Sartori Cheese

The Vice President of Research & Development at Sartori Cheese, an MRA member, is responsible for leading the product development and R&D teams at Sartori. This role oversees critical aspects of product innovation and combines strategic leadership, technical expertise, and business insights to enable Sartori's growth through the creation of Sartori Original products. This position also provides technical support to other departments in the company, including Sales, Marketing, Operations, Quality, Engineering, Finance, and Supply Chain. ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES include the following, with other duties assigned as needed: Executive Leadership: Provide executive leadership and vision for the Product Development and R&D functions, ensuring alignment with the company's strategic goals and long-term growth. Build and Develop High-Performing Teams: Mentor, coach and develop the product development and R&D teams, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and innovation. Drive Breakthrough Sartori Original Innovation: Partner with the sales and marketing team to execute the innovation roadmap and strategy to meet evolving customer and consumer needs. Ensure seamless product development handoffs from assessment to implementation on high-complexity projects. Develop and Execute Cheesemake Strategy: Guide the optimization of our milk utilization, yield improvement and process efficiency in cheesemake and cheesemake by-products. Lead efforts to create new cheese products, enhance existing offerings, and explore innovative solutions that differentiate Sartori in the marketplace. Develop and Execute Product Development Strategy: Oversee new product development including formulation, prototyping and sensory evaluation. Product Quality and Food Safety Culture: Serve as a champion of Sartori's quality standards to achieve our mission of the "best cheese in the world" while meeting or exceeding customer expectations and ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements. Performance Metrics: Deliver against Sartori company business objectives and initiatives. Stakeholder Engagement: Engage with key stakeholders, including the executive team, board members, and external partners, to communicate progress, challenges, and opportunities in product development and R&D. Lead Cross-Functional Collaboration: Influence key initiatives across the business to support company-wide success and achieve Sartori's growth strategy. Confidentiality: Maintain confidentiality as it relates to Sartori's and our customers' proprietary formulas, ingredients, and projects. Budget Management: Oversee the budget for product development and R&D, ensuring effective resource allocation and alignment with business priorities and goals. Safety Compliance: Comply with company safety, HACCP, and GMP policies during plant trials and other plant activities. SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY Directly leads and supervises the R&D team. QUALIFICATIONS To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE Master's degree in food science or another related field, required. Minimum of 15 years of R&D experience in food-related product development, and innovation required. At least 5 years in a leadership role managing directors and managers. OTHER KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES Strategic Thinking: Anticipates future trends and business opportunities, aligning product development strategy with long-term organizational goals. Innovation Leadership: Drives breakthrough thinking and champions creative solutions to meet customer and market needs, especially within a complex regulatory and manufacturing environment. Business Acumen: Applies deep understanding of the dairy industry, product lifecycle, and commercialization to advance business objectives and deliver strong financial and operational outcomes. Collaborative Influence: Builds trust and alignment across departments, leveraging cross-functional relationships to drive execution and decision-making. Talent Development: Builds high-performing teams through coaching, mentoring, and creating a culture of accountability and innovation. Customer & Market Orientation: Keeps customer experience and market differentiation at the center of product and process decisions. Adaptability & Resilience: Navigates ambiguity and shifting priorities with composure, agility, and a solutions-oriented mindset. Problem Solving & Decision Quality: Makes timely, data-informed decisions to solve complex technical and business challenges. Project Management: Strong knowledge and skills in leading complex projects with clarity, accountability, and efficiency-managing scope, timelines, and resources to deliver results. Knowledge of cheesemaking science, dairy chemistry, microbiology and food safety systems ADDITIONAL INFORMATION WORK LOCATION This is an on-site position located at our Pleasant View office in Plymouth, WI. TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS Occasional travel is required to meet the needs of the business (estimated 10%). PHYSICAL DEMANDS The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by a Team Member to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the Team Member is regularly required to sit; use hands to finger, handle, or feel; and talk or hear. The Team Member is occasionally required to stand; walk; reach with hands and arms; and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The Team Member may occasionally lift and/or move up to 20 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision and the ability to adjust focus. WORK SETTING / ENVIRONMENT The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those a Team Member encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. The Team Member is not substantially exposed to adverse environmental conditions.