Food Scientist

Mindlance; Englewood Cliffs (NJ); On-site; USD 61,992 - 68,880; Full time

Job summary

A leading food industry firm is looking for an R&D Research Scientist in Englewood Cliffs, NJ. The successful candidate will leverage consumer technical insights to drive product development and enhance consumer experiences. You'll be responsible for crafting research strategies, analyzing sensory data, and collaborating with diverse teams. This position demands a minimum of a BS or MS in a relevant field, along with 3+ years of experience in sensory science. A passion for food and innovation is essential. The role offers a competitive contract rate and potential for extension.

Qualifications

• Minimum 3 years in Consumer insights, sensory science or related fields.
• Experience in sensory research and claims testing.
• Excellent communication skills to present insights.

Responsibilities

• Design and execute consumer technical test plans.
• Analyze sensory data to drive product insights.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to align on objectives.

Skills

Psychological principles application

Statistical knowledge

Analytical thinking

Creative thinking

Communication skills

Education

BS or MS degree in a related field

Job description

Base pay range

$45.00/hr - $50.00/hr

Direct message the job poster from Mindlance

Title

R&D Research Scientist

Location

Englewood Cliffs, NJ

Duration

6+ months with possible extension

Job Purpose

*** is the place where you can bring your purpose to life with the work that you do - creating a better business, better world and improving everyday living. If you are a food enthusiast and have a strong passion for developing, executing and driving consumer technical insight (CTI)/Product Research and sensory evaluation program, this role is perfect for you to drive your career passion. This position will include but not limited to leveraging global and regional market and product insight, science/technology facts to deliver the unmissable superiority in product, packaging and proposition. This role would include strong partnership with your cross functional team to deliver the brand’s program and business objectives.

Who You Are & What You’ll Do

• You’re a born leader: Proactive self-direction with a high level of initiative and persistence and a hands‑on approach to results delivery.
• You’re a dot connector: This position works in strong collaboration with boarder R&D teams. Marketing - Consumer Market Insight, Brand, Customer Development, Legal, etc.
• You’re a changemaker: Ability to identify and address emerging issues as well as set and manage priorities and continuously improve Consumer Insight Technical CTI (Product Research) process and practices.
• You love to win and have fun doing it: You have a passion for food and product quality and extremely operator/customer focused.
• You’re a storyteller: The position requires adapting consumer/technical information to communicate results with other cross‑functional team members such as marketing, Customer development, nutrition as well as others.
• You’re a paradox navigator: The position requires application of technical knowledge some scientific methodologies to drive design of experiments for various projects.

Key Responsibilities

A key responsibility in a strong Consumer Technical Insight (CTI) role is to serve as the connective thread between consumer (chef/operator) needs, technical expertise, and business strategy, working across US partners in marketing, CMI and R&D.

This means:

• Designing and implementing robust sensory and consumer research that uncovers actionable insights, then translating those findings into clear recommendations for product development in superiority and new growth opportunities.
• Develop and execute consumer technical test plan including sensory or consumer product and packaging testing to identify targets for designing superior products and evaluation of their delivery.
• Define or contribute to the CI plan for innovation, strategic or competitive benchmarking exercises to ensure relevant key attributes are at the heart of design and evaluation.
• Analyze operator and sensory data to draw out big consumer insights and identify key measures for driving superior product designs and evaluation including Structure Team Assessments.
• Implement CTI operator/functionality/performance best practice, techniques and processes.
• Story telling – lead and co‑author strategic KBS (Knowledge Based Story) that lands superiority and support Superiority roadmap.
• Support claims strategy through conducting claims workshops, claims support testing, craft compelling knowledge‑based selling (KBS) narrative by identifying the most effective ways to highlight and elevate product superiority in alignment with brand strategy.

What You Need to Succeed

• Keep the operator at the core of every initiative, ensuring their needs are perspectives guide the product development process.
• Display curiosity and enthusiasm for food and emerging dishes, diet, health trends.
• Partner closely with brand marketing. Consumer & Market insight (CMI) and the R&D– development team to define outstanding, compelling claims and KBS.
• Manage or support execution of relevant operator, sensory or claims testing; interpret results, identify key insights and efficiently cascade key findings/learnings.
• Create exciting technical communications, visuals and demos that bring technologies and innovations to life. Co create KBS, demos for sales team and other activations tools.
• Understand the needs and attitudes of operators we serve, to connect them with relevance and brand tone of voice in all aspects of claims and communications.
• Write research study brief and execute studies; work closely with internal functions and external vendors (3rd parties) to ensure execution with excellence.

Experiences & Qualifications

• Must have at minimum a BS or MS degree in psychology, nutrition, sensory science, food science, physical science, marketing/market research or related scientific discipline.
• Minimum 3 years in Consumer/chef/operators/dining insights, sensory Science with experience in conducting sensory research, consumer qualitative, quantitative and claims research (in Client with B2B is a plus).
• Minimum of 2 years of experience within a category R&D function, Knowledge of the category or other food‑based business, Consumer Technical Insight functional and performance experience.
• Experience in B2B with chef, operators and dining experience and product functionality insight.
• Excellent communication skills (oral and written) to bring consumer(operator)/sensory insights to life for multi‑functional audiences in a clear and engaging way.
• Strong planning, organizational and attention to details in execution of CTI research and roadmap.
• Ability to identify the needs of technical projects and create insight programs for delivery.
• Application of psychological principles to define operator insight research activities.
• Have statistical knowledge and ability to interpret data.
• Analytical thinking with an ability to identify patterns within data.
• Creative thinking to support the development of new ideas and how to showcase product superiority.
• Up to 25% travel required.

EEO

“Mindlance is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate in employment on the basis of – Minority/Gender/Disability/Religion/LGBTQI/Age/Veterans.”

Seniority level

Associate

Employment type

Contract

Job function

Research and Manufacturing

Industries

• Food and Beverage Services
• Food and Beverage Manufacturing
• Food and Beverage Retail