Temple Lifestyle Brands is building Canada’s leading functional beverage platform. With powerhouse brands like Thirsty Buddha® and Rise® Kombucha, we’re driving category growth and consumer love nationwide.

We are one of Canada’s fastest-growing health and wellness companies, home to a powerful portfolio of functional beverage brands including Thirsty Buddha® (Canada’s #1 organic coconut water and leader in functional hydration) and Rise® Kombucha (Canada’s pioneering kombucha brand and category leader).

With diversified manufacturing capabilities, a strong commercial engine, and national omnichannel distribution, Temple is redefining better-for-you beverages and inspiring healthier living across the country.

COMPANY: Temple Lifestyle Brands
LOCATION: Toronto or Montreal (Full-Time)
DEPARTMENT: R&D; Innovation
REPORTS TO: Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
TRAVEL: Occasional domestic travel and international travel(less than 5%)

THE CHANCE

The R&D; & Innovation Manager will lead research, product development, formulation, and technical innovation across the entire Temple Lifestyle Brands portfolio - spanning our existing brands, private label partnerships, and the development of future brands and products.

This is a highly visible, hands-on role responsible for helping turn ideas into exceptional, commercially viable products. From early-stage formulation and sensory development through plant trials, scale-up, commercialization, and continuous improvement, this individual will serve as a key technical leader across our innovation pipeline.

The successful candidate will combine strong scientific and product development expertise with real manufacturing-floor experience. This is not a lab-only role.



We are looking for someone equally comfortable developing formulations, evaluating products at the bench, leading plant trials, troubleshooting production challenges, and partnering cross-functionally to bring products successfully to market.

Working closely with Marketing, Commercial, Production, Brewing, Quality, Supply Chain and Procurement, the R&D; & Innovation Manager will help build a disciplined and scalable innovation capability capable of supporting Temple's existing brands, private label customers, and future growth platforms.

The ideal candidate brings deep experience in beverage, fermentation, brewing, dairy, functional foods, or other biologically active food systems, along with strong sensory capabilities, scientific curiosity, commercial awareness, and a passion for building exceptional products.

WHAT YOU’LL DO?

Lead formulation and product development across Temple Lifestyle Brands, including existing brands, new brands, line extensions, renovations, private label opportunities, and new beverage platforms.

Own the technical development process from concept and benchtop formulation through pilot testing, scale-up, commercialization, and post-launch optimization.

Establish and manage a disciplined innovation pipeline in partnership with Marketing and Commercial teams, balancing consumer opportunity, technical feasibility,



speed to market, margin, and manufacturing capability.

Translate brand, consumer, and customer opportunities into technically feasible and commercially scalable products.

Develop and optimize formulations for taste, functionality, nutritional profile, stability, manufacturability, shelf life, quality, and cost.

Lead technical development for private label opportunities, working cross-functionally to translate customer briefs into commercially viable products.

Lead sensory evaluation, benchmarking, competitive product assessment, and consumer product testing initiatives.

Identify and evaluate emerging ingredients, technologies, functional benefits, processing methods, and beverage trends that can support future portfolio growth.

Lead the technical commercialization of new products from laboratory development through full-scale manufacturing.

Design and execute plant trials and scale-up protocols, ensuring formulations and processes successfully translate to commercial production.

Partner closely with Production, Brewing, Quality, Supply Chain, Procurement, Marketing, and Commercial teams to ensure launch readiness.

Establish clear technical specifications, formulations, processing parameters, and documentation required for successful manufacturing handover.

Provide hands‑on technical support during first production runs and troubleshoot formulation or process challenges as products scale.

Conduct post-launch reviews and optimize products and processes based on manufacturing performance, quality, consumer feedback, and commercial requirements.

Process Development & Continuous Improvement

Lead and supp

📌 R&D & Innovation Manager (Toronto)
🏢 Temple Lifestyle Brands
📍 Toronto