Chemist

Fortrex, Inc.; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Fortrex, Inc. is seeking a Chemist to join our R&D team in support of our Safe Foods portfolio. You will contribute to sanitation and intervention formulations, design experiments, and drive process improvements in collaboration with manufacturing and QA teams.

This role requires laboratory work and coordination across processing, distribution, and customer applications. The ideal candidate has a Bachelors in chemistry or related field and 1–3 years experience in a lab or product development

Qualifications

• Bachelors degree in chemistry, biology, microbiology, or engineering or related scientific field.
• Experience in research and development, product development, or a laboratory setting (1–3 years).
• GLP familiarity and ability to work in a regulated lab environment.

Responsibilities

• Provide support for chemical product manufacturing facilities and drive innovation projects.
• Improve existing sanitation/intervention solutions and manufacturing processes.
• Participate in CAPA processes and quality investigations.
• Collaborate with manufacturing, engineering, supply chain, R&D and QA for transfer to commercialization.
• Lead ideation to commercialization on new product development projects.

Skills

Laboratory experience

Chemistry knowledge

Project management

GLP familiarity

Cross-functional collaboration

Analytical thinking

Education

Bachelor's in chemistry or related field

Advanced technical degree (preferred)

Tools

Laboratory equipment

Job description

Chemical Operations, Leadership, and Support

Working Time

Full-Time

Type Of Contract

Permanent

Work Type

On Site

Ref #

2108

Position Summary

WHO YOU ARE:

Are you looking to join a growing company? Based out of Kieler, WI with plants located from coast to coast, we are looking for a professional, friendly Research and Development Chemist to join our team!

WHO WE ARE:

• Leader in food safety solutions for both contract sanitation and chemistry in the food processing industry.
• Over 10,000 dedicated team members across North America.
• Corporate headquarters in Atlanta, GA with team members working in over 250 plants throughout North America.
• Over 50+ years of experience in creating long-lasting partnerships.

OUR MISSION:

We protect the food supply by eliminating risks so families everywhere can eat without fear.

• Protect What Matters:We are in service of safety at every step, ensuring the health of everyone is central to all we do – from plant team members to consumers.
• Deliver On Our Promises: We speak honestly and are dedicated to doing the right thing by upholding ethical standards and following through on our commitments to our teams, our customers, and our business.
• Win as a Team: We believe in the power of collaboration, uniting our diverse strengths while working hand‑in‑hand with our team members and customers to unlock potential and achieve stronger results together.
• Advance a Safer Future: We are committed to innovating more effective, sustainable, and cost‑efficient food safety solutions to develop a safer world for all.

JOB DESCRIPTION

We protect the food supply by eliminating risks so families everywhere can eat without fear.

• Protect What Matters:We are in service of security at every step, ensuring the health of everyone is central to all we do – from plant team members to consumers.
• Deliver On Our Promises: We speak honestly and are dedicated to doing the right thing by upholding ethical standards and following through on our commitments to our teams, our customers, and our business.
• Win as a Team: We believe in the power of collaboration, uniting our diverse strengths while working hand‑in‑hand with our team members and customers to unlock potential and achieve stronger results together.
• Advance a Safer Future: We are committed to innovating more effective, sustainable, and cost‑efficient food safety solutions to develop a safer world for all.

WHAT YOU WILL DO:

As a Chemist, you will be a member of our R&D team responsible for providing support for our chemical product manufacturing facilities (internal and external) as well as contribute to and drive key innovation projects, and for enhancing existing solutions through continuous improvement in areas such as cleaning solutions, sanitizers, processing aids, and antimicrobial interventions.

This role is mulitdisciplinary in nature and will require the ability to work in a laboratory setting as well as across the boundaries of processing, distribution, chemistry, and dispensing/control solutions in multiple customer applications such as conveyor lubricants, animicrobials, CIP, environmental cleaning, animal health, and direct food contact applications.

The successful candidate will be able to gather information from multiple sources and arrive at cost effective solutions to provide quality products for the Safe Foods portfolio of offerings. You should be a self-starter with the ability to work independently as well as in a team environment, and an individual of high integrity and character with a proven record of creativity and innovation:

• Conceptualize new sanitation/intervention formulations through public domain literature research.
• Design and execute experiments to produce new chemical formulations.
• Design and execute process improvement experiments for existing sanitation/interventions and manufacturing processes.
• Assist in product quality investigations that resulting in reworking plans or specification updates as part of the CAPA process
• Works cooperatively with manufacturing plants, distributors, engineering, supply chain, procurement, R&D, and quality assurance in the transfer of new products to commercialization
• Drives new product development projects from ideation to commercialization as assigned.
• Apply scientific skill to solve complex problems utilizing knowledge of Safe Foods & Fortrex customers and markets
• Prepares and tests chemical product formulations utilizing appropriate SOPs and test methods
• Communicate with field staff and Technical Services on the improvement of existing sanitation/intervention formulations & allocation systems.
• Evaluate and approve new raw materials and raw material vendors following appropriate SOPs
• Review and author technical reports, process and packaging specifications, recommend product quality enhancements, and commercialization materials
• Perform any other related duties as required or assigned.

YOUR MUST HAVES:

• Must be 18 years of age or older.
• Bachelors degree in chemistry, biology, microbiology, or engineering (chemical, biochemical, materials) or other related scientific field
• 1-3 years of related experience in a research and development, product development, and/or laboratory setting

WHAT WE PREFER YOU HAVE:

• Advanced technical degree in a related scientific field and < 2 years experience
• Self-motivated, able to work proactively and independently in a fast paced environment
• Experience with project management
• Familiarity with food safety and or the food manufacturing industry
• Experience working with cross-functional teams
• Familiarity with working in a GLP