Associate Director, R&D - Sustainability & Materials CoE

Job Purpose  

​​As the Sustainability & Materials Center of Excellence (CoE) Packaging Leader, you will lead a team of technical experts responsible for developing packaging solutions to serve the North American portfolio.  The team’s objective is to develop material and format solutions in flexibles, thermoforms and rigid packaging that meet sustainability requirements, while supporting innovation, compliance and value engineering initiatives.  In this role, you will be responsible for the team to develop and lead technical strategies to deliver novel, functional and cost competitive solutions.  You will partner with the Innovation, Process and Platform packaging teams as well as cross functional stakeholders to translate technical and sustainability requirements into commercially viable, manufacturable solutions.  The role includes identifying material/polymer/packaging technology solutions and research pathways, leading proof of concept and technology scale up, and enabling seamless transition of technologies to the business units. The ideal candidate combines deep technical packaging expertise with strong sustainability knowledge and proven experience managing complex projects and technical teams. ​  

Essential Functions & Responsibilities  

• ​​Lead and prioritize a portfolio of complex packaging technology strategies and initiatives by balancing technology exploration with proof of concept of novel technologies. Manage complex partnerships across the value chain to demonstrate value and business case, address technical hurdles, drive speed to market and enable competitive advantage. 

• ​Build, coordinate and manage relationships and partnerships with suppliers and technology providers (including resin, coating, material, film manufacturers) and with universities, institutes, start-ups, open innovation networks, and scouting partners to define research and develop materials to meet specific platform and application needs 

• ​Represent Kraft Heinz on critical industry committees and forums, serving as one external voice to advance sustainability and technology. 

• ​Direct the team to build and execute research plans, including technical documentation, prototyping, lab testing, qualification on pilot and/or production equipment at vendor or at Kraft Heinz 

• ​Support the team in translating research findings into meaningful recommendations, communicating results and driving decisions and technology adoption  

• ​Serve as Subject Matter Expert by leading and driving functional training and process improvements for the pkg organization. 

• ​Act as technical expert for junior developers and direct team to flex onto projects requiring problem solving 

• ​Partner with legal to build robust IP strategies, conduct exploration and help build IP portfolio to drive competitive advantage 

• ​Own project and portfolio-level budgets, resourcing strategies and capacity planning to ensure delivery within approved financial guardrails. Develop and maintain detailed project plans, schedules, budgets and resource allocations to monitor progress, assess risk, escalate tradeoffs, and drive corrective actions. 

• ​Serve as an accountable owner for governance, escalation and go/no-go decisions.  Represent packaging in steering forums and influence stakeholders. Provide technical leadership and oversight on packaging reviews to ensure design decisions align with enterprise standards, manufacturability, sustainability, and long-term platform strategy  

• ​Mentor, coach and train junior project team members and contribute to PMO best practices and templates.​ 

People Management Responsibilities 

• Team (salaried): targeting 3 direct reports, 11 total team responsibility.  

Key Outputs & Deliverables  

•  Deliver technology strategy and prioritize a portfolio of complex packaging technology/format initiatives, to deliver against sustainability, innovation and value engineering initiatives. 

• Lead and deploy a team of packaging technical experts to successfully deliver 20 to 30 concurrent complex packaging technology projects annually across flexible, rigid and thermoform materials and formats, meeting committed timelines, budgets, and technical performance targets from concept through proof of concept and handover. 

• Ensure compliance with evolving sustainability and regulatory requirements for portfolio projects, including: 

• Minimizing Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) fees 

• Designing packaging solutions that avoid material bans and regulatory risks 

• Advancing recyclable, reusable, and compliant packaging formats aligned with enterprise sustainability goals and legislative requirements 

• Deliver packaging designs to Performance-Based Specifications (PBS), ensuring solutions meet defined functional, quality, shelf-life, consumer experience, and manufacturing performance outcomes (rather than prescriptive designs). 

• Build and sustain a high-performing packaging technical team, with clear capability deployment across the portfolio, improved bench strength, and consistent application of enterprise packaging standards. Manage, coach, mentor and retain employees, including goal-setting, performance management, salary planning and hiring. 

• Build succession and upskilling plans for junior talent, maximizing apprenticeship with more senior/experienced team members 

Expected Experience & Required Skills  

• ​​BS/MS/PhD degree in Engineering, Materials, Chemical or Packaging Engineering preferred or related discipline. 

• ​Minimum of 14 years of R&D technology development and commercialization experience in packaging and project leadership experience (consumer goods, food & beverage, pharma or similar preferred). 

• ​Demonstrated experience managing end-to-end development projects, identifying and driving packaging technology initiatives, leading strong external partnership relationships and coordinating cross-functional teams. 

• ​Demonstrated experience in people management (up to 5 to 8 highly skilled technical individuals) 

• ​Strong technical knowledge of materials (polymers, plastic components, flexible materials, fiber components, barrier coatings, etc.), converting processes (e.g., cartoning, filling, web handling, labeling, molding), printing, bottle closure and dispensing systems and manufacturing constraints.  

• ​Proven project management/PMO skills; experience with project governance, risk management, budget management and stakeholder reporting. 

• ​Expert knowledge of design of experiments and Statistics, strong technical problem solving 

• ​Excellent communication, negotiation and interpersonal skills; ability to influence at all levels. 

• ​Previous experience leading complex, multisite or global packaging or technology launches. 

• ​Expert knowledge of sustainable packaging solutions, material/package industry standards and regulations. 

• ​Experience with pilot line setups and scale‑up to industrial production. 

• ​Willingness and ability to travel up to 25% of the time​ 

Work Environment & Schedule 

This position operates primarily in a hybrid work environment and is based at the Kraft Heinz R&D Innovation Center in Glenview, IL. Our hybrid model provides flexibility based on business needs, allowing employees to work virtually up to two days per week, with an expectation to work on-site at least three days per week at the Glenview Innovation Center (Glenview, IL).  

Physical demands include but not limited to 

• ​​Regular office work 

• ​Physical presence at labs and manufacturing sites (internal and external) to perform experimental and validation testing​