R&D Manager - Cote d'Or Chocolate

Job Description Are You Ready to Make It Happen at Mondelēz International? Join our Mission to Lead the Future of Snacking. Make It With Pride. This is a newly created, strategic role leading R&D for the iconic Cote d'Or brand across the MEU chocolate portfolio — tablets, pralines, countlines, and seasonals. You won't just manage projects; you'll shape the future of one of the world's most loved chocolate brands.

Reporting to the Director , MEU Chocolate R&D, you'll operate at the intersection of science, strategy, and storytelling. You'll build and execute a cohesive R&D vision across the total Cote D’Or chocolate business, partnering closely with Commercial, Supply Chain, and R&D leaders to turn consumer insights into exceptional products and huge brand growth. This role puts you in constant dialogue with Directors and VPs, so the ability to communicate with clarity and confidence is non-negotiable.

This is also a genuine career springboard. Beyond leading Cote d'Or, you'll work alongside the MEU R&D Leadership Team on shaping new ways of working, R&D strategy, and organisational effectiveness — building the experience and visibility that leads to future senior leadership roles. Who You Are You’re a strategic thinker who loves all aspects of product development.

You see the bigger picture, connect the dots between consumer desires, brand ambition, and operational reality, and you bring people along with you. You communicate brilliantly — whether you’re translating complex technical concepts for a marketing team, aligning priorities with Supply Chain partners, or presenting a bold portfolio strategy to senior leaders. People seek you out, not just for your expertise, but because you make collaboration feel effortless.

You’re a recognised expert in product development (chocolate experience is strongly preferred, but not a dealbreaker), and you stay curious — scanning inside and outside the company for ideas that drive growth. You’re the person who walks into a crowded room and makes the thinking sharper, the ambition bigger, and the plan more actionable. What You’ll Do Lead R&D strategy for Cote d’Or across Growth, Quality Improvement, Brand Maintenance, and Productivity — with potential to expand to other MEU platforms and brands in future Develop, co-ordinate and drive cross-platform strategic plans, translating business needs into clear project objectives and creative solutions Champion consumer-centric product design, ensuring every innovation delivers an outstanding experience Design robust processes that consistently bring your vision from bench to shelf Identify value through smarter design — improving quality where it matters, reducing cost where it doesn’t Strengthen, leverage and protect our brand equity assets with the care they deserve Navigate a matrix organisation with confidence, mobilising R&D resources, leveraging the CDO TCE, cocoa specialists, and other experts to deliver one aligned plan for growth The Secret Ingredient (That’s You) A self-starter with infectious energy, a collaborative instinct, and the kind of curiosity that makes you connect dots others didn’t even know existed.

You don’t wait for permission to make things better — you just do it, and you bring people with you. Your Network You’ll collaborate across a broad ecosystem, primarily: MEU R&D Chocolate Leadership Team and all platform leads including process, pack and productivity as well as R&D peers Cote d’Or global SME/TCE and global mass team Cote d’Or Equity and Marketing Teams, centrally and across all MEU BUs MEU Supply Chain — PCM, Procurement, Manufacturing Operations, Engineering, CS & CI Design, Sustainability, Regulatory, and Global Nutrition teams The Essentials This role is primarily strategic, and pilot plant work will primarily be achieved through others.

Some travel for meetings, trials and stakeholder engagement will be required. What you will bring