Culinary Innovation Manager
Kraft Heinz · Nijmegen
Job Description
About Us
Kraft Heinz is a global food company with a delicious heritage. With iconic and emerging food and beverage brands around the world, we deliver the best taste, fun and quality to every meal table we touch. We’re on a mission to disrupt not only our own business, but the global food industry. A consumer obsession and unexpected partnerships fuel our progress as we drive innovation across every part of our company.
What's on the Menu:
We have a fantastic opportunity available for a Culinary Manager to lead culinary Away From Home activities across the Kraft Heinz International Zone — leading the culinary roadmap that turns our proactive new product range and our customized customer solutions into the dishes operators put on their menus and consumers come back for.
Reporting to the Culinary Innovation Senor manager and sitting inside our Consumer & Culinary eXperience (CCX) International team, you will be the AFH culinary authority — at global and regional level — coaching other Innovation Chef in the execution alongside you.
This role is pivotal: indeed, every day, millions of people experience our brands outside their kitchen — at their favorite QSR, in a hotel, in a stadium or on a plane. That's the Away From Home channel scope, one of the biggest growth engines for Kraft Heinz.
Key Ingredients:
Core Responsibilities:
Define and roll out the IZ culinary strategy for AFH — across global and regional level — making sure every market has a clear culinary roadmap aligned to the business agenda.
Develop the next generation of recipes for our proactive new product range. Build the recipes, prototypes and gold standards that show foodservice operators (QSR, FSR, hotels, catering, leisure) exactly how our sauces win on their menus — and scale.
Deliver customized solutions for our strategic customers. Partner with our Business Development Chefs to run co-creation sessions with strategic customers — translating their brief into bespoke culinary solutions that deepen the relationship and unlock new volume.
Lead multiple complex AFH projects across Exploration, Innovation, Activation and Education — from insight to prototype to in-market execution.
Anchor every project in consumer and operator insights, sensory data and foodservice trends — present with the storytelling that turns chef craft into clear business cases for senior leadership.
Embed a culinary ESG and nutrition mindset into our AFH portfolio — sustainability and nutritional awareness, without ever compromising on taste.
Strategy & Leadership:
Own resource allocation within the AFH category and manage project portfolio
Be the recognized AFH culinary voice with senior stakeholders at category level — internally with Marketing, R&D, Sales, CX and CMI, and externally with operators, distributors and partners.
Negotiate priorities, set expectations, influence direction.
Manage or coach more junior innovation Chefs who supports execution and implementation of AFH projects — making sure outcomes translate into real business impact.
Work with external culinary ecosystem — chefs, schools, operators, suppliers — that complements our internal capabilities and keeps us ahead of foodservice trends.
Recipe for Success: Apply if it sounds like you!
You hold a culinary degree (hospitality school, apprenticeship or bachelor's) and have 5+ years in food service — hotels, FSR, QSR, pubs, catering, industry or institutional — ideally with international or strong regional exposure.
You also have 10+ years inside a corporate R&D environment, so you know how to turn a kitchen idea into a scalable, repeatable, market-ready product.
You've already managed and coached chefs — and you know how to grow people, not just deliver projects.
You have deep AFH / foodservice instincts: you understand operator economics, menu engineering, kitchen workflow, and what makes a sauce win on a real line during a real service.
You're a confident storyteller and influencer — comfortable presenting to senior management and turning culinary insight into clear business cases.
You thrive in a matrixed, multicultural, multi-zone organization. Excellent English (spoken and written) is a must. Agile / design-thinking ways of working are a plus.
You bring curiosity, creativity, flair — and an obvious, contagious passion for food.
You connect with Kraft Heinz company culture
Teamwork. You lead, you follow, you ship — but always with the team. Results matter; results with the team matter more.
Communication. You're comfortable in the room with senior management at any level.
Ownership & results. You drive outcomes, report on them honestly, and always do what's best for the company.
Energy. Curious, positive, enthusiastic — the driver of the team. Culinary creativity is part of who you are.
Organization. Multiple projects, tight timelines, no missed deliveries.
High-tempo. Pressure energizes you. A demanding, dynamic environment is where you do your best work.
What we offer you / You deserve
A fast career track few other companies can genuinely match.
A permanent contract — because we believe in making big bets on people.
International exposure through cross-market projects and collaboration with local BUs.
A strong international community of chefs, R&D, sensory and consumer-insight experts to learn and build with.
Ownership of high-profile, end-to-end AFH culinary innovation projects that shape the International Zone portfolio — from insight to prototype to launch.
Always room for a great new idea. Bring it — we'll act on it.
Why Us?
We grow our people to grow our business. We champion ambition, curiosity and high performance — as the guardians of beloved, nostalgic brands and as the disruptors of what comes next. Good isn't good enough. We choose greatness every day by challenging the ordinary and making bold decisions — celebrating our wins and our failures as we lead the future of food.
We invest in your purpose and potential by developing skills and nurturing strengths that leave a legacy on our business and a lasting impact on your career. Because great people make great companies, and we’re growing something great here at Kraft Heinz.
If you've spent your career proving that sensory and consumer experience is a growth engine, not a cost center — we want to talk.
We hope you find a seat at our table!
Location(s)
NijmegenKraft Heinz is an Equal Opportunity Employer – Underrepresented Ethnic Minority Groups/Women/Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity and other protected classes.