R&D Manager (Brisbane City)

About the Company

This is an exciting opportunity to join a well-established business that operates within the pet nutrition space. The business operates at scale with a broad national footprint and an ambitious growth agenda. The pet food operation is built around a dedicated manufacturing site, winning major contracts with some of Australia’s largest retailers. The business is now investing heavily in capability uplift, automation, and plant infrastructure to support its growth ambitions. The culture is entrepreneurial and fast-moving, people who thrive here are commercially minded, hands-on and comfortable designing their own blueprint. This is a business with the resources of an established player and the energy of a startup. About the Role

Reporting to the COO, this newly created role sits on the senior leadership team and is the business’s key technical authority for pet nutrition. You will be the conduit between the factory, the customer and the commercial team
- owning formulation, product development, formula optimisation and the innovation agenda end-to-end. Key Responsibilities
- Lead formulation design, development and optimisation across the pet food portfolio
- Manage the pilot plant and development line for trials and NPD
- Own the stage-gate innovation process from brief to commercialisation
- Be the primary technical contact for key retail and pet specialty customers
- Evaluate and validate new raw materials with the procurement team
- Ensure nutritional compliance
- Lead customer-facing category conversations and support claim substantiation
- Provide technical support to quality, production and supply chain functions
- Contribute to the pet food growth strategy at a senior leadership level Skills & Experience
- Tertiary qualification in Animal Science, Nutrition or equivalent
- Hands-on formulation experience in pet food or animal feed
- Commercial acumen
- comfortable with cost drivers and category conversations
- Customer-facing experience with major retailers or pet specialty buyers
- Proficiency in formulation software and Microsoft Office / MRP systems
- Able to work autonomously and design structure in an evolving environment
- Strong communicator — can present confidently and influence at all levels
- Action-oriented with a track record of delivering outcomes on time
- Comfortable with ambiguity and able to pivot quickly when needed
- Experience in own label or private label manufacturing an advantage Perks
- Excellent salary
- Senior leadership team position with direct COO reporting line
- Genuine autonomy
- own the function and shape the agenda
- High-growth business with significant investment in site capability
- Career-defining opportunity as the business scales How to Apply To learn more or to have a confidential conversation about this opportunity, please click “Apply” or contact Tim Barraclough at via email at #J-18808-Ljbffr Apply on Kit Job: kitjobau.com/job/3r9q48