Food Product Developer

NS/TX; Toronto; On-site; CAD 65,000 - 95,000; Full time

Job summary

NS/TX in Toronto is seeking a talented product developer focused on flavor development to join our fast-growing team. You will apply your hands-on experience in food product development to improve taste, aroma, nutritional quality, appearance and texture of plant-based meat products.

You will lead flavor development with flavor houses and suppliers, design sensory studies, optimize formulations, and translate results into scalable processes.

Qualifications

• BS in a scientific discipline (food science, flavor chemistry, materials science, or related field).
• 5+ years in food product design, including formulation, ingredient functionality and interaction, process design, product scale-up, plant testing and commercialization.
• Demonstrated experience in flavor development or flavor chemistry.
• Experience designing and executing sensory studies and translating sensory feedback into formulation improvements.
• Excitement for working in a fast-paced environment with high energy, creativity, accountability and ownership.
• Understands and thrives in an unstructured startup environment and is able to develop structure and process where required.
• Excellent time management, teamwork, and communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively within a high performance team.

Responsibilities

• Lead flavor development for plant-based meat products.
• Own relationships with flavor houses and suppliers to develop custom flavors and ingredients.
• Design and run sensory evaluations and descriptive panels to benchmark flavor.
• Improve existing methods and formulations to enhance organoleptic properties (flavor, aroma, texture), nutritional profiles, and cooking performance.
• Design and execute experiments and prepare results for review.
• Apply statistical analysis tools to analyze and interpret data, derive conclusions, and translate them into optimizing flavor and product performance.
• Maintain and operate a broad array of sample preparation and analytical equipment (texture analyzer, colorimeter, GCMS, etc.).
• Support ongoing optimization of existing products and assist in new product scale-up, especially for new processes, ensuring flavor consistency through scale-up testing.
• Assist in defining product specifications and critical parameters that directly link to key attributes like flavor, sensory, and product appearance.

Skills

Flavor development

Sensory analysis

Time management

Teamwork

Communication

Education

BS in a scientific discipline

Tools

GCMS

Texture analyzer

Colorimeter

Job description

ABOUT THE ROLE:

We are looking for a talented product developer with a strong focus on flavor development to join our fast-growing team. This self-motivated, creative, and results-oriented individual will have an understanding of the physical and chemical properties of food ingredients and their interactions. You will leverage your extensive hands-on experience in food product development and flavor science to improve taste, aroma, nutritional quality, appearance, and texture.

AS A PRODUCT DEVELOPER, YOU WILL:

• Lead flavor development efforts for plant-based meat products.
• Own relationships with flavor houses and suppliers to develop custom flavors and ingredients.
• Design and run sensory evaluations and descriptive panels to benchmark flavor.
• Improve existing methods and formulations to enhance organoleptic properties (flavor, aroma, texture), nutritional profiles, and cooking performance.
• Design and execute experiments and prepare results for review.
• Apply statistical analysis tools to analyze and interpret data, derive conclusions, and translate them into optimizing flavor and product performance.
• Maintain and operate a broad array of sample preparation and analytical equipment (texture analyzer, colorimeter, GCMS, etc.).
• Support ongoing optimization of existing products and assist in new product scale-up, especially for new processes, ensuring flavor consistency through scale-up testing.
• Assist in defining product specifications and critical parameters that directly link to key attributes like flavor, sensory, and product appearance.

YOU WILL BRING:

• BS in a scientific discipline (food science, flavor chemistry, materials science,or a related field).
• 5+ years of experience in food product design, including formulation, ingredient functionality and interaction, process design, product scale-up, plant testing and commercialization.
• Demonstrated experience in flavor development or flavor chemistry.
• Experience designing and executing sensory studies (descriptive analysis, consumer panels, or trained panels) and translating sensory feedback into formulation improvements.
• Excitement for working in a fast-paced environment, with high energy, creativity, personal dedication, accountability and ownership.
• Understands and thrives in an unstructured startup environment and is able to develop structure and process where required while maintaining flexibility and agility.
• Excellent time management, teamwork, and communication skills, with ability to manage multiple projects and priorities.
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively within a high performance team.

We're committed to creating an inclusive culture as we know that diverse teams build better products and generate better ideas. We strongly encourage applications from everyone regardless of race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, or disability status. If you require accommodations during the recruitment process, please reach out to [e-mail].

AI is not used in any of NS/TX's hiring practices. All applicants are screened by our team. Only applicants selected for interview will be contacted. If this job is available on nstx.industries then it is an available vacancy.