If you’ve landed on this article, you probably have tons of questions about working in the packaged foods industry and are wondering if this is a career path worth pursuing.

Good news – you have come to the right place! Whether you're an entry-level professional or well-established in another industry and looking for a career change, this article is for you!

In this article, we’ll be covering the following topics:

1. 1What Is The Packaged Foods Industry?
2. 2What Companies Are In The Packaged Foods Field?
3. 3What Are The Job Options In Packaged Foods?
4. 4What Are The Skills Needed For Packaged Foods?
5. 5What Do Packaged Foods Jobs Pay?
6. 6Is Packaged Foods A Good Career Path? (Our Verdict)
7. 7How To Build A Job-Winning Packaged Foods Resume

Let’s dig in!

What Is The Packaged Foods Industry?

Packaged foods encompass a range of products that are processed and packaged for convenience, including snacks, beverages, frozen meals, and canned goods. These products are designed for durability on store shelves and ease of use.

Companies in the packaged foods field focus on the production and distribution of food items that require minimal preparation by consumers.

What Companies Are In The Packaged Foods Field?

Many major corporations are key players in the packaged foods industry. Examples include:

• General Mills: Known for cereals, yogurts, and ready-to-eat meals.
• Kraft Heinz: Famous for condiments, cheeses, and convenience foods.
• Nestlé: Offers a broad range of products including frozen meals, coffee, and snacks.
• Mondelez International: Known for snack foods like Oreo cookies, Cadbury chocolates, and Trident gum.
• Tyson Foods: A major producer of chicken, beef, and pork products, as well as a variety of prepared foods.
• Conagra Brands: Offers a diverse range of packaged foods, including Healthy Choice meals, Orville Redenbacher's popcorn, and Marie Callender's products.
• Kellogg's: Famous for cereals such as Corn Flakes and Frosted Flakes, as well as convenience foods like Pop-Tarts and Eggo waffles.

These companies are integral in ensuring that packaged foods are consistently available to meet consumer needs across various markets.

What Are The Job Options In Packaged Foods?

Jobs in the packaged foods industry can vary widely, from product development to supply chain management. Here’s a breakdown of some common job roles:

Jobs In Product Development

• Food Scientist: Works on developing new food products and improving existing ones.
• Product Developer: Focuses on innovation and refinement of food items.
• Packaging Technologist: Specializes in creating packaging that preserves the quality and safety of food products.

Jobs In Manufacturing

• Operations Manager: Oversees production processes and ensures efficiency in manufacturing.
• Quality Control Inspector: Ensures products meet health and safety standards.
• Logistics Coordinator: Manages the distribution of products to various sales points.

What Are The Skills Needed For Packaged Foods?

Gaining the right skills is crucial for advancing in the packaged foods industry. Here’s a breakdown of skills needed for various levels:

Entry-Level Roles:

• Technical Skills: Knowledge of food production and safety standards.
• Attention to Detail: Important for maintaining quality and safety in food production.
• Communication Skills: Essential for coordinating with different departments and stakeholders.

Mid-Senior Management Roles:

• Leadership: Leading teams across production, marketing, and supply chain departments.
• Strategic Thinking: Planning and executing strategies to increase market share.
• Project Management: Overseeing new product launches and marketing initiatives.

Mid-Senior Technical Roles:

• Advanced Food Science Knowledge: Essential for roles that involve product development and innovation.
• Data Analysis: Useful for improving product lines based on consumer feedback and market trends.
• Regulatory Awareness: Understanding of laws and regulations applicable to the food industry.

Finding Your Fit With Packaged Foods Roles

Want to find out if you are the right fit for a role in the packaged foods industry?

We've got you covered.

Here's a simple, step-by-step guide to find out if you have the skills to take a new position in the packaged foods industry!

1. 1Head over to LinkedIn and search for packaged foods industry roles.
2. 2Copy the job description of the role that sparked your interest.
3. 3Head over to ResyMatch.io (or use our shortcut below)
4. 4Grab a copy of your most updated resume.
5. 5Upload your resume on the left side.
6. 6Paste the job description on the right side.
7. 7Hit “Start Resume Scan.”

Boom! ResyMatch will compare and score your resume versus the job description and identify skill gaps.

ResyMatch will also provide best practices you can use to improve your resume and will ensure that your resume is ATS compliant (ATS is a software that recruiters use to track candidates through their hiring process).

Use our shortcut below to get started:

Step 1

Copy/paste or upload your resume here:

Click here to paste text

or

Upload a PDF, Word Doc, or TXT File

UPLOAD RESUME

Step 2

Paste the job post's details here:

Job Title Industry

Job Description

Step 3

Scan to compare and score your resume vs the job's description.

START RESUME SCAN

Or see a sample resume scan

Scanning...

What Do Packaged Foods Jobs Pay?

Now that we’ve covered the most common jobs in the packaged foods industry, you might be wondering how much these roles pay.

To answer this question, let’s head over to one of our favorite tools for salary research: Glassdoor.

