La Tourangelle offers high quality, delicious artisan oils and vinaigrettes that inspire people to cook, create, and unleash their inner chef. Steeped in the oil-making tradition of the Loire Valley, La Tourangelle uses artisan French techniques while sourcing locally to craft small batch, minimally processed, flavor-rich oils that are rich in nutrition and perfected in taste. At La Tourangelle, we believe in the pursuit of exceptional taste with uncompromising nutritional benefits to improve the health, flavor, and lives of our customers and our families.

We’re seeking a food-loving and process-driven Product Commercialization Manager who enjoys connecting market opportunities with operational capabilities to expand our portfolio of artisanal, healthy products. This position is responsible for the cross-functional management of new product commercialization: researching, planning, coordinating, and scaling from conception to production while also overseeing process improvement. This is a hands-on, operations and project management focused position and a vital component to achieving our ambitious goals. The candidate most successful in this role will blend their entrepreneurial spirit and engineering background to drive new and innovative opportunities for our brand.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Act as the single point of ownership for all new product innovation projects. Lead the Innovation Team by applying your expertise and experience to manage the technical leadership and development of new products and processes from concept to commercialization.
• Partner closely with the Marketing team in the research of potential competition and new trends in the marketplace to identify opportunities for new products and new applications for current products.
• Own multiple food development projects, both new products and improvements of current products, simultaneously. Drive new projects forward to meet timelines while juggling multiple priorities. Partner with operations management team to coordinate new project work.
• Utilize a keen understanding of manufacturing capabilities to identify new uses of current technology. Conduct manufacturing process reviews to determine efficacy of SOPs for new products and improvements to existing products
• Collaborate with cross-functional leadership (CEO, sales, marketing) to develop new business opportunities and make assortment recommendations to achieve commercial strategies that drive revenue
• Manage and identify external suppliers and co-manufacturers who can provide added value and resources to new products
• Deliver consistent communication to a diverse sets of internal and external stakeholders on progress, challenges, and critical path changes in new product development

REQUIREMENTS

• 7+ years of hands-on experience in new food product/process development and successful commercialization of new food products
• Bachelor’s Degree in Food Technology, Process Engineering, or equivalent with hands-on relevant food industry experience.
• Passion creating new and exciting natural food products
• Naturally curious, enjoys working in a fast-paced innovation-centric environment, has an ability to see opportunity where others might not
• Proficiency in food equipment/process engineering, ingredient functionality as it relates to process interactions
• A proven collaborator with the ability to effectively lead cross-functional teams.
• A strong track record of owning projects from conception to completion with the ability to clearly articulate status and challenges as well as organize the priorities of multiple internal and external stakeholders (Project Management certification a plus).
• Demonstrated leadership and interpersonal skills with strong verbal and written communication skills. A track record of beneficial negotiations while maintaining positive relationships. 
• Experience managing external vendors with a strong network of industry contacts.
• An established bias for action, with a can-do attitude and the ability to approach challenges with creative, solution-oriented thinking. Can challenge the status quo.
• General business acumen and literacy with financial reporting.
• Microsoft Office and PC skills.

ABOUT LA TOURANGELLE

La Tourangelle (la-tour-an-gel) is a family producer of high quality, delicious artisan oils and salad dressings that inspire people to cook, create and unleash their inner chef. Steeped in the oil making tradition of France’s Loire Valley, La Tourangelle’s purpose is artisanship and pursuit of exceptional taste with uncompromising nutritional benefits to improve the health, flavor and lives of our customers and our families. Our products are sold in over 20,000 stores in the US and Canada and include retailers such as Whole Foods Markets, Amazon.com, Albertsons/Safeway, and Kroger.

BEHAVIORS WE VALUE

• Take initiative
• Take ownership
• Be results-driven
• Be curious
• Stretch your limits
• Be collaborative
• Make decisions based on facts
• Show respect for all
• Face challenges with optimism
• Bring your authentic self

La Tourangelle is an equal opportunity workplace. We celebrate diversity, base employment decisions on merit, and want to have the best available person in each job. We prohibit unlawful discrimination based on race, gender identity or expression, religion, marital status, age, sex (including pregnancy), national origin or ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, sexual orientation, military and veteran status or any other consideration made unlawful by US, California, or local laws.