Director, Disruptive Innovation (Cheese)

Leprino Foods Co

Denver, CO

JOB DETAILS
SALARY
$200,000–$238,000 Per Year
SKILLS
Acquisition Integration, Asepsis, Capacity Management, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Cost Control, Cross-Functional, Dairy Science, Emerging Technology, Food Production, Food Safety, Food Science, Food and Beverage Industry, Grocery Stores, Intellectual Property (IP), Intellectual Property Development, International Operations, Large-Scale Systems, Leadership, Manufacturing, Manufacturing Analysis, Manufacturing Cost, Manufacturing Systems, Manufacturing Technology, Manufacturing/Industrial Processes, Mentoring, Microbiology, Open Source, Operational Support, Organic Food Production, Process Capability, Process Engineering, Process Improvement, Process Manufacturing, Product/Service Launch, Production Systems, Regulatory Requirements, Research & Development (R&D), Safety Engineering, Strategic Planning, System Start-Up, Team Lead/Manager, Team Player, Technical Analysis, Technical Leadership, Technical Operations, Technical Research, Technical Support, User Documentation, Willing to Travel
LOCATION
Denver, CO
POSTED
25 days ago

Within our Corporate Cheese Research and Innovation team located in Denver - Leprino is seeking a Director, Disruptive Innovation to help shape the future of dairy manufacturing science and technology. This role focuses on non-traditional cheese-making innovation aimed at reducing manufacturing costs, improving ingredient functionality, and advancing process performance across large-scale dairy production systems. You'll work alongside a highly technical team with deep expertise across cheese science, manufacturing, and process technology while helping identify and develop new approaches that challenge traditional industry methods. While the role partners closely with engineering and operations teams, the strongest candidates will bring deep technical knowledge of dairy science, particularly around dairy ingredient interactions, cheese functionality, and large-scale manufacturing systems.

At Leprino, starting compensation for this role typically ranges between $200,000 and $238,000. This position has an annual target bonus of 25%.

  • Build and advance new cheese manufacturing technologies that create long-term structural advantages in cost, throughput, ingredients, process capability, and capacity planning.
  • Research and evaluate emerging dairy processing methods, equipment, ingredients, and manufacturing approaches that are new to Leprino or entirely new to the industry.
  • Develop innovation strategies that support large-scale mozzarella and cheese manufacturing across a global production network.
  • Partner closely with operations, technical services, food safety, engineering, and R&D teams to move innovative concepts from early-stage evaluation into plant application.
  • Guide technical innovation initiatives tied to manufacturing efficiency, process performance, product functionality, and operational reliability.
  • Coordinate external partnerships with universities, research centers, equipment manufacturers, startups, and technical innovators across the dairy industry.
  • Support intellectual property development, open-source innovation reviews, and technical assessments tied to future manufacturing capabilities.
  • Lead cross-functional project teams focused on solving difficult manufacturing and processing challenges. This role is centered on manufacturing innovation and process technology, not consumer product commercialization!
  • Review technical risks tied to regulatory requirements, food safety standards, and operational feasibility during innovation development activities.
  • Help shape long-range innovation priorities for Leprino's cheese business through technical research, plant collaboration, and industry engagement.
  • Mentor scientists and technical professionals while building strong collaborative relationships across global teams.
  • Travel domestically and internationally to manufacturing facilities, technical partners, and innovation centers to evaluate emerging technologies and strengthen industry partnerships!

You Have At Least (Required Qualifications):

  • A Master's degree in Dairy Science, Food Science, Chemical Engineering, Process Engineering, Microbiology, Chemistry, or another closely related technical field.
  • 12 years of senior-level technical experience within a large food or dairy manufacturing organization supporting process technology, manufacturing innovation, product functionality, or technical operations.
  • Experience supporting large-scale dairy, cheese, process cheese, aseptic dairy, butter, or related dairy manufacturing environments.
  • Experience leading technical innovation initiatives that involve cross-functional coordination across operations, engineering, quality, R&D, or manufacturing leadership teams.
  • Knowledge of dairy chemistry, dairy proteins, dairy carbohydrates, cheese manufacturing systems, process improvement methods, and food safety standards.
  • Experience evaluating or implementing new manufacturing technologies, ingredients, processing systems, or production methodologies.
  • A willingness and ability to travel domestically and internationally up to approximately 40% of the time.

