Technical R+D Manager, Food/Bev

About the role

7-Eleven is an iconic family of brands with over 86,000 locations, surpassing every retailer in the world. We revolutionize convenience, restaurants and fuel through cutting edge innovation - working hard to be the customer's first choice. 7-Eleven empowers our employees to "activate awesome" and make a meaningful impact in their stores and communities every day. If you're ready to grow, lead and make a difference, come join our team and help shape the future of convenience. JOB SUMMARY: The Food Research and Development Manager provides technical leadership across the Private Brands portfolio, ensuring products are developed, commercialized, and maintained with scientific rigor. This role is responsible for ensuring all products meet regulatory and brand QA standards while performing consistently over their intended shelf life. The position requires close collaboration with cross-functional internal teams and external suppliers to drive technical excellence and support long-term growth and operational excellence. KEY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: - Lead end-to-end technical research and development and commercialization for innovation, renovation, and maintenance initiatives across the Private Brands portfolio - Apply and continuously improve technical development and commercialization systems that embed food safety, regulatory compliance, QA standards, and shelf-life considerations - Translate product concepts into scalable, manufacturable formulations and processes, ensuring technical readiness for launch - Own product performance over shelf life, including defining test strategies, validating assumptions, and managing technical risk for formulation, process, and supplier changes - Ensure all products comply with applicable food regulations and brand QA standards - Partner closely with QA, Regulatory, Legal, and Sensory to support approvals, audits, testing, and ongoing compliance - Serve as a primary technical partner to co-manufacturers, establishing expectations for quality, performance, and compliance - Identify opportunities for continuous improvement and lead implementation with suppliers and internal teams - Support supplier performance management, including technical input to scorecards, corrective actions, and continuous improvement - Partner with Strategic Sourcing to identify, qualify, and onboard new suppliers through technical evaluations and capability assessments - Develop, govern, and maintain technical specifications and standards, including formulations, ingredients, processes, and shelf-life assumptions - Lead technical change management, ensuring changes are evaluated, documented, approved, and executed in a controlled manner EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE: EDUCATION: Bachelor's degree in food science, Food Engineering, Chemistry, or related field YEARS OF RELEVANT WORK EXPERIENCE: 6-12 years YEARS OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT EXPERIENCE: 5+ years CERTIFICATIONS / LICENSES: Click or tap here to enter certifications/licenses required or preferred. SPECIFIC KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS: - Strong technical knowledge of food chemistry, microbiology, and processing technologies - Expertise in formulation development, ingredient functionality, and food product optimization - Proficiency in experimental design, product testing methodologies, and data analysis Understanding food safety principles, HACCP, and regulatory requirements for food products - Experience with sensory evaluation techniques and consumer testing methodologies - Strong project management skills with ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously - Excellent problem-solving abilities with a solutions-oriented approach - Effective communication and documentation skills to present technical information to various audiences - Ability to translate consumer insights and market trends into viable product concepts - Strong supplier relationship management skills with experience in technical oversight - Collaborative mindset with demonstrated success working in cross-functional environments - Proficiency with R&D documentation systems and product lifecycle management tools *Position not eligible for sponsorship* #LI-KA2 This job description is intended to describe the general nature and level of the work being performed by the individuals assigned to this job. This is not an exhaustive list of all duties and responsibilities. Management reserves the right to amend and change the duties and responsibilities of this job to meet business and organizational needs, as necessary If an hourly or salary range is included in this ad it represents the range 7-Eleven in good faith believes is the range of compensation for this role at the time of this posting. The Company may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range. This range is only applicable for jobs to be performed in this state. This range may be modified in the future. No amount is considered to be wages or compensation until such amount is earned, vested, and determinable under the ter