Company Background
Our client is an established, family owned international food organization with a long-term approach to investment, innovation and value creation. The organization supplies nutrition, food, systems and services to care markets, including seniors, healthcare and long-term care.
In Canada, the company serves business-to-business markets, including healthcare, long-term care and community-based meal programs, as well as consumers through a home-delivery service for seniors.
The Ottawa production facility operates from a purpose-built food manufacturing site. The facility is federally regulated by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and operates a HACCP plan. Most business support and head office functions are based at this location.
The Role and the Team
The Program Manager, Value Engineering will lead our client's margin improvement and recipe value engineering program within Product Development. The role will convert commercial priorities into a focused portfolio of initiatives that improve product margin while protecting food safety, quality, nutrition, customer expectations and manufacturing feasibility.
This position has no direct reports. The Program Manager will lead cross-functional resources assigned to the program and will be accountable for setting direction, sequencing work, creating pace and holding contributors to agreed commitments. Success therefore depends on disciplined project leadership, commercial judgement and the ability to influence and challenge constructively without relying on formal authority.
The ideal candidate brings practical food product development experience, strong knowledge of recipe value engineering and a genuine passion for food. They will be equally comfortable in a project review, a cost discussion and a manufacturing trial, and will build trusted relationships across Product Development, Commercial, Procurement, Operations, Quality, Nutrition, Supply Chain and Finance.
The Position
Reporting to: Director Product Development
Direct Reports: None; resources will be assigned to support program delivery
Key Relationships: Product Development, Commercial, Procurement, Operations, Quality, Nutrition, Supply Chain and Finance
Location: Ottawa, Ontario
Key Responsibilities:
- Build and maintain a prioritized pipeline of margin improvement and value engineering opportunities across the product portfolio.
- Lead cross-functional teams through scoping, feasibility, development, trials, validation, approval, implementation and benefits realization.
- Translate margin targets and business needs into clear project briefs, deliverables, timelines, decision points and resource requirements.
- Direct the work of resources assigned to the program, clarify responsibilities and create accountability without formal reporting authority.
- Apply recipe value engineering to ingredients, formulations, specifications, suppliers, pack formats, process design, yield and waste reduction.
- Develop fact-based business cases using cost, margin, volume, investment, risk and implementation assumptions; partner with Finance to validate and track benefits.
- Balance commercial opportunity with food safety, quality, nutrition, regulatory, customer and operational requirements.
- Facilitate project reviews and decision forums, making trade-offs visible and driving timely resolution of risks, dependencies and barriers.
- Influence stakeholders, challenge assumptions constructively and align teams around recommendations and decisions.
- Maintain clear program reporting covering progress, resource demand, risks, decisions, forecast savings and realized results.
- Strengthen value engineering tools, governance, documentation and ways of working within Product Development.
The Candidate
Essential Qualifications and Experience
- Degree or diploma in food science, food technology or a related discipline.
- Minimum of three years of product development experience in food manufacturing, including taking recipe or product changes through development and implementation.
- Demonstrated experience in recipe value engineering, cost optimization or margin improvement in a food environment.
- Strong project or program management capability across prioritization, planning, governance, risk management and multiple workstreams.
- Commercial understanding, including the ability to interpret product costing and margin drivers and build sound business cases.
- Experience leading cross-functional teams and directing work without formal authority.
- Working knowledge of food safety, quality, regulatory and manufacturing considerations relevant to recipe and process changes.
- A genuine passion for food and for creating products that deliver value to customers and the business.
Desirable Qualifications and Experience
- Culinary training or professional culinary experience.
- Experience in prepared meals, large-scale food production or a similarly complex environment.
- Formal project management training or certification.
Personal Qualities
- Highly organized, able to prioritize competing demands and maintain momentum across multiple projects.
- Commercially curious, analytical and comfortable using data to support decisions.
- Confident communicator who can influence, challenge and build strong stakeholder relationships.
- Practical and solutions-focused, with the judgement to balance opportunity, risk and feasibility.
- Collaborative and accountable, with the resilience to work through ambiguity and setbacks.
- Credible with technical, operational and commercial colleagues at all levels.
Compensation and Benefits
- Eligibility for the discretionary manager bonus program.
- RRSP program.
- Co-pay benefits program.
- 15 days of annual vacation.
Thank you in advance for your interest, only individuals deemed to have the skill set and experience to fit the role will be contacted. Applicants must be legally entitled to work in Canada without sponsorship.
We are equal-opportunity and affirmative action employers that do not discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, religion, age, colour, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by local, state, provincial, or federal laws, rules, or regulations. Our policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment.
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