Senior R&D Food Scientist; Bakery​/Pastry

Senior R&D Food Scientist

Newburyport, MA

Dessert Holdings is the leading premium dessert company in the world. We craft artisanal, scratch‑made desserts at scale, combining culinary innovation with the finest real ingredients. With a rich heritage spanning seven distinctive brands, we bring unmatched expertise and tailored solutions to our Retail and Food service partners.

Dessert Holdings is looking for a Senior R&D Food Scientist to be based in our Newburyport, MA location and provide technical and culinary leadership for the site with additional support of other sites. The position will be responsible for bench development and managing timelines on new product launches, cost savings initiatives, scale‑up, and operational support. Using experience in culinary development and a strong understanding of the commercialising and manufacturing process, the role will lead the enhancement of existing items and spearhead improvement initiatives.

• Provide project leadership in the development and commercialisation of new products, product improvement, and cost savings.
• Work on multiple interdisciplinary projects including developing and implementing plans, identifying and organising a project team, and coordinating resources to achieve goals
• Identify and implement innovative, practical application and modification of ingredients, formulations, and process.
• Provide and communicate technical and business risk assessment to upper management.
• Research and gain thorough understanding and knowledge of emerging technologies in product and ingredient technologies.
• Support Operations and QA to resolve ingredient, formula, process issues and manage product/process changes.
• Hold all functions to DH quality standard.
• Provide technical support with customer on product information and process capability.
• Collaborate with cross‑functional teams on implementing new products, new equipment or new processes.
• Support the process design and review on new capability expansion, cost enhancement, and/or process improvement opportunities.
• Provide guidance, education, and training opportunities to team members.
• Ensure the safety and compliance of the research and development process.
• Contribute to driving the internal innovation process from a culinary perspective identifying trends and new product development opportunities to support customer needs

• Degree in Food Science / Food Engineering with a strong functional Baking Science background
• At least 8 years’ experience with bakery/food development / manufacturing
• Experience in baking, pastry arts, R+D and Food / Baking Science including recipe/formulation and raw material knowledge/experience
• Experience with leading new products through concept, prototyping and commercialisation within a manufacturing environment.
• Strong bench work skills with the ability to execute solutions rapidly
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Working knowledge of MS Office (Outlook, Word, Excel), SharePoint, ERP systems
• Working knowledge of US food standards and regulations
• Self‑directed with initiative; responsible for managing own projects and ensuring all timelines are met or exceeded for self and reports
• Ability/willingness to work off hours or extended amounts of time during product scale ups.
• Ability/willingness to travel up to 50% of the time.

Dessert Holdings is a collection of premium dessert companies and brands:
The Original Cakerie, Lawler’s Desserts, Atlanta Cheesecake Company, Steven Charles, Dianne’s Fine Desserts, Kenny’s Great Pies, and Willamette Valley Pie Company. Dessert Holdings is owned by Bain Capital, is headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota, employs more than 3,500 people across ten manufacturing facilities, and is continuing its journey of rapid growth.

Dessert Holdings and its related entities provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, or any other characteristics protected by law.