Headline

Technical Sales & R&D Leader | Turning Food Science into Commercial Growth | General Mills · McCain · Pladis

About

I've spent 15 years in the food industry doing something that most people have to choose between — going deep on the science, and showing up as a genuine commercial partner. It started in quality assurance, moved into R&D, took me through product development roles at McCain Foods, Pladis, and Mawana Foods, and eventually landed me at General Mills — where I spent five years leading R&D for our frozen food service range before being promoted into Technical Sales. That journey wasn't accidental. I was always the R&D person who wanted to understand why a customer said no, and the sales-facing person who could go back to the lab and actually fix it. What I enjoy most is the moment a customer's problem becomes a product. Understanding their kitchen constraints, their cost brief, their consumer — and then building something that solves all three at once. At General Mills, that approach helped grow our food service vertical from $1MM to $5MM over three years, and contributed to building a $7MM+ innovation pipeline with international QSR and food service partners. I've worked across bakery, frozen dough, desserts, snacks, biscuits, potato-based QSR products, and specialty food categories — across retail, food service, and QSR channels. I've led brainstorming sessions with global QSR innovation teams to help shape their product pipelines, presented consumer trends and category insights to their senior leadership, and spent equal time in development kitchens troubleshooting a sponge issue in evening. Both feel like the same job to me. Right now, I'm looking for a senior role — in Technical Sales leadership or R&D/Innovation leadership — where the expectation is that you bring both technical depth and commercial awareness to the table. Not as two separate skill sets, but as one integrated way of working. If that sounds like the kind of person your team is looking for, I'd love to connect.

Location

Mumbai

Work experience

Technical Manager at General Mills, Jun 2025 - Present · 1 yr 1 mo

Innovation Lead at General Mills, Nov 2024 - Jun 2025 · 8 mos

Maternity leave at General Mills, May 2024 - Jan 2025 · 9 mos, On Maternity Break till November 2024

NPD lead at Mawana Foods Ltd., Mar 2019 - Jul 2020 · 1 yr 5 mos, Gurgaon, India

Innovation Manager at pladis Global, Jan 2017 - Apr 2018 · 1 yr 4 mos, New Delhi Area, India, pladis Global is World’s leading snacking multinational with over 300 years of baking and confectionary experience, and home to some of the world’s most loved snacking brands, including McVitie’s, Ulker and Godiva.

Food Scientist (Innovations) at McCain Foods India Pvt Ltd, Oct 2012 - Jan 2017 · 4 yrs 4 mos, New Delhi Area, India

Education

Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech.), Food Technology and Processing, Doon valley Institute of Engineering & Technology, Karnal

Sr. Secondary, Science, Sarvodya Vidyalya, Delhi