Culinary Product Innovation Specialist

Are you looking for an exciting career opportunity with a progressive team of professionals in a growing company?

Since 1981, East Coast Seafood has been a global leader in premium food, renowned for our signature North American live lobster and world-class scallops. Headquartered on the historic New Bedford, MA waterfront — the U.S.’s largest fishing port by landed value — we operate two state-of-the-art, GFSI/BRC/MSC/ASC/BAP certified facilities totaling over 150,000 sq. ft. As a Top 15 North American Supplier, we are committed to sustainability, innovation, and quality, from adopting High Pressure Processing (HPP) technology to renovating our plants into a robust food production hub. With over 40 years of industry leadership, we continue to expand our product portfolio, diversify seafood and land based offerings, and modernize operations, delivering responsibly sourced food to retail, foodservice, and global markets.

In this role, you’ll help shape the future of food innovation. The Culinary Product Innovation Specialist blends culinary creativity with technical expertise, driving the development and commercialization of new products and line extensions for both retail and foodservice markets. Working closely with our culinary lead and cross-functional teams, you’ll bring food trends, customer insights, and company capabilities together to create products that delight and deliver.

What You’ll Do

• Lead and support the end-to-end development of new food products and line extensions, from concept through commercialization.
• Partner with Culinary, Product Development, Sales, Marketing, Operations, QA, Procurement and Regulatory to ensure feasibility, compliance, and quality.
• Monitor market trends and emerging technologies to identify opportunities with both year-round and seasonal appeal.
• Develop product formulations, ensuring cost and scale-up objectives are met.
• Support labeling requirements in partnership with Quality and Marketing teams.
• Oversee sensory testing, pilot runs, and production start-ups.
• Contribute to our innovation roadmap and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Represent R&D in customer meetings, product presentations, and occasional industry events (<10% travel).
• Balance multiple projects while collaborating across the organization.

What We’re Looking For

• 7-10 years of R&D experience in food, CPG, or foodservice manufacturing.
• Bachelor's degree in Culinary, Food Science, Food Technology, or related field preferred.
• Strong knowledge of food manufacturing processes, with hands-on product development and scale-up experience.
• Familiarity with FDA/USDA labeling regulations and nutritional analysis software (e.g., Genesis).
• Proven project management skills and ability to lead multiple initiatives simultaneously.
• Excellent communication, problem-solving, and collaboration skills.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, Word, PowerPoint).
• Bonus: background in operations or project management.

Why Join Us?
At East Coast Seafood, our people are our most valuable asset. We live our values every day by:

• Operating with integrity and accountability.
• Supporting one another through teamwork.
• Delivering high-quality food products with pride.
• Embracing adaptability and continuous improvement.
• Sharing a passion for sustaining our business and industry.

This is an exciting opportunity for a results-driven innovator who thrives on turning ideas into market-ready products and wants to make a real impact in a growing company.

The East Coast Seafood Group portfolio of food companies includes but is not limited to East Coast Seafood, Seatrade International, and Salt & Sky.

• Headquartered in New Bedford, MA (USA largest fishing port by landed value)
• Proudly named a Top 15 North American Seafood Supplier
• More than 40 years as a leader in the food business
• Procuring lobster and scallops directly from the boat
• Committed to supplying high-quality food and company-wide BRC certification
• Offering MSC & ASC CoC certified state-of-the-art production facilities
• Producer of private-label and branded value-added CPG products

Offering a competitive compensation package coupled with comprehensive benefits and 401(k) retirement plan, this is a chance for you to take your skills to the next level with a global business representing the best of the Northeast’s seafood.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, veteran or marital status, genetic information or other protected status covered by Federal, State or local law.

Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer