Job Title: Scientist/Sr. Scientist – Product Development
Location: Midwest
Our client is a major pet food company dedicated to nutrition technology. They are a leader in developing innovative, cost effective, healthy and flavorful products. They currently have a new opportunity for a Sr. Scientist, Product Development at their facility in the Midwest.
Their mission is to help enrich and lengthen the special relationship between people and their pets by providing the best, leading-edge pet nutrition technology, products and expertise to pet owners, veterinary professionals and other key pet professionals worldwide. The Company is a globally-recognized Best Place to Work.
As a Sr. Scientist, Product Development, you will be responsible for researching technologies related to dog and cat preferences and for providing expertise in the area of formulation development to successfully guide and implement product improvements and new product development. The ideal candidate will have a solid understanding of food science principles and expertise in formulation development; create well-thought-out studies, analyze data to draw conclusions, and communicate results to cross-functional teams. This position is responsible for providing technologies and implementation support for both new product and ingredient development and improvements of existing ingredients and products.
Principal Duties and Responsibilities
• Designs and develops new and improved products from bench top to commercialization in accordance with Company’s innovation strategy. Following Company’s product development and product improvement processes, designs and executes experiments to develop fundamental knowledge on pet preferences and guides product improvements. Works cross functionally with Sensory, Analytical and Statistical experts on the team to understand product performance and drivers of liking.
• Maintains and updates ingredient nutrient trends in S&T formula development systems. Designs and executes experiments which confirm new ingredients meet product performance requirements while following Company’s best practices.
• Leads projects that demonstrate measurable business impact.
• Leads functional teams and actively participates on cross-functional teams.
• Identifies project issues and influences other areas to obtain necessary resources to achieve objectives.
• Executes and/or solves food-science-based issues encountered in product development.
• Identifies opportunities for improvement or simplification of products or technical processes.
• Incorporates externally sourced innovation into applicable projects and identifies opportunities for innovation pipeline.
• Coordinates all documentation that supports final product formulation.
• Applies internal and external technical knowledge discoveries, ideas and vision and shares with colleagues through documentation, presentations, publications, invention records or patents.
• Interprets patents and understands the legal implications of patents, product claims and advertising; reviews the patents of competitors. Develops ideas and data, and writes Invention Records.
• Other duties as assigned.
Basic Qualifications Include:
• PhD in Food Science (or related scientific field) and 3+ years’ relevant work experience in bench-top-to-commercialization product development or research in the food industry
OR
• MS in Food Science (or related scientific field) and 7+ years’ relevant work experience in bench-top-to-commercialization product development or research in the food industry.
OR
• BS in Food Science (or related scientific field) or Chemical Engineering and 10+ years’ relevant work experience in bench-top-to-commercialization product development or research in the food industry.
Preferred Qualifications Include:
• Working knowledge of developing sole-source nutritional products.
• Relevant work experience in product development in the pet food industry.
The Company is an equal opportunity employer; and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, ethnicity, age, disability, marital status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
Relocation assistance is available within the U.S.
All applicants for this position must be authorized to work in the United States now and in the future without requiring sponsorship.
For additional information, please contact Gina Tentzeras, (954)428-3888 or ginat@foodscience.com.