We Hope You Also Have (Preferred Qualifications):

  • A Ph.D. in Dairy Science, Dairy Chemistry, Food Science, Chemical Engineering, or a related technical field.
  • 15 years of technical leadership experience within a large-scale global dairy or food manufacturing organization.
  • Experience supporting pasta filata cheese manufacturing and continuous cheese-making systems.
  • Experience working with intellectual property strategy, external research partnerships, or technical innovation programs tied to food manufacturing.
  • Experience supporting international operations, acquisition integrations, or multi-region manufacturing environments.

At Leprino, we believe in equal employment opportunity and make employment decisions based on each individual's unique talents, experience, skills, and knowledge; we do not discriminate on the basis of any personal characteristics. We know we are better together and are committed to creating an inclusive and supportive culture in which all employees can thrive.

Offering You In Return:

A chance to be part of a global team of individuals passionate about producing and delivering high-quality products that help feed and nourish families around the world. Leprino could not be where it is today without our incredible employees. That is why we share in our success together by rewarding you for your hard work. Hiring great people who are in it for the long run is our goal. Through competitive salaries and bonuses, life, medical/dental/vision coverage, voluntary benefits, employee assistance programs, wellness incentives, tuition assistance, vacation, ten paid holidays, sick time, paid parental leave, annual merit increases, as well as the LFC Profit-Sharing & 401(k) plan. Your impact will be noticed and rewarded, as you seek to further our company, our customers, and one another.

Our Story:

Leprino's history dates back to the 1950s, when Jim Leprino first started making small batches of mozzarella for local markets and eateries in the Little Italy neighborhood of Denver. We've grown a bit since then. Today, Leprino is the world's largest manufacturer of mozzarella and lactose, and a leading producer of whey protein. Still owned by Jim and the Leprino family, our sights are set to be the "World's Best Dairy Food and Ingredient Company." From a small corner grocery store we have grown to over 5,500 employees throughout the globe. Will you join us on our journey?

About the Company

L

Leprino Foods Co

Overview We’re Leprino Foods Company – the leading producer of mozzarella cheese and related whey & lactose products in the USA. Our heritage of entrepreneurial growth & innovation, exceptional customer service, and top-quality products continue to define our business success and company culture every day. Our customers include leading pizza companies, consumer food manufacturers, and food distributors. Given our industry leading technology (we hold more patents on mozzarella cheese-making technology than any other producer), and quest for future growth, we’re expanding our international capabilities as well. Our Singapore hub and joint venture with Glanbia Cheese, UK positions us in key markets across the world.

From our headquarters in Denver to our production plants located across the country, our growth continues to provide exciting career opportunities. It’s our vision to become the world’s best dairy foods ingredients producer, and we’re looking for great people to help us get there. If you have a strong work ethic, a focus on providing excellent service to external and internal customers, an innovative spirit that’s not satisfied with status quo, and a passion for producing quality products and services, we’d be excited to have you join our organization.

Culture

Our unwavering commitment to product quality and unparalleled customer service encompasses simple principles that guide the efforts of every member of the Leprino Foods' team.

Quality

Service

Innovation

People
Perpetuating a fulfilling, challenging and safe work environment that encourages continuous improvement, provides equal opportunity, offers economic satisfaction through the recognition and rewarding of achievement, and ensures we maintain a healthy respect for our competitors, customers, suppliers and fellow employees in a clean and safe work environment.

Ethics
Conducting our affairs and nurturing our relationships with customers, suppliers, co-workers, mutual interest groups and others in a forthright and ethical manner.

Citizenship
Recognizing our responsibilities toward, and encouraging involvement in, our industry and local communities while respecting individual freedom of choice and maintaining the highest standards of environmental and regulatory compliance.

Benefits Click to learn more

Our Story Behind the superior quality and performance of our cheese lies the legacy of a man with a vision - to make the finest mozzarella cheese available anywhere.

Mike Leprino, Sr. arrived in America in 1914 with little more than fierce determination and a tough set of principles. In 1950 with the help of his family, Mike Leprino began making small batches of ricotta and mozzarella cheese for delivery to local grocery stores. An uncompromising commitment to product quality and customer service fueled demand for Leprino cheese.

Today the company he founded is the world's largest producer of mozzarella cheese and remains singularly focused upon making the finest cheese and whey products.

Results Through People
Environment
Our employees perform their best and feel considerable pride because they are active contributors to the continued success of the largest mozzarella maker in the world - and especially to the continued success of our customers. Employee teams propose and implement ideas to improve our products, service and technology, and track their success. In fact, our employees frequently surpass their own records when it comes to safety standards and innovative processes.

Culture
The culture of Leprino Foods Company is one of hard work, striving for excellence, high expectations and pride. To be successful requires high energy and passion, with a desire to take on challenges and do what it takes to keep Leprino Foods at the top of its industry. The hard work encountered here proves to be worthwhile when considering that we work for a market leader with great financial security and long-term stability. We are extremely committed to quality and to customer service.

At Leprino Foods, we believe:
  • Exceptional customer service is the attitude of caring among all our employees that motivates them to go beyond traditional boundaries in order to facilitate the realization of our Vision.
  • Exceptional customer service involves serving others as each of us would like to be served.
  • Exceptional customer service must be pro-active, not reactive. It means anticipating a customer’s needs.
  • Exceptional customer service is not limited to external customers, it must also be extended to our internal customers, to fellow employees, to our suppliers, and to all other business contacts.
  • Exceptional customer service takes everyone’s efforts. One employee with a lack of effort can create poor customer service.
  • Exceptional customer service is fundamental to achieving our Vision. It is not a vision in and of itself.
Growth Opportunities and Leadership Development
Employees of Leprino Foods Company will agree that most positions and departments offer a high level of growth to the employees. This comes from both promotional advancement and personal growth opportunities. In addition, we offer an extensive list of training opportunities to all levels of employees. This can range from PC training and operator training all the way to leadership training and ways to further develop the competencies possessed by successful leaders.

Mission and Philosophies
Our mission and philosophy at Leprino Foods is to establish, through our actions, an unparalleled standard of excellence in people, products, and service while increasing our market share and perpetuating a healthy company that appropriately rewards all our efforts and investments. We believe that the health and longevity of our company can best be achieved through an uncompromising commitment by all of us to Leprino Quality as a way of life. Leprino Quality is exemplified by an attitude of continuous improvement in each of the following areas:
  • Product Quality: Operating our facilities in a neat, clean, orderly, and well-maintained fashion while producing distinctively superior quality cheese and whey products that add value to our customers’ businesses.
  • Customer Service: Perpetuating a proactive customer-centered attitude among all of us, which produces distinguished service in every aspect of our internal and external customer relationships.
  • Leadership and Innovation: Breaking traditional barriers and constantly expanding the horizons of our industry through bold leadership in product and process technology which continues to create new standards of excellence in product value.
  • People: Perpetuating a fulfilling and safe work environment that:
  • Values the importance of clean, organized, and well-maintained facilities,
  • Encourages the involvement of everyone in the business problem-solving, decision-making process, while not tolerating Company politics,
  • Fosters a willingness to innovate and stretch personal and collective boundaries,
  • Provides equal opportunity for personal and leadership development,
  • Promotes company pride though an unselfish, teamwork-driven attitude among all of us,
  • Offers economic satisfaction through the recognition and rewarding of individual and collective contributions, and
  • Maintains a focus on safety in all aspects of our business.
  • Ethics: Conducting our affairs and nurturing our relationships with customers, suppliers, co-workers, mutual interest groups and others in a forthright and ethical manner.
  • Citizenship: Recognizing our responsibilities toward, and encouraging involvement in, the communities of which we are a part, while respecting individual freedom of choice, and maintaining the highest standard of environmental and regulatory compliance.
Teamwork
As an employee of Leprino Foods, you will have a chance to make a difference by joining one of the many Leprino Employee Involvement Teams and Task Forces.

We all benefit from these teams by having employees bring better problem solving, new ideas, and efficiencies to the Company. Team members benefit personally as well. Through involvement in one or more of these teams, members enhance their knowledge of Leprino’s operations and get the opportunity to work with people outside their normal contacts, doing tasks outside their normal scope of work. Team members also learn basic tools to help identify and work through problems – tools that will help them every day in their job and their personal life.

Community Involvement
Each of our locations has employees active in the communities they work and reside in. Leprino Foods is involved either by sponsorship, participating in, or donating to many worthwhile events.

College Recruiting Click to learn more

Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer

COMPANY SIZE
2,500 to 4,999 employees
INDUSTRY
Food and Beverage Production
FOUNDED
1950
WEBSITE
http://www.leprinofoods.com/careers/