--- title: 'Culinary Project Manager (Food Science) at Chefman' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/culinary-project-manager-food-science-chefman-mahwah-g94ssz7nrh81' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-10-29' --- # Culinary Project Manager (Food Science) at Chefman - **Company:** Chefman - **Location:** Mahwah, NJ - **Compensation:** $70k–$80k - **Posted:** 2026-10-28 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-29 - **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/chefman/jobs/4466653009 ## Job description CHEF iQ Culinary Project Manager Chefman | Mahwah, NJ | Onsite | Full-time Be the culinary voice behind smart cooking If you love food, science, and getting the details right, this role is for you. As the culinary voice of CHEF iQ, you blend culinary expertise, food science, and project management to define how our smart kitchen products should perform, and you prove it through rigorous, repeatable testing. Your work shapes the food people cook at home and how safely they cook it. Quality is the heart of this job. ## What you’ll do Be the culinary voice - Define and communicate culinary performance and experience standards for all CHEF iQ products - Give culinary feedback on hardware, firmware, software, and UI/UX - Challenge product decisions that compromise cooking performance or food safety, backed by testing data - Maintain quality control for all CHEF iQ products and content Test and validate - Write, standardize, and maintain testing procedures so results are repeatable across testers, units, and SKUs - Assess products at each development stage, with clear, concise feedback and recommendations - Test and validate every firmware and app release, documenting bugs, features, and enhancements for the right team - Oversee presets for all products, tested with real food Know the market - Develop product function charts and run market research, including competitive testing, to set quality benchmarks - Track competitor launches and culinary features, and turn them into product and positioning recommendations Manage and collaborate - Manage culinary workstreams on new products, including timelines, deliverables, and milestones - Be the main contact for product-related culinary questions across teams - Partner with UI/UX, Software, Firmware, and Product Development on features and new products - Present testing results to Product Development with clear recommendations - Keep spreadsheets current and show where each product stands Content, marketing, and sales - Organize all Guided Cooking recipe content for development and release - Support Marketing, Copywriting, photo, and video teams on content, functionality explanations, and packaging review - Support Sales with product demonstrations, cooking demos, and product inquiries ## What you bring Required - Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Culinary Arts, or a related field, or a culinary degree plus equivalent hands-on experience - 3+ years of culinary experience in product development or test kitchen work - 2+ years of project management or coordination experience, ideally on cross-functional product teams - Hands-on experience writing and running product or food testing procedures - Experience with competitive testing, benchmarking, or market research for consumer products ## Skills - Extensive culinary expertise, including technique and validating standards, with a deep understanding of smart kitchen technologies. Recipe development is a plus. - Food science knowledge applied to food testing - Organized reports that combine culinary and technical results - Planning, prioritizing, and tracking multiple projects and deadlines - Exceptional communication across teams, translating technical and culinary information for non-technical audiences - Excel data analysis, such as averages, variance, and charts across test runs - Strong organization, attention to detail, and critical thinking about how a product performs - Collaborative, flexible, and respectful of others’ opinions ## Preferred - A food science testing background with sensory experience, such as Sensory Scientist, Food Technologist, or R&D or test kitchen roles - Experience testing small kitchen appliances or smart and connected consumer products - Restaurant experience is a plus - Some familiarity with AI tools ## Why you’ll love it Your work helps people cook with confidence. You’ll join a close team that loves food, with a supportive manager who is there when you need her and trusts you to do the work. Applicants must be authorized to work in the U.S. without sponsorship. The base salary range for this role is provided below. Compensation is determined based on job-related factors such as experience, skills, and internal equity, in accordance with New Jersey pay transparency requirements. New Jersey pay range $70,000—$80,000 USD ## About