical leadership and direction for product development activities across assigned projects. Lead and supervise Project Levels 1–2, with the ability to support select/lead Level 3 projects as needed
Guide development approaches and decision-making to ensure sound technical judgment and execution discipline. Review and challenge formulation, process and scale-up work to improve quality and reduce downstream risk
Coach and mentor product developers to strengthen capability, accountability and
critical-thinking skills. Remain hands-on as needed with formulation, trials, troubleshooting and commercialization support
Ensure development decisions appropriately consider quality, cost, commercial feasibility and long-term business impact. Support continuous improvement and capability building within the R&D function
Collaborate cross-functionally with Sales/Marketing, Operations, QA, Purchasing and Finance while leveraging external resources to determine development priorities
Qualifications Education
BS in Food Science or a related field required, or equivalent experience. MS in Food Science desirable.
Experience
8–10 years of progressive experience in food product development or R&D within a food manufacturing environment, including a minimum of 5 years in a management or lead role
Demonstrated experience leading or supervising product development projects from formulation through scale-up and commercialization
Proven ability to manage multiple development projects simultaneously, providing timely technical direction and guidance across varying scopes and priorities
Strong expertise in product formulation, process optimization, experimental design, and quality improvement. Experience evaluating technical tradeoffs related to quality, cost, manufacturing feasibility, and risk
Prior experience providing technical guidance, mentoring, and leadership to product developers
Strong analytical, problem-solving, and critical-thinking skills
Ability to effectively balance hands-on technical work with leadership and oversight responsibilities