Principal Scientist - Fresh Food Product Development

Principal Scientist
- Fresh Food Product Development Job Alerts Link Job Description A part of Colgate-Palmolive since 1976, Hill's Pet Nutrition offers the highest-quality pet nutrition available through product lines Prescription Diet® and Science Diet®. Veterinarians worldwide recommend and feed their own pets Hill's products more than any other brand of pet food. Available in approximately 80 countries around the world, our extensive line of products includes more than 60 Prescription Diet brand pet foods and more than 50 Science Diet brand pet foods.

We believe all animals should be loved and cared for during their lifetimes. That is why we are proud our pet foods can make a difference in your pet's life. A career at Hill’s Pet Nutrition or Colgate-Palmolive is an excellent opportunity if you seek a global experience, constant challenge, and development opportunities in an environment that respects work/life effectiveness.

Information at a Glance

Job Title:

Principal Scientist
- Fresh Food Product Development Travel Required?:
Travel - 25% of time Posting

Start Date:

10/8/26 Hybrid

Relocation Assistance Offered Within Country
Job Number#176558 - Topeka, Kansas, United States

Colgate-Palmolive Company is a global consumer products company operating in over 200 countries specializing in Oral Care, Personal Care, Home Care, Skin Care, and Pet Nutrition. Our products are trusted in more households than any other brand in the world, making us a household name!

Join Colgate-Palmolive, a caring, innovative growth company reimagining a healthier future for people, their pets, and our planet. Guided by our core values
- Caring, Inclusive, and Courageous we foster a culture that inspires our people to achieve common goals. Together, let's build a brighter, healthier future for all.

As the Principal Scientist - Product Development, you will report into Hill's R&D in Topeka, KS, leading the technical product design strategy for our high-growth fresh pet food innovation category. This role offers the unique opportunity to anchor a brand-new category frontier for the US #1 Veterinarian Recommended pet food brand, pioneering next-generation food forms, textures, and delivery systems. The single most important objective of this position is to serve as the primary technical Subject Matter Expert (SME), masterfully bridging food science and process engineering to deliver robust, scalable, and standard-setting fresh food solutions.

• Technical Lead & Category Innovation: Serve as the primary technical lead and SME to drive the product design strategy for novel food forms and breakthrough offerings within the fresh pet food category.
• Process Engineering & Line Optimization: Direct the design, testing, and validation of production processes to optimize manufacturing lines, improve scale-up success, and ensure commercial viability.
• Cross-Functional Scale-Up & Validation: Partner closely with Supply Chain, Engineering, Quality, and Ingredient Procurement to deliver robust product designs. Oversee pilot and full-scale plant trials, validating product safety, quality, shelf-life, and palatability performance.
• Documentation & Regulatory Compliance: Oversee the commercial formulation documentation, define raw material and finished product specifications, and support intellectual property or patent filings in compliance with regulatory safety standards.

• Education: Master’s degree (MS) in Food Science, Food Engineering, or a closely related scientific field.
• Experience: 7+ years of food industry product development or process engineering experience.
• Commercialization Track Record: Demonstrated track record of successfully commercializing complex food products from…