Lead Recipe Developer (18 Month Contract)

S'more about the team

The Lead Recipe Developer plays a crucial role in supporting Recipe Developers (RDs) to consistently meet performance targets through mentorship, identifying improvement areas, and collaborating on action plans. They lead the development of new recipes, manage external testing processes, and ensure alignment with brand standards through tastings and tool usage. As a key collaborator, the Lead RD builds relationships with global counterparts to stay informed on best practices while also maintaining the culinary team’s style guide and contributing to sensory panels and supplier tastings. This role combines leadership, creativity, and data-driven decision-making to enhance product quality and team performance.

This is an 18 month contract.

Lettuce share what this role will be responsible for

• Support Recipe Developer (RD) Performance: Help RDs consistently achieve quarterly recipe performance targets by identifying blind spots, collaborating on informal action plans, and reassessing progress quarterly.
• Recipe Development & Pitches: Develop 4-5 recipe pitches per sprint, overseeing ideation, writing, testing, and editing phases.
• Global Collaboration: Build and maintain relationships with U.S. and global counterparts to stay updated on best practices, processes, and tools.
• Tastings: Participate in 50-60% of internal product and external testing tastings, ensuring quality and alignment with brand standards.
• Tool Mastery: Regularly utilize all RD tools, including the Learning Database (50% NPD), Labelify, Photo Approval tool, Pitch Sheet, Style Guide, RD Performance metrics, Tableau, Seasonality Calendar, and related analysis sheets.
• External Tester Management: Manage the hiring, onboarding, and training of external recipe testers, create weekly testing schedules, and conduct monthly check-ins with the testing team.
• External Testing: Prepare recipes for external testing, edit based on feedback, and facilitate the testing process.
• Style Guide Maintenance: Collaborate with the Editorial team to update the Style Guide and ensure consistency across recipes.
• Sensory Panels & Supplier Visits: Participate in sensory panel tastings, provide product validation feedback, and attend in-house and location-based supplier tastings and visits when possible.
• All other duties, as assigned 

Sound a-peeling? Here's what we're looking for

• Collaborative Leadership: Demonstrates an egoless leadership style, sharing a common food language across HFCP brands. Possesses deep knowledge of culinary techniques, cuisines, and successful recipe development. Understands and navigates creative challenges that arise from changing constraints.
• Mentorship & Development: Encourages a "discipline leads to freedom" mindset within the team, providing 1:1 mentorship when needed. Acts as a resource for teammates, fostering growth and supporting their development.
• Brand Champion & Data-Driven Decision Maker: As a Brand Champion, offers actionable, data-driven insights to fellow team members. Has a strong understanding of successful recipes across the team, leveraging CX data and culinary expertise to shape each brand's food voice. Serves as a positive role model and consistently excels in performance reviews.
• Process Improvement & Cross-Functional Collaboration: Identifies gaps in tools and analyses that could enhance the culinary workflow, product development, or team productivity. Consult with the RD Manager to evaluate project value and either leads or delegate tasks as needed. Builds strong cross-functional relationships and continually seeks opportunities to learn from colleagues locally and globally.
• Testing & Workflow Management: Oversees or delegates the creation of a weekly external testing calendar, balancing external tester availability with HF/CP recipe testing capacity. Ensures smooth execution of recipe testing while maintaining brand standards.

Let’s cut to the cheese, this is why you'll love it here

• Box Discount - Amazing discounts on 1 box per week! 75% discount on weekly HelloFresh and Chefs Plate meal kits AND 50% off weekly Factor meal box.
• Health & Wellness - Health & Dental benefits from day 1, a Health Spending Account, unlimited access to the Headspace app to meet your self-care needs, and 25% discount on GoodLife fitness memberships!
• Vacation & PTO - Time off is also an important part of self-care! We offer generous vacation and PTO to help you create a good work-life balance. 
• Family Benefits - A parental leave top-up program for expectant parents.
• Growth & Development - We support your career progression, provide development opportunities, and invest in your continued learning through our organization wide L&D fund.
• Work Hard & Have Fun - From team socials to engaging company days, you’ll have plenty of opportunity to experience the fun!
• Diversity & Inclusion Initiatives - With impactful ERG’s like FreshPride, Women Empowered and LIMES, we are committed to our diversity, equity & inclusion efforts.
• Food Puns - this one is kind of a big dill if you haven’t already noticed. We even have some punny meeting room names!

Flexible Hybrid Approach

At HelloFresh, we know that flexible work arrangements are essential in enabling you to do your best work, while balancing your personal and life needs. Offering remote work flexibility, along with the opportunity to interact and collaborate in the office are all a part of creating a great employee experience. 

To meet these needs, we are pleased to provide Flexible Hybrid work. Flexible Hybrid is a people-first approach that is based on choice, trust, personalization, and empowers teams to choose when and how often they work from the office and work from home, in addition to team days and company days. This means a minimum of 2 days in office per week, with most teams in office between 2-3 days a week.

#LI-HYBRID

Working Conditions

It’s no surprise that as a food company, we use many ingredients that may be considered common allergens (i.e. peanuts, tree nuts, milk, etc.). Whether this role is based out of our headquarters or one of our distribution centers, it is possible that you may be exposed to such allergens in this role. If you have any concerns with being exposed to any particular food ingredients, including meat, please disclose this during the hiring process. 

Interested in joining the HelloFresh team? Don’t be chai, apply! Submit your application in PDF format today.