Manager New Product Development Beverages & Project Commercialization

Manager – New Product Development (NPD) – Beverages & Project Commercialization  

Role Purpose

To lead Beverage New Product Development and Project Commercialization (all projects), ensuring successful product development from concept to commercial launch while driving cross-functional project execution, timelines, scale-up, technology transfer, and commercialization.

Location: Lotus Dairy Products Pvt. Ltd. – Manda Plant (Sikar)

Reporting To: Head – New Product Development

Key Responsibilities: -

A. Beverage NPD & Innovation

• Lead the development of RTD beverages from concept development through commercial launch.
• Develop, optimize, and validate formulations to achieve desired taste, texture, stability, nutritional profile, shelf life, quality, and cost targets.
• Lead laboratory, pilot, and plant trials, including scale-up and technology transfer to commercial production.
• Evaluate and qualify new ingredients, flavors, stabilizers, emulsifiers, proteins, functional ingredients, and processing technologies.
• Conduct sensory evaluation, competitor benchmarking, product performance evaluation, and shelf-life/stability studies.
• Identify and resolve formulation, processing, packaging, and product stability issues through systematic troubleshooting.
• Drive product costing, value engineering, and cost optimization without compromising product quality and consumer acceptance.
• Ensure compliance with applicable FSSAI and other regulatory requirements throughout the product development process.
• Develop and maintain product specifications, formulations, process parameters, trial protocols, and technical documentation.

B. Project Management & Commercialization

• Lead end-to-end commercialization projects from approved concept through successful market launch.
• Develop and manage project plans, timelines, milestones, deliverables, and critical-path activities.
• Coordinate and drive execution across Marketing, Business Development, Production, QA, Regulatory, Procurement, Engineering, Supply Chain, Finance, and other relevant functions.
• Ensure timely completion of key commercialization activities, including product trials, packaging development, costing, regulatory approvals, production readiness, material availability, and launch preparation.
• Monitor project progress, identify risks, dependencies, and potential delays, and drive timely corrective actions and resolution.
• Lead scale-up, process validation, and technology transfer from R&D to commercial manufacturing.
• Ensure readiness for first commercial production, including monitoring of initial commercial batches and addressing any technical issues.
• Maintain comprehensive project documentation, trial reports, specifications, action trackers, and commercialization records.
• Conduct post-launch reviews and drive required product, process, quality, and cost improvements.
• Ensure projects are delivered within agreed timelines, cost, quality, and performance targets.

• Qualification
• B. Tech /M. Tech./M.Sc. in Food Technology, Dairy Technology, Food Science, or a related field.
• MBA or Project Management qualification will be an added advantage.

Experience

·        8–12 years of relevant experience in Beverage, Food, Dairy R&D, NPD, or Product Commercialization.

• Strong hands-on experience in beverage formulation, scale-up, plant trials, cross-functional project management, and commercial product launches is preferred.