Sr. Director, Science and Technology

Employee Type:

Full time

Location:

IL Oak Brook

Job Type:

Research and Development

Job Posting Title:

Sr. Director, Science and Technology

About Us: 

TreeHouse Foods is a leading manufacturer of private label packaged foods and beverages, operating a network of over 20 production facilities and several corporate offices across the United States and Canada. At TreeHouse Foods, our commitment to excellence extends beyond our products and revolves around our people. We are investing in talent and creating a performance-based culture where employees can do their best work and develop their careers, directly impacting our mission to make high quality, affordable food for our customers, communities, and families. We hope you will consider joining the team and being part of our future.

Named one of America’s Best Large Employers by Forbes Magazine, we are proud to live by a strong set of values and strive to "Engage and Delight – One Customer at a Time." Guided by our values—Own It, Commit to Excellence, Be Agile, Speak Up, and Better Together. We are a diverse team driven by integrity, accountability, and a commitment to exceptional results. We embrace change, prioritize continuous learning, and foster collaboration, transparency, and healthy debate. Together, we set each other up for success to achieve enterprise-wide goals.

What You Gain: 

• Competitive compensation and benefits program with no waiting period – you’re eligible from your first day!

• 401(k) program with 5% employer match and 100% vesting as soon as you enroll.

• Comprehensive paid time off opportunities, including immediate access to four weeks of vacation, five sick days, parental leave and 11 company holidays (including two floating holidays).

• Leaders who are invested in supporting your accelerated career growth, plus paid training, tuition reimbursement and a robust educational platform – DevelopU – with more than 10,000 free courses to support you along the way.

• An inclusive working environment where you can build meaningful work relationships with a diverse group of professionals. Take advantage of opportunities to build on our team-oriented culture, such as joining one of our Employee Resource Groups.

• Access to our wellness and employee assistance programs.

Job Description:

About the Role:

We are seeking a Senior Director of Science & Technology to lead the enterprise Center of Excellence (COE), which is responsible for building and advancing TreeHouse Foods' technical capabilities across ingredient science, process technology, consumer understanding, and product optimization. This leader will serve as the company's highest level technical expert, driving long-term technology strategies while providing practical solutions that accelerate innovation, improve product quality, strengthen manufacturing capabilities, and unlock sustainable business growth.

The organization will integrate Ingredient Technology, Processing Science, Culinary Innovation, Analytical Sciences, Consumer Research, and Sensory into one highly collaborative technical center supporting all business units.

This role partners closely with Product Development, Packaging, Operations, Procurement, Commercial, Growth Unit Leaders, Quality, Regulatory, and external suppliers to translate scientific insights into scalable business solutions.

You’ll add value to this role by performing various functions including, but not limited to:

Technical Leadership & Subject Matter Expertise

• Establish enterprise-leading technical expertise across key product categories, ingredient technologies, and manufacturing platforms.
• Build recognized subject matter experts in ingredient functionality, processing technologies, analytical sciences, culinary innovation, consumer research, and sensory science.
• Serve as the organization's trusted technical advisor on complex scientific and technology challenges.

Speed & Rapid Prototyping

• Foster a culture of speed, agility, and experimentation.
• Develop rapid prototyping capabilities that significantly accelerate concept development, learning cycles, and commercialization.
• Simplify technical processes to reduce development timelines while maintaining scientific rigor and product quality.

Emerging & Disruptive Innovation

• Identify and evaluate emerging technologies, ingredients, processes, and consumer trends that can create competitive advantage.
• Build long-term technology platforms capable of delivering breakthrough innovation beyond today's business needs.
• Challenge conventional thinking and promote bold, science-driven innovation.

Technology Leadership

• Develop and execute a multi-year Science & Technology roadmap aligned with enterprise growth priorities.
• Translate scientific discoveries into scalable commercial solutions that improve product quality, manufacturing capability, and business performance.
• Establish the organization as a recognized leader in food science and technology.

Customer-Centric Innovation

• Develop compelling customer showcase programs that demonstrate TreeHouse's innovation capabilities.
• Create repeatable frameworks for customer ideation sessions, rapid concept development, and collaborative innovation.
• Partner closely with Commercial teams to showcase differentiated technologies, product platforms, and innovation pipelines that strengthen customer relationships.

Center of Excellence Mindset

• Build enterprise capabilities that serve all business units through shared expertise, best practices, and standardized technical platforms.
• Promote collaboration and knowledge sharing across Product Development, Packaging, Operations, Quality, Regulatory, and Commercial teams.
• Develop enterprise technical standards that improve consistency, efficiency, and product excellence.

Scientific Curiosity & Continuous Learning

• Cultivate a culture of curiosity, learning, and continuous improvement.
• Encourage experimentation, external collaboration, and adoption of emerging technologies.
• Develop future technical leaders through coaching, mentoring, and capability-building initiatives.

Important Details:

• The anticipated compensation for this position ranges from $208,100 - 312,100 USD annually. This is the lowest to highest salary we in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting. An employee’s position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to, specific competencies, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, seniority, geographic location, performance, shift, travel requirements, sales or revenue-based metrics and business or organizational needs. For certain roles, the successful candidate may be eligible for annual discretionary merit compensation award, bonus and equity pay.
• This is a full-time, hybrid role based in our Oak Brook, IL office.

You’ll fit right in if you have:

• Bachelor’s degree in Food Science required, M.S. in Food Science, Food Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Material Science or related discipline preferred
• 12+ years of progressive food industry experience.
• Demonstrated leadership of multidisciplinary scientific organizations.
• Deep expertise in ingredient functionality and food processing technologies.
• Experience leading enterprise technical initiatives across multiple product categories

                                                             

                                                                                                                                           

Your TreeHouse Foods Career is Just a Click Away!

Click on the “Apply” button or go directly to www.treehousefoods.com/careers to let us know you’re ready to join our team!

At TreeHouse Foods, we embrace diversity and inclusion for innovation and growth. We are committed to building inclusive teams and an equitable workplace for our employees to bring their true selves to work to help us “Engage and Delight – One Customer at a Time”. TreeHouse Foods is an Equal Opportunity Employer that prohibits discrimination or harassment of any type. All qualified applicants are considered for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Applicants who require an accommodation to participate in the job application or hiring process should contact [email protected]

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