Senior Director Business Development & Innovation

Job Description

Job Description

In-office Tuesday through Thursday; visa sponsorship and relocation are not available for this position.

People. Planet. Community.

Dairy’s journey starts on the farm, and the road we travel demonstrates our unwavering commitment to sustainable nutrition, as our farmers provide lasting and meaningful nourishment to people, the planet and our communities, both urban and rural.

We are a nonprofit organization located in the greater Chicagoland area and we're always looking for talented people to join our team who share the passion and motivation to promote the goodness of dairy.

Position Summary

The Business Development & Innovation professional at Dairy Management Inc. (DMI) will lead key strategies that drive incremental category growth and trust in U.S. Dairy. This role plays a central part in accelerating dairy demand by scaling impact through partnerships, inspiring disruptive investment in dairy innovation, and collaborating to increase the reach, usage, and frequency of dairy consumption both domestically and internationally.

This position oversees strategic partnerships with major foodservice, retail, and consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies. The Senior Director will guide cross‑functional teams to explore, build, and commercialize new dairy growth platforms, integrated marketing programs, and breakthrough innovations across these channels. In addition, the role is responsible for broad industry outreach—engaging brands and processors to elevate their understanding of dairy’s growth opportunities. This includes participating in top-to-top conversations with leading companies and representing U.S. Dairy at major global events such as Natural Products Expo, IDFA Forum, and the National Restaurant Show.

The overarching objective of the Partnerships & Growth Platforms team is to deliver dairy-centric innovation—including new products, packaging, menu concepts, and brand marketing—that generates incremental dairy sales for both industry and partners. In addition to driving sales, the role will help build trust in dairy by collaborating with partners to activate programs focused on responsible production, nutrition, community impact, and the taste and enjoyment of dairy.

Externally, the role engages with C-suite leaders of our partners and dairy industry innovation, marketing, and corporate social responsibility teams. Internally, it collaborates closely with DMI experts across research and development, nutrition science, strategic intelligence, marketing communications, and sustainability teams to ensure alignment, excellence, and measurable impact.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with individual partners to create dairy sales growth goals, strategies, tactics, measurements and budgets.

• Drive success and provide day-to-day oversight of sales and trust initiatives including:

• New product and/or menu innovation process (ideation, concept development, validation, P&L development, go/no go, launch, ROI)

• Marketing and brand innovation including packaging, advertising, PR, etc.

• Working with and through industry companies to inform, educate and help stimulate dairy growth.

• Lead DMI cross-functional partner team, including R&D, New Product Development, Strategic Intelligence, Nutrition Science, Marketing Communications and Finance to build and lead partner and industry outreach presentations.

• Become an expert on the dairy industry value chain as well as DMI capabilities to help inform brands and processors.

• Build strong working relationships with key staff at partner and industry companies including Marketing, R&D, Supply Chain, NPD, communications, etc.

• Evaluate sales, market and ROI impact of partnership and industry programs.

• Lead key presentations internally at DMI to farmer committees and board of directors and externally at key industry events and to senior management at targeted companies.

Requirements

Qualifications:

Education & Experience

Bachelor’s degree required in business, marketing or related field; MBA preferred.

7 years+ in food industry CPG or other food industry B2C marketing management

Proven success in:

o Developing annual and strategic marketing/business plans to deliver results

o Leveraging data and insights, to identify consumer needs, and to identify business growth opportunities

o Leading innovation stage gate, including concept development and commercializing new products.

o Leading cross-functional teams, including agencies and other external resources, to achieve business results.

o Proven success presenting to senior management and/or other industry events.

o Leading the development of integrated consumer marketing programs which include media and advertising.

Skills & Abilities

Strong strategic thinking and business acumen

Strong team leadership and people management skills

Strong verbal and written communication skills in addition to presentation skills

Strong work ethic and integrity; a good representative of farmer values

Able to travel 25-30%

New Hire Salary Range: $135,000-185,000. This is a salary range that DMI believes, at the time of this posting, that it might be willing to pay for the posted job in the location specified.

Benefits

We know that in order to meet our goal of growing dairy demand, we need the best people. We offer competitive compensation and generous benefits to help our employees balance their work and personal lives. Our office is conveniently located, taking less than 10 minutes to walk from CTA's Blue Line Rosemont station. We offer regular and chocolate milk on tap.

Our comprehensive health and welfare plans offer medical, dental, vision, paid parental leave, life, short-term and long-term disability and flexible spending accounts (health care, dependent care, transit and parking). Our 401k provides up to a 10% match and includes a Roth account. DMI reserves the right to change or end its benefits plans or programs at any time.

Dairy Management Inc.™ is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer committed to the principles of diversity. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, ethnicity, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

ABOUT DAIRY MANAGEMENT INC.

Dairy Management Inc.™ (DMI) is funded by America’s nearly 28,000 dairy farmers, as well as dairy importers. Created to help increase sales and demand for dairy products, DMI and its related organizations work to increase demand for dairy through research, education and innovation, and to maintain confidence in dairy foods, farms and businesses. DMI manages National Dairy Council and the American Dairy Association, and founded the U.S. Dairy Export Council and the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy. DMI works with state and regional promotion organizations to implement these programs across the country.

We regret it is not possible to communicate with candidates except those who most closely match our requirements. Thank you.