Senior Beverage Technologist

Lead Beverage Technologist - Newport News

Job Description

We are seeking a highly skilled Lead Beverage Technologist to drive the development of innovative, high‑quality finished food products that showcase new flavors and technologies. This role blends hands‑on formulation, trend‑driven concept creation, sensory analysis, and cross‑functional collaboration. The ideal candidate brings deep technical expertise, creativity, and leadership within the food development space.

• Create finished beverage products and transferable beverage technologies (alcoholic, non‑alcoholic, wine, spirits, canned cocktails, functional beverages, etc.).
• Develop new beverage formulations, including specifications, processing instructions, and documentation for filling, mixing, carbonation, and scale‑up.
• Lead beverage flavor innovation by producing prototypes, specifications, and finished product samples.
• Identify and propose flavor, ingredient, and concept ideas for beverage market launches.
• Collaborate with sales, marketing, beverage innovation teams, and food service to support customer projects and brand initiatives.
• Direct and support beverage innovation teams for strategic launches and trend‑driven development.
• Analyze and verify beverage sensory, technical, and lab data to guide formulation decisions.
• Provide documentation for beverage launches, including specifications, prototypes, and sample submissions.
• Support the transfer of beverage formulations for production across various technologies (RTD, spirits, sparkling, etc.).

• 8–10+ years of experience in the food and beverage industry, with a strong focus on food development.
• Bachelor’s Degree in Food Science, Chemistry, Biochemistry, or related field.
• Strong skills in beverage manufacturing, laboratory testing, and product development.
• Proficiency in Biology and Chemistry.
• Experience developing function beverage systems

• Leadership experience in a food or beverage environment.
• Expertise in flavor innovation and beverage ingredient performance.
• Experience collaborating with sales, marketing, and technology teams.
• Knowledge of regulations, beverage stability, and processing techniques.

The role is set in a lab environment where you will work in a small, intimate team, mixing flavors and developing products. Employees gain exposure to the entire lifecycle of a flavor, collaborating directly with customers to create the perfect product. This position offers a unique opportunity to work in a family‑owned company.

This is a Contract to Hire position based out of Newport News, VA.

The pay range for this position is $28.80 - $48.07/hr.

Eligibility requirements apply to some benefits and may depend on your job classification and length of employment. Benefits are subject to change and may be subject to specific elections, plan, or program terms. If eligible, the benefits available for this temporary role may include the following:

• Medical, dental & vision
• Critical Illness, Accident, and Hospital
• 401(k) Retirement Plan – Pre‑tax and Roth post‑tax contributions available
• Life Insurance (Voluntary Life & AD&D for the employee and dependents)
• Short and long‑term disability
• Health Spending Account (HSA)
• Transportation benefits
• Employee Assistance Program
• Time Off/Leave (PTO, Vacation or Sick Leave)

This is a fully onsite position in Newport News, VA.

This position is anticipated to close on Mar 3, 2026.

Actalent is a global leader in engineering and sciences services and talent solutions. We help visionary companies advance their engineering and science initiatives through access to specialized experts who drive scale, innovation and speed to market. With a network of almost 30,000 consultants and more than 4,500 clients across the U.S., Canada, Asia and Europe, Actalent serves many of the Fortune 500.

The company is an equal opportunity employer and will consider all applications without regard to race, sex, age, color, religion, national origin, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information or any characteristic protected by law.

If you would like to request a reasonable accommodation, such as the modification or adjustment of the job application process or interviewing due to a disability, please email actalentaccom for other accommodation options.