Food Innovation Scientist — R&D & Product Development

Butterball; Grand Rapids (MI); On-site; USD 75,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Growth & Advancement

Inclusive Culture

Paid Time Off

401(k) with Company Match

Tuition Reimbursement

Access to The Source

Employee Assistance Program

Comprehensive Benefits

Job summary

Butterball Farms seeks a Food Scientist to lead product-development projects from concept to commercialization, providing technical support and ensuring flavor, quality, safety, and cost targets are met.

The role works closely with Sales, Marketing, Operations, Engineering, Purchasing, and Quality to bring new SKUs to market while upholding Butterball Farms’ standards and food-safety culture.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Food Science is required.
• Food Safety Training is preferred.
• Minimum 3 years in Product Development or related discipline.
• Strong knowledge of food science, culinary science, and flavor applications.
• Familiarity with ingredient functions, inventory management, and substitutions.

Responsibilities

• Provide research, data analysis and summary on a variety of projects to assist in the development of potential new products for customers and Butterball Farms.
• Maintain the organization and management of current R&D formulations file and nutritional data base.
• Generate product information and nutritional data on Labelcalc system.
• Submit draft R&D formulations and reformulations to accounting for costing.
• Obtain and utilize working knowledge of current ingredient inventory.
• Accountable for the sample request process from calendar scheduling through sample generation, packaging, and shipping.
• Work with cross-functional teams to commercialize new SKUs, including sourcing of ingredients, ingredient approval, supplier approval, process development, and HACCP integration.
• Ensure an integrated Quality Systems approach to design for food quality and safety.
• Collaborate with engineering and quality/food safety to identify equipment needs for new processes or improvements.

Skills

Food science expertise

Culinary science

Flavor applications

Process & equipment knowledge

cGMPs & food safety

Project management

Cross-functional leadership

Customer-facing communication

Creativity & innovation

Flexibility & teamwork

Food safety culture

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Food Science

Food Safety Training

Minimum 3 years in Product Development

Tools

Labelcalc

PLM

SafetyChain

TraceGains

Repositrak

Rizepoint

Job description

Butterball Farms seeks a Food Scientist to lead product-development projects from concept to commercialization, providing technical support and ensuring flavor, quality, safety, and cost targets are met.

The role works closely with Sales, Marketing, Operations, Engineering, Purchasing, and Quality to bring new SKUs to market while upholding Butterball Farms’ standards and food-safety culture.