Lead Dairy Formulation & Innovation

Chestnut Labs; Springfield (MO); On-site; USD 170,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Chestnut Labs is seeking a senior leader to drive formulation-driven R&D across priority dairy platforms, translating customer briefs into optimized formulations while advancing IP, cost-out, and commercialization readiness.

You will lead a team through concept-to-pilot development, collaborate with cross-functional partners, and ensure rapid scale-up and monetization of new products in a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

• B.S. degree in Food Science, Dairy Science, Biological Science, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, or related discipline required.
• Master’s degree or Ph.D. is desirable.
• 12+ years of progressive food, dairy, ingredient, or related R&D experience, including leadership.
• Proven track record commercializing new products and improving formulas.
• Willingness to travel 50-75% and interact with senior leadership.

Responsibilities

• Lead formulation development from concept through pilot plant readiness across dairy beverages, cultured systems, sauces, cheese, dry blends, concentrates, flavors, and more.
• Translate briefs into executable formulation plans with success criteria, timelines, risks, and decision points.
• Own ingredient selection, benchtop development, iterative prototyping, and validation.
• Use sensory science, analytical data, and end-use testing to meet taste, nutrition, and shelf-life targets.
• Drive documentation, including formula version control and commercialization readiness inputs.
• Lead cross-functional collaboration to ensure rapid scale-up and successful commercialization.

Skills

Formulation science

Ingredient functionality

Dairy chemistry

Sensory optimization

Applications testing

Commercial product development

Education

B.S. in Food Science or related discipline

Master’s degree desirable

Ph.D. desirable

Tools

CRM/Salesforce

Formula cost modeling tools

Job description

Chestnut Labs is seeking a senior leader to drive formulation-driven R&D across priority dairy platforms, translating customer briefs into optimized formulations while advancing IP, cost-out, and commercialization readiness.

You will lead a team through concept-to-pilot development, collaborate with cross-functional partners, and ensure rapid scale-up and monetization of new products in a fast-paced environment.