Culinary Director

POSITION **Responsible for leading innovation and driving business growth through culinary excellence. This role bridges culinary creativity with commercial strategy, playing a key role in ideation, product development, customer engagement, and sales enablement by performing the following duties. DUTIES & *Actively works to execute on the VP of Cortina Innovations culinary vision.Creates strong relationships with suppliers by learning about their products and helping to foster product knowledge and productive partnerships between the Cortina sales team and our suppliers. Drives new product ideas from concept to commercialization. Leads culinary brainstorming sessions and prototype development across categories.Partners closely with sales teams to deliver compelling product narratives and solutions that meet client needs. Assists in customer presentations and demos.Represents the brand at industry trade shows and culinary events, showcasing innovation, and elevating brand presence. Leverages extensive industry connections to generate new leads and identify emerging opportunities across food service, retail, and manufacturing.Collaborates with R&D, operations, and procurement to bring innovations to market efficiently and cost-effectively.Trains internal teams including sales and customer service on new products, key ingredients, trends, and culinary applications.Works hand-in-hand with the marketing team to create digital assets, recipes, content, and culinary-driven campaigns that highlight product strengths.REQUIRED EDUCATION, SKILLS & *Degree in Culinary Arts 10+ years in a culinary leadership or innovation role, preferably within CPG, food service, or manufacturingStrong understanding of commercialization processes and the product lifecycleProven ability to connect culinary creativity with market trends and customer needsKnowledge of operations in foodservice kitchens and industrial plant settingsExperience working with cross-functional ** sales, R&D, operations, and marketingExcellent communication and presentation skillsStrong industry network and presence within the culinary communityMust be able to travel up to 35% of the time

Created: 2025-07-09