Food Scientist II

The Food Scientist II – Ingredient and Food service focus is responsible for leading research, development, scale‑up, and commercialization of new products, as initiated by external customers or internal partners. The focus is primarily on (but exclusively limited to) ingredient and food service products. The role collaborates cross‑functionally with Operations, Engineering, Quality, Procurement, Marketing, Sales, Supply Chain, and co‑manufacturers.

include the following. Other duties may be assigned.

• Serves as the R&D lead for Salesforce opportunities, including custom sample requests, benchtop development, plant trials, and customer-focused innovation projects.
• Provides technical support through formulation, application testing, experimentation, and technical presentations to address customer needs and product performance challenges.
• Researches customer applications, market trends, and product attributes to identify opportunities that support growth of branded and custom product offerings.
• Facilitates product scale-up and commercialization activities through first production runs, ensuring alignment across R&D, operations, and commercial teams. This includes bench-top formulation, pilot‑scale & plant‑scale execution both internally and at co‑manufacturer locations.

• Leads and support product development activities including formulation development and optimization, ingredient evaluation, process validation, and troubleshooting.
• Partners with Operations on process improvement initiatives, alternate ingredient sourcing, manufacturing efficiencies, and validation testing.
• Collaborates with vendors and suppliers to evaluate ingredients, equipment, and technical specifications supporting development and commercialization efforts.
• Creates research protocols/standard operating procedures, technical reports, and commercialization documents.
• Coordinates informal and formal product evaluations and assessments to support product quality, performance, internal project direction, and consumer acceptance.
• Owns design, development, execution and report writing for product development trials, sensory evaluation, and shelf‑life results, partnering with Sensory Team, Quality, and others where necessary.

• Ensure compliance with company safety, GMP, HACCP, and plant policies during product development, trials, and manufacturing activities.
• Support achievement of departmental and company objectives through execution of R&D initiatives, project management, and cross‑functional collaboration.
• Maintain confidentiality of proprietary company and customer formulations, ingredients, processes, and development projects.

This position is not responsible for leading others.

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Bachelor’s Degree in Food Science, Dairy Science, Food Chemistry, or Food Engineering, required. Master’s degree preferred. Equivalent combination of education and experience will also be considered.
• 2-5 years of experience in food product development or manufacturing, required.
• Strong background in pilot and plant scale‑up required.
• Experience with yogurt, cottage cheese, natural cheese, dairy processing, sensory, or with converting and packaging equipment, desirable.

• Alignment with Company Values: Demonstrates behaviors and values that…