[Hiring] Director, Product Development & Commercialization @Shameless Foods

Role Description

You are in charge of commercializing every Shameless Snacks product: taking an approved brief and delivering a formula, spec, supplier and stable first commercial production run, on the roadmap date and at the target cost. You own the technical answer to “can we make this, where, and at what COGS,” and the go/no-go at each step from bench to first run.

Shameless is an omnichannel better-for-you confectionery brand. We do not own plants. Product is made by co-manufacturers across several confectionery platforms, and the company owns its formulas. This role is the technical center of that model.

What you own:

• The commercialization timeline for every product, brief to first production run, and the go/no-go at each step.
• Feasibility and cost reads on every brief before it is approved: can we make it, where, and at what COGS.
• Ability to originate concepts for Brand to consider.
• Formulation across all platforms, with every formula owned by Shameless in writing.
• Benchtop samples, hands-on — you make them yourself and through flavor-house and co-manufacturer labs.
• Technical specs and acceptance criteria: sensory, texture, shelf life, stability.
• Regulatory and label data: nutrition panel, sugar grams, allergens, claims substantiation.
• Structural packaging spec (bag, master case, display) with Brand on artwork.
• Supplier and co-manufacturer technical qualification: technical fit, trials, site audits.
• Pilot runs, stability, scale-up and first commercial run, ending in a released spec, BOM and test plan handed to Quality and Procurement.
• Post-launch improvement: sensory consistency, cost-down and reformulation, driven by market feedback and quality signals.

How you work with the rest of the company:

• Brand decides what and when. You decide how, and whether it can be done at cost.
• Brand owns the brief, the roadmap, consumer acceptance, artwork and go-to-market.
• Quality approves the spec and test plan and releases lots at the co-manufacturer.
• Procurement and Sourcing owns commercial terms, MOQs and purchase orders.
• The executive team owns co-manufacturer contracts, IP, recall terms, and which co-manufacturer gets volume.
• Operations owns inbound logistics, tariffs and 3PL.
• FP&A owns COGS targets, the margin model, and S&OP.
• The Retail team owns retail spec sheets, pallet patterns and OTIF.

What success looks like in year one:

• The co-manufacturer transition is complete for the core portfolio.
• Every active SKU has a written, Shameless-owned formula and spec.
• Written acceptance criteria exist for every platform, and every incoming sample is evaluated against them before it reaches Brand.
• Every launch on the roadmap ships on its date, with formulation freeze and benchtop samples delivered ahead of flavor lock.
• Landed COGS on transitioned SKUs is down against the prior baseline, quantified with FP&A.
• Every project is visible in the pipeline system with a stage, owner and next gate.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in confectionery or adjacent food product development, still hands-on at the bench, with formulation depth in gummies (pectin and starch), and depth in at least two of: aerated, panned/crunchy, licorice, sugar-reduced systems (allulose, erythritol, fiber).
• Experience taking products from bench through pilot to first commercial run, and transferring a formula between plants.
• Experience qualifying and managing co-manufacturers without owning the plant, including site audits.
• Experience writing acceptance criteria and running a technical sensory gate; fluent in CoAs, moisture activity, stability and shelf-life.

Requirements

• Ownership — you hold the timeline and the go/no-go; when a launch slips for product readiness, that is yours.
• Resourcefulness — there is no in-house lab or pilot plant; trials run at supplier and co-manufacturer facilities.
• Documentation discipline — formulas, specs and supplier history live in the system, not in your head.
• Speed with rigor — comfortable being the whole function in a company that moves weekly, without lowering the technical bar.
• Clear communication — you translate between Brand’s consumer language and a co-manufacturer’s process language, in both directions.

Benefits

• Paid Time Off
• Work From Home
• Training & Development