Lead North America packaging and value-engineering R&D for potato products: develop VE pipeline from ideation to commercialization, deliver cost savings, partner cross-functionally and with suppliers, provide Florenceville site R&D leadership, drive scale-up and plant implementation, standardization, and continuous improvement while building and managing a packaging and ingredient R&D team.
Position Title: Sr Manager R&D Packaging & SCA NA
Position Type: Regular - Full-Time
Grade: Grade 06
Requisition ID: 43018
In every role, McCainers are ambitious, curious, and passionate about creating exceptional work experiences - together. With a customer-first mindset, we make doing business with McCain easy.
About the role.
This role is responsible for developing and executing the North America (NA) Potato Value Engineering (VE) pipeline and the NA Potato and Apps Packaging R&D agenda. It drives identification, development, and implementation of cost and value solutions across ingredients, packaging, and processes. The role also provides site-level R&D leadership for Florenceville, ensuring safe, efficient operations and strong integration of product, packaging, and process to deliver scalable, high-quality outcomes.
What you'll be doing.
What you'll need to be successful.
About the team.
You will lead a team of approximately 7 R&D professionals focused on packaging and ingredient solutions. The team plays a critical role in delivering value engineering initiatives and packaging innovation across North America, working closely with cross-functional partners and manufacturing sites, with a strong connection to the Florenceville R&D and production environment.
About McCain.
Click Here to learn more about McCain and how we provide opportunities to make an impact that matters.
Leadership principles.
The McCain experience.
At McCain, you'll be part of a collaborative, high-performing team where innovation, accountability, and continuous improvement are at the core of how we work. We foster an inclusive environment that supports personal and professional growth, encourages curiosity, and empowers individuals to make meaningful contributions. Our flexible and hybrid work approach enables balance while ensuring strong connection and collaboration across teams.
#LI-DM2
McCain Foods is an equal opportunity employer. As a global family-owned company, we strive to be the employer of choice in the diverse communities around the world in which we live and work. We recognize that inclusion drives our creativity, resilience, and success and makes our business stronger. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, age, veteran status, disability, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law.
McCain is an accessible employer. If you require an accommodation throughout the recruitment process (including alternate formats of materials or accessible meeting rooms), please let us know and we will work with you to find appropriate solutions.
Your privacy is important to us. By submitting personal data or information to us, you agree this will be handled in accordance with McCain's Global Privacy Policy and Global Employee Privacy Policy , as applicable. McCain leverages AI in the hiring process, though all final decisions are made by humans. You can understand our approach to AI and how your personal information is being handled here .
Job Family: Research & Development
Division: Global Research and Development
Department: RnD Potato NAM and LATAM
Location(s): CA - Canada : New Brunswick : Florenceville-Bristol || CA - Canada : Ontario : Toronto
Company: McCain Foods (Canada)
Position Type: Regular - Full-Time
Grade: Grade 06
Requisition ID: 43018
In every role, McCainers are ambitious, curious, and passionate about creating exceptional work experiences - together. With a customer-first mindset, we make doing business with McCain easy.
About the role.
This role is responsible for developing and executing the North America (NA) Potato Value Engineering (VE) pipeline and the NA Potato and Apps Packaging R&D agenda. It drives identification, development, and implementation of cost and value solutions across ingredients, packaging, and processes. The role also provides site-level R&D leadership for Florenceville, ensuring safe, efficient operations and strong integration of product, packaging, and process to deliver scalable, high-quality outcomes.
What you'll be doing.
- Develop and execute the NA VE pipeline from ideation through commercialization, delivering annual cost savings targets
- Lead complex, high-value initiatives, ensuring strong business cases, technical readiness, and sustainable results
- Partner cross-functionally with Procurement, Manufacturing, Technical Operations, Sales, Marketing, and Finance to generate and prioritize opportunities
- Collaborate with ingredient and packaging suppliers to unlock cost, performance, and innovation benefits
- Represent Value Engineering in capital planning and investment discussions
- Define and deliver the R&D packaging agenda, balancing cost, quality, performance, sustainability, and simplification
- Lead and develop a packaging and ingredient team, driving delivery of scalable solutions aligned to business needs
- Drive standardization, specification alignment, and continuous performance improvement
- Provide R&D site leadership for Florenceville, ensuring safe operations, trial readiness, and successful scale-up to manufacturing
- Embed disciplined ways of working across trials, development, and commercialization, including governance and tracking of VE value realization
What you'll need to be successful.
- 7-10 years of R&D experience in consumer goods (food industry preferred)
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering or a related field
- Experience across innovation, commercialization, and manufacturing environments
- Strong project management and cross-functional leadership capabilities
- Strong business acumen, communication, and stakeholder influencing skills
- Deep understanding of product, packaging, and manufacturing processes
- Proven experience supporting scale-up and plant implementation
- Multi-disciplinary expertise across ingredients, packaging, and process integration
- Process engineering capability for troubleshooting and pilot/plant support
- Demonstrated ability to build technical capability and drive execution discipline across teams
About the team.
You will lead a team of approximately 7 R&D professionals focused on packaging and ingredient solutions. The team plays a critical role in delivering value engineering initiatives and packaging innovation across North America, working closely with cross-functional partners and manufacturing sites, with a strong connection to the Florenceville R&D and production environment.
About McCain.
Click Here to learn more about McCain and how we provide opportunities to make an impact that matters.
Leadership principles.
- Understanding customer needs
- Driving innovation
- Empowering people
- Taking ownership to deliver results
The McCain experience.
At McCain, you'll be part of a collaborative, high-performing team where innovation, accountability, and continuous improvement are at the core of how we work. We foster an inclusive environment that supports personal and professional growth, encourages curiosity, and empowers individuals to make meaningful contributions. Our flexible and hybrid work approach enables balance while ensuring strong connection and collaboration across teams.
#LI-DM2
McCain Foods is an equal opportunity employer. As a global family-owned company, we strive to be the employer of choice in the diverse communities around the world in which we live and work. We recognize that inclusion drives our creativity, resilience, and success and makes our business stronger. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, age, veteran status, disability, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law.
McCain is an accessible employer. If you require an accommodation throughout the recruitment process (including alternate formats of materials or accessible meeting rooms), please let us know and we will work with you to find appropriate solutions.
Your privacy is important to us. By submitting personal data or information to us, you agree this will be handled in accordance with McCain's Global Privacy Policy and Global Employee Privacy Policy , as applicable. McCain leverages AI in the hiring process, though all final decisions are made by humans. You can understand our approach to AI and how your personal information is being handled here .
Job Family: Research & Development
Division: Global Research and Development
Department: RnD Potato NAM and LATAM
Location(s): CA - Canada : New Brunswick : Florenceville-Bristol || CA - Canada : Ontario : Toronto
Company: McCain Foods (Canada)
McCain Foods Toronto, Ontario, CAN Office
McCain Foods Toronto, ON Office
439 King St W, Toronto, ON, Canada, M5V 1K4
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