Chefman ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Chefman is a leading North American brand of small kitchen appliances, designing and distributing products like air fryers, toaster ovens, and electric kettles, alongside its digitally connected smart appliance brand, CHEF iQ. - **Entity Type**: Private (Privately Held) - **Headquarters**: Mahwah, New Jersey, United States - **Founded**: 2011 - **Founders**: Not publicly available (entity is RJ Brands, LLC) ## Core Business - Primary industry/industries: Manufacturing, Consumer Electronics, Smart Home Appliances - Target customers: B2C (home cooks and families), B2B (retailers and distributors) - Mission or purpose statement: "To provide the world with innovative products that make everyday cooking a better experience." Vision: "To have every kitchen cooking with Chefman products." ## Products & Services - **[Chefman Core Line]**: A full range of premium small kitchen appliances including electric kettles, air fryers, toaster ovens, cookware, and food processors. The company claims to be "America’s #1 brand of electric kettles." - **[CHEF iQ Brand]**: Launched in 2020, an ecosystem of digitally connected kitchen appliances (smart cookers, probes) that use guided cooking experiences and an app to streamline food preparation. This represents a pivot toward IoT and smart home technology. - **[Product Development Services]**: The company has an in-house engineering and design team that handles everything from firmware (Embedded Linux, BSP) to industrial design (SolidWorks, PTC Creo). ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed (Privately Held) - **Key Metric**: Annual Revenue of **$59.1 million** (as of 2026) - **Notable Investors/Partners**: No public funding rounds reported (likely bootstrapped or funded via private debt/equity). - **Growth Signals**: Headcount of 110 employees, up **12.5% year-over-year** (+18 people). Operating in 6 countries (US, Mexico, UK, China, Brazil, Finland). Recent opening of a manufacturing facility in Hangzhou, China. Strong online presence with 6,735 LinkedIn followers (+10.3% yearly growth). ## Competitive Advantages - **Brand Dominance in a Niche**: Clear market leadership in electric kettles, providing a strong baseline for cross-selling other appliances. - **In-House Technical Depth**: Unlike many consumer appliance brands that outsource everything, Chefman maintains a significant in-house engineering team (firmware, software, IoT) and a design department, allowing for rapid product iteration and smart product integration. - **Dual-Brand Strategy**: The established "Chefman" brand for traditional appliances and the "CHEF iQ" brand for premium, connected smart appliances allow the company to target both value-conscious and tech-forward segments without diluting the core brand. ## Strategic Focus - **Smart Appliance Ecosystem**: Heavy investment in the CHEF iQ brand and its connected cooking experience (app, guided recipes, IoT hardware). - **Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Growth**: Active management of its website (Shopify) and digital marketing (TikTok, influencer/affiliate programs) suggests a push to reduce reliance on third-party retailers. - **Global Manufacturing & Supply Chain**: The new factory in China indicates a focus on vertical integration and controlling the supply chain for cost and quality. - **Engineering-Driven Innovation**: Hiring for roles like Senior Embedded Linux/BSP Engineer and Senior Firmware Engineer signals a commitment to building complex software-defined hardware. ## Why Work Here - **Hands-On Engineering Culture**: For engineers, the role involves deep work on embedded systems, IoT, and firmware for physical products—offering a tangible sense of creation (e.g., testing a "Volcano Waffle Maker"). - **Rapid Innovation Cycle**: The company moves at the pace of a startup (small teams, 110 employees) but operates in the high-volume manufacturing world. - **Hybrid/In-Office Policy**: Roles are explicitly "In-Office" in Mahwah, NJ, with "Typical time on-site: None" listed for some roles on Built In, indicating flexibility but a preference for in-person collaboration. - **Perks & Benefits**: Offers healthcare (dental, vision, life insurance), 401(K), generous PTO, employee discounts on products, free snacks, and "customized development tracks" for promotion. - **Employee Rating Caveat**: The company has a low employer rating (2.7/5.0 on LinkedIn from 82 reviews), with specific weaknesses noted in Compensation (2.6) and Culture (2.7). This is a significant caveat for prospective employees. ## Sources 1. [LinkedIn - Chefman & CHEF iQ](https://www.linkedin.com/company/chefman) 2. [Chefman Official Website - About Us](https://chefman.com/pages/about-us) 3. [Built In - Chefman Careers](https://builtin.com/company/chefman) 4. 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