Glassdoor is one of the world’s top job and recruiting websites where users can anonymously provide information about their companies – including their current salary. Glassdoor provides an average salary range for various roles based on the information sent by its users.

According to Glassdoor, the base salary for the most common power generation industry jobs in 2025 are:

• Food Scientist: $63K – $110K / year base pay (USD)
• Product Developer: $82K – $152K / year base pay (USD)
• Packaging Technologist: $48K – $69K / year base pay (USD)
• Operations Manager: $59K – $100K / year base pay (USD)
• Quality Control Inspector: $39K – $53K / year base pay (USD)
• Logistics Coordinator: $49K – $69K / year base pay (USD)

Best Paying Jobs In Packaged Foods Compared To The Average U.S. Salary In 2024

Comparing these salaries to the U.S. average salary gives you a clearer picture of the financial benefits of working in this industry.

According to the Social Security Administration, the average salary in the U.S. is $63,795.

This is what the best-paying jobs in the packaged foods industry look like when we put them in perspective:

Best Paying Jobs In The Packaged Foods Industry

Operations Manager, Food Scientist, and Product Developer are among the highest-paying roles in the packaged foods industry, with earning potential up to 138% higher than the U.S. average.

Now that we've covered the important basics of the packaged foods industry, we can finally answer the biggest question many job seekers have when considering a new industry:

Is Packaged Foods A Good Career Path? (Our Verdict)

The packaged foods industry offers a stable career path with opportunities for growth in areas like product development and manufacturing.

Professionals can advance through roles that emphasize innovation in flavor, nutrition, and sustainability, addressing consumer demands. Additionally, the manufacturing side allows for technological advancement, where individuals can lead initiatives to improve production efficiency and safety standards.

If you feel like this might be the career path for you, then be sure to dive into the next section where we will cover the best strategies to help you land a job in the field:

How To Build A Job-Winning Packaged Foods Resume

Here's a fact most people don't usually realize: you don't need traditional experience to take on a new role.

You can leverage your unique background, experiences, and skills for nearly any position, as long as you sell it.

Think about your resume as an advertisement for yourself. Like any ad, you want it to be compelling and visually attractive, right?

That's exactly what you will do with your resume!

You will start by:

1. Leveraging The Best Keywords For Your Target Role

Remember ResyMatch.io, that resume and job description scanner tool we mentioned earlier in this article?

We first showed you how you can scan and compare your resume with your target job description to find out how your skills match the role.

However, if you don't have a resume yet, you can still get great insight from this tool by running a job description scan.

Here's how: head over to ResyMatch.io and, in “Scan Type,” select “Job Description Scanner.” Then, copy the job description for your target role and paste it into the box on the left.

ResyMatch.io will provide a list of hard and soft skills that apply to the role. You can use these skills as keywords when building your resume.

Skim through the list to get ideas for keywords you can leverage on your resume.

For example, let's say you are an innovative and analytical individual. Are there any previous experiences, personal projects, or even academic achievements that you can showcase in your resume to highlight these skills?

If yes, then make sure to include those on your resume and then move on to the next step:

2. Writing Compelling Resume Bullets

This is where you'll start crafting a resume that sells!

You'll want your resume bullets to have just the right amount of hard and soft skills, action words, measurable results, and common words.

This means a compelling packaged foods industry resume bullet for someone applying for a Food Scientist role might look something like this:

Contributed to the development of a new snack that reduced sugar content by 30%, increasing sales by 25%.

This bullet focuses on specific hard and soft skills that apply to a Food Scientist, while also showcasing measurable results!

To help you write the perfect resume bullet, we've created ResyBullet.io, a free resume bullet analyzer that helps you write your resume in a way that grabs attention and illustrates value. Simply copy and paste your resume bullet below to begin your analysis:

Free Resume Bullet Analyzer

Learn to write crazy effective resume bullets that grab attention, illustrate value, and actually get results.

Copy and paste your resume bullet to begin analysis:

Click To Analyze!

ResyBullet will analyze and score your resume bullet and give you actionable insights for improvement.

Here's how our packaged foods industry resume bullet scored on ResyBullet:

If you're a visual learner, check out our video that walks you through the step-by-step of writing a crazy-effective resume bullet:

3. Make Your Resume Visually Appealing

The last step is to take all of your content and apply it to a layout that is both easy to read and visually appealing. We recommend using a resume template so you can save the time you would normally spend designing your resume and instead allocate it to other high-value activities in your job search (like interview prep and networking).

You can use ResyBuild.io, a free resume builder, to easily build and customize your resume in no time. Just pick one of the templates below and get started:

Free Job-Winning Resume Templates, Build Yours In No Time.

Choose a resume template below to get started:

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Choose from 8 proven templates and easily create, edit, and customize your resume. ResyBuild's AI assistant also helps you craft personalized, job-winning bullets in a single click. Simply add your experience, hit “Optimize”, and watch the magic happen.

Ready To Pursue A Packaged Foods Career Path?

Then check out our No Experience, No Problem course and access a proven framework for building the skills and results you need to break into a new industry (even if you have absolutely no relevant experience right now)!