Director, Product Development

Shameless Snacks makes low-sugar gummy candy that tastes like the real thing. Every bag has 3g of sugar, is packed with fiber, and is vegan and gluten-free. Our sour and fruit gummies are sold on Amazon, DTC, TikTok, and at major retailers across the country. We’re not a startup hoping something works. We’ve taken better-for-you candy from an idea to retail shelves nationwide and built a brand that consumers love. We move with the speed of a startup: small teams with real ownership and accountability. This is the place where you’ll see the entire machine: flavor development, formulation, packaging, co-manufacturing, compliance, marketing, marketplace strategy, retail, all in one team. If you want to build and ship a food brand at scale, there is no better place than this.

About the role
You are in charge of commercializing every Shameless Snacks product: taking an approved brief and delivering a formula, spec, supplier and stable first commercial production run, on the roadmap date and at the target cost. You own the technical answer to “can we make this, where, and at what COGS,” and the go/no-go at each step from bench to first run. Shameless is an omnichannel better-for-you confectionery brand. We do not own plants. Product is made by co-manufacturers across several confectionery platforms, and the company owns its formulas. This role is the technical center of that model. What you own:
- The commercialization timeline for every product, brief to first production run, and the go/no-go at each step
- Feasibility and cost reads on every brief before it is approved: can we make it, where, and at what COGS.
- Formulation across all platforms, with every formula owned by Shameless in writing.
- Benchtop samples, hands‑on — you make them yourself and through flavor‑house and co‑manufacturer labs (there is no in‑house lab today), and deliver them to Brand 3–4 weeks before flavor lock.
- Regulatory and label data: nutrition panel, sugar grams, allergens, claims substantiation.
- Technical specs and acceptance criteria: sensory, texture, shelf life, stability. You own technical sensory; Brand owns consumer acceptance.
- Structural packaging spec (bag, master case, display) with Brand on artwork.
- Supplier and co‑manufacturer technical qualification: technical fit, trials, site audits. You recommend which co‑manufacturer makes what.
- Pilot runs, stability, scale‑up and first commercial run, ending in a released spec, BOM and test plan handed to Quality and Procurement
- Post‑launch improvement: sensory consistency, cost‑down and reformulation, driven by market feedback and quality signals How you work with the rest of the company: Brand decides what and when. You decide how, and whether it can be done at cost. Each function holds the final call on its own piece:
- Brand owns the brief, the roadmap, consumer acceptance, artwork and go‑to‑market
- Quality (under the Director of Supply Chain, Procurement and Sourcing) approves the spec and test plan and releases lots at the co‑manufacturer
- Procurement and Sourcing owns commercial terms, MOQs and purchase orders
- The executive team owns co‑manufacturer contracts, IP, recall terms, and which co‑manufacturer gets volume
- Operations owns inbound logistics, tariffs and 3PL
- FP&A owns COGS targets, the margin model, and S&OP
- The Retail team owns retail spec sheets, pallet patterns and OTIF Your job is to give each of them what they need from the product: the spec, the cost inputs, the lead times, the recommendation on where it should be made. What success looks like in year one:
- The co‑manufacturer transition is complete for the core portfolio.
- Every active SKU has a written, Shameless‑owned formula and spec
- Written acceptance criteria exist for every platform, and every incoming sample is evaluated against them before it reaches Brand.
- Every launch on the roadmap ships on its date, with formulation freeze and benchtop samples delivered ahead of flavor lock
- Landed COGS on transitioned SKUs is down against the prior baseline, quantified with FP&A.
- Every project is visible in the pipeline system with a stage, owner and next gate, and nothing depends on one person’s inbox. Requirements What you bring: Experience
- 10+ years in confectionery or adjacent food product development, still hands‑on at the bench, with formulation depth in gummies (pectin and starch), and depth in at least two of: aerated, panned/crunchy, licorice, sugar‑reduced systems (allulose, erythritol, fiber).
- Has taken products from bench through pilot to first commercial run, and has transferred a formula between plants
- Has qualified and managed co‑manufacturers without owning the plant, including site audits and holding a CM to spec.
- Has written acceptance criteria and run a technical sensory gate; fluent in CoAs, moisture activity, stability and shelf‑life.
- Builds a BOM cost and knows yield and MOQ math. How you work
- Ownership — you hold the timeline and th