At HelloFresh, we want to change the way people eat forever by offering our customers high-quality food and recipes for different meal occasions. Over the past 10 years, we've seen this mission spread around the world and beyond our wildest dreams. Now, we are a global food solutions group and the world's leading meal kit company, active in 18 countries across 3 continents. So, how did we do it? Our weekly boxes full of exciting recipes and fresh ingredients have blossomed into a community of customers looking for delicious, healthy, and sustainable options. The HelloFresh Group now includes our core brand, HelloFresh, as well as: Green Chef, EveryPlate, Chefs Plate, Factor_, and Youfoodz.
Associate Director, Packaging Science
Function: Packaging Science / Supply Chain / Food Safety/Engineering
Reports to: VP of Engineering and Automation, Hellofresh
Location: Multiple
Role Purpose:
The Associate Director, Packaging Science will provide technical leadership for the development, qualification, specification, and continuous improvement of packaging systems used to safely and efficiently deliver fresh food to consumers.
This role sits at the intersection of packaging engineering, food safety, cold-chain management, product quality, logistics, operations, and supplier technical management. The position will establish and maintain packaging and distribution specifications that protect food quality and safety throughout the delivery network while balancing cost, sustainability, manufacturability, customer experience, and operational performance.
The Associate Director will serve as a technical authority for temperature-controlled food.
You Will...
- Own the technical framework and specifications for packaging systems used to ship perishable food from fulfillment through the customer's doorstep.
- Establish and maintain packaging standards, technical specifications, drawings, performance requirements, qualification protocols, and acceptance criteria.
- Define and validate thermal requirements for insulated shippers, liners, refrigerants, and packaging configurations across seasonal, geographic, and worst-case conditions.
- Lead packaging qualification and validation programs spanning laboratory testing, pilot shipments, real-world distribution trials, commercialization, and post-launch validation.
- Partner with Food Safety and Quality to prevent contamination, leakage, temperature excursions, product damage, tampering, and loss of product integrity.
- Lead the development and commercialization of innovative packaging solutions, including sustainable insulation, reduced-material systems, recyclable/reusable packaging, improved moisture management, leak resistance, and enhanced dimensional efficiency.
- Establish supplier technical requirements, qualification processes, performance expectations, scorecards, and change-control procedures.
- Partner with Operations, Engineering, Logistics, Procurement, Sustainability, R&D, and Customer Experience to translate technical requirements into scalable and practical solutions.
- Develop technical governance systems, including packaging risk assessments, distribution test standards, failure/RCA procedures, seasonal validation programs, and packaging performance dashboards.
- Drive continuous improvement by using performance, temperature, quality, operational, financial, and sustainability data to improve packaging reliability, cost, efficiency, and customer experience.
You Have...
- 8–12+ years of relevant experience in packaging, packaging science/engineering, food manufacturing, cold chain, CPG, or a related technical environment.
- A bachelor’s degree in Packaging Science, Packaging Engineering, Food Science, Materials Science, or a related technical discipline; an advanced degree is preferred.
- Deep expertise in packaging materials and structures, including corrugated, paperboard, flexible packaging, films, laminates, insulation, seals, and primary/secondary packaging.
- Strong knowledge of temperature-controlled distribution, heat transfer, thermal testing, refrigerants/phase-change materials, insulated shipping systems, and time-temperature profiles.
- Demonstrated experience developing packaging specifications, technical standards, qualification protocols, test methods, and acceptance criteria.
- Experience with packaging qualification and distribution testing, including thermal, compression, vibration, drop, puncture, leak, seal, moisture, and environmental testing.
- Experience partnering with packaging suppliers and contract manufacturers on specifications, technical assessments, material changes, performance issues, and quality expectations.
- Experience working cross-functionally with Food Safety, Quality, Operations, Supply Chain, Logistics, Procurement, Engineering, Sustainability, and other technical teams.
- Strong analytical, experimental design, risk assessment, data analysis, and root-cause problem-solving capabilities.
- Demonstrated ability to translate complex technical requirements into scalable, practical solutions for high-volume food fulfillment and distribution environments.
You Are...
- A technical leader who can establish standards, governance, and strategy—not simply execute existing specifications.
- Data-driven and comfortable making technical recommendations based on objective performance and validation data.
- A systems thinker who understands how packaging, cold chain, food safety, logistics, operations, cost, sustainability, and customer experience intersect.
- A strong communicator who can translate complex packaging and thermal concepts into clear business and operational decisions.
- Collaborative and influential, with the ability to build alignment across functions and influence senior stakeholders without relying solely on direct authority.
- Curious and innovative, with an interest in developing new packaging solutions that improve performance, sustainability, efficiency, and the customer experience.
- Highly disciplined about food safety, product integrity, risk management, qualification, and change control.
- Comfortable operating in complex, variable environments where shipping duration, weather, geography, carriers, product characteristics, and operational conditions can change.
- A relationship builder who can establish trusted technical partnerships with suppliers, testing laboratories, industry organizations, and subject-matter experts.
- A people leader who can develop and mentor packaging scientists and engineers while building scalable technical capabilities for the organization.
You’ll get…
- Competitive hourly rate, 401K company match that vests immediately upon participation, & team bonus opportunities
- Generous PTO and flexible attendance policy
- Comprehensive health and wellness benefits with options at $0 monthly, effective first day of employment
- Up to 85% discount on subscriptions to HelloFresh meal plans (HelloFresh, Green Chef, Everyplate, and Factor_)
- Access to Employee Resource Groups that are open to all employees, including those pertaining to BIPOC, women, veterans, parents, and LGBTQ+
- Inclusive, collaborative, and dynamic work environment within a fast-paced, mission-driven company that is disrupting the traditional food supply chain
This job description is intended to provide a general overview of the responsibilities. However, the Company reserves the right to adjust, modify, or reassign work tasks and responsibilities as needed to meet changing business needs, operational requirements, or other factors.
Newark, NJ Pay Range
$169,650—$230,550 USD
Illinois Pay Range
$158,600—$215,533 USD
This position is also eligible for the HelloFresh equity plan.
About HelloFresh
We believe that sharing a meal brings people of all identities, backgrounds, and cultures together. We are committed to celebrating all dimensions of diversity in the workplace equally and ensuring that everyone feels a sense of inclusion and belonging. We also aim to extend this commitment to the partners we work with and the communities we serve. We are constantly listening, learning, and evolving to deliver on these principles. We are proud of our collaborative culture. Our diverse employee population enables us to connect with our customers and turn their feedback into meaningful action - from developing new recipes to constantly improving our process of getting dinner to our customers’ homes. Our culture attracts top talent with shared values and forms the foundation for a great place to work!
At HelloFresh, we embrace diversity and inclusion. We are an equal-opportunity employer and do not discriminate on the basis of an individual's race, national origin, color, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, marital status, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law, whether actual or perceived. As part of the Company’s commitment to equal employment opportunity, we provide reasonable accommodations, up to the point of undue hardship, to candidates at any stage, including to individuals with disabilities.
We want to adapt our processes and create a safe space that welcomes everyone so please let us know how we can accommodate our process. In case you have any accessibility requirements you can share that with us in the application form.
To learn more about what it's like working inside HelloFresh, follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn.
HelloFresh is committed to the principles of equal employment opportunity and providing reasonable accommodations to candidates with disabilities. If you need an accommodation during the application process, please reach out to us at:
- Europe: EUaccommodations@hellofresh.com
- APAC: APACaccommodations@hellofresh.com
- United States: USCandidateAccommodations@hellofresh.com
- Canada: CAaccommodations@hellofresh.com
