Principal Product Development Engineer

Essential Duties And Responsibilities

• Seek and evaluate new ingredients and technologies in pursuit of developing unique product offerings in confectionary OTC and supplement markets, engaging suppliers/vendors, and translating insights into scalable development strategies.
• Translate product briefs and consumer needs into formulation strategies that meet dose targets, sensory attributes, and manufacturability requirements.
• Prepare product samples, test, and analyze physical and sensory attributes (e.g., texture, moisture, pH, and color) against defined acceptance criteria, and link results to stability and scale‑up decisions to develop a comprehensive data package.
• Execute Design of Experiments (DOEs) to identify critical drivers (critical process parameters and critical quality attributes; CPP/CQA), define robust parameter windows, and improve scale-up repeatability with clear analysis recommendations.
• Develop strategic partnerships with external industry leaders and internal stakeholders to generate scalable opportunities for product platforms, informing portfolio decisions and manufacturability.
• Engage with cross functional teams including quality, procurement, supply chain, manufacturing, regulatory, and commercial to resolve development and improvement issues, align translation standards (bench/pilot representativeness, sampling), and drive commercialization readiness.
• Establish and maintain soft‑chew CPP/CQA strategy across programs, including selection rationale, parameter window development, monitoring requirements, and capability expectations (e.g., variance analysis, and process capability/performance index [Cpk/Ppk] where applicable).
• Set and approve validation standards and acceptance criteria across lifecycle stages and ensure continued process verification (CPV) expectations are met in partnership with Operations/Quality.
• Define and govern phase‑/stage‑gate technical standards (deliverables, acceptance criteria, escalation triggers) and audit Gate readiness across programs to ensure disciplined decisions and resource allocation.
• Own product stability strategy (risk assessment, study design, acceptance criteria, interpretation) to ensure stability evidence supports scale‑up decisions and commercialization readiness.
• Support knowledge capture and organizational knowledge growth via effective data summaries, reports, and presentations.
• Mentor peers and junior scientists on best practices and product knowledge.
• Define and drive best practices; recommend paths going forward; govern change control rigor and document accuracy; lead risk management by setting criteria, reviewing risk matrices, and executing mitigations/escalations; ensure alignment across multiple teams.

• Actively supervise, hire, train, schedule, coach, and develop assigned employees.
• Provide task direction to team members and On the Job Training (OJT) for new hires (Onboarding).
• Listen to team members' feedback and resolve/report any issues or conflicts.
• Conduct performance reviews and manage individual performance.
• Recommend personnel actions (pay adjustments, promotions, transfers, terminations).
• Communicate personnel actions following Human Resources and Department Head approval.
• Ensure safety and quality standards are enforced and met.

• Bachelor’s degree in a pharmaceutical science, chemical engineering, food science, chemistry, or related scientific discipline.
• 10 years’ experience in product development engineering, science, or similar function.
• Experience applying statistical analysis, mathematical modeling, machine learning, data mining, and related techniques to drive solutions.

• Proficient with Microsoft Office and database, project management and ERP software, as well as PLM/documentation stage‑gate tools and statistical/visualization software (e.g., DOE/analysis platforms) used to support evidence‑based decisions.
• Thorough knowledge of confectionary manufacturing and ingredients.
• Working knowledge of cGMP and Good Laboratory Practices (GLP), with strong documentation discipline, change‑control rigor, and the ability to…