Principal Scientist – Cultured Dairy & Fermentation

Dairy Farmers of America, Inc.; Springfield, Northern (MO, KY); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Dairy Farmers of America, Inc. is seeking a Principal Scientist to lead the development of cultured and fermented dairy products from concept through commercialization.

You will act as a technical expert across culturing, starter cultures, and fermentation, guiding bench to pilot plant scale‑ups for cottage cheese, yogurt, and related products. Responsibilities include mentoring R&D teams, partnering with process technology and operations, and driving speed‑to‑market with a strong emphasis on

Qualifications

• Deep expertise in dairy fermentation science and culture performance.
• Mentor and influence other R&D resources to strengthen technical capability.
• Experience translating bench formulas to scalable processes across plant trials.

Responsibilities

• Lead development of cottage cheese, yogurt, and cultured dairy products from concept to commercialization.
• Serve as technical expert within culturing and fermentation and drive scale‑up.
• Collaborate with engineering, QA, and regulatory teams to ensure safety, quality, and manufacturability.

Skills

Dairy fermentation science

Starter culture performance

Milk and dairy substrate design

Acidification kinetics

Texture development

Education

PhD in Food Science or related

Tools

Pilot-plant equipment

Job description

Responsible for leading the development of cultured and fermented dairy products for the food and dairy industry from concept/opportunity through commercialization, with major emphasis on cottage cheese, yogurt, drinkable yogurt, sour cream, cultured dairy bases, cultured beverages, and related fermentation-enabled dairy platforms. This role serves as a Principal Scientist-level technical expert and go‑to resource within DFA’s culturing and fermentation capability area for critical, complex, and/or high‑profile opportunities. The role requires deep expertise in dairy fermentation science, starter culture selection and performance, milk and dairy substrate design, acidification kinetics, pH control, texture development, curd formation, whey separation, post‑fermentation handling, ingredient interactions, sensory performance, shelf‑life design, food safety by design, and scale‑up across bench, pilot, and manufacturing environments. In addition to hands‑on development, this role contributes to strengthening DFA’s technical capability, mentors and influences other R&D resources, supports development of new capabilities and IP opportunities, narrows the gap from bench to pilot plant to scale‑up, and drives organic growth through monetization, ROI, speed‑to‑market, and successful commercialization of the opportunity and innovation pipeline.

Job Duties and Responsibilities:

Specific to Strategy:

• Develop new cultured and fermented dairy products, including cottage cheese, yogurt, Greek-style yogurt, drinkable yogurt, sour cream, cultured dairy bases, cultured beverages, and related refrigerated dairy systems using DFA’s ingredient options, cultures, processing platforms, Innovation Centers, pilot plants, and manufacturing capabilities.
• Serve as a technical expert and internal go‑to resource within culturing and fermentation, including starter culture performance, strain behavior, acidification kinetics, pH targets, buffering capacity, lactose utilization, flavor development, proteolysis, viscosity, gel structure, syneresis control, curd firmness, curd size, moisture management, and shelf‑life stability.
• Lead cottage cheese development and troubleshooting across formulation, culture selection, coagulation, cutting, cooking, washing, draining, creaming, fruit or inclusion addition, stabilizer systems, salt balance, texture, whey control, microbial quality, packaging, and refrigerated shelf‑life performance.
• Lead yogurt and drinkable yogurt development and troubleshooting across milk standardization, heat treatment, homogenization, culture inoculation, incubation, fermentation endpoint control, smoothing, fruit preparation integration, stabilizer systems, protein fortification, texture, viscosity, flavor, post‑acidification, and shelf‑life performance.
• Utilize DFA’s expansive network and capabilities to enhance the value of DFA’s products and capabilities using a “what can we do with what we have?” mentality.
• Work with engineering, process technology, operations, QA, food safety, regulatory, and R&D leadership to expand DFA’s cultured dairy capabilities through discovery of new technologies, cultures, enzymes, ingredients, equipment, process modifications, formulation design, manufacturing platform development, and capability knowledge‑sharing for the broader team.
• Partner with process technology, engineering, pilot plant, and manufacturing teams to translate bench formulas and fermentation models into scalable processes using appropriate unit operations, including milk standardization, blending, heat treatment, homogenization, inoculation, fermentation, cutting, cooking, washing, draining, cooling, smoothing, filling, packaging, and refrigerated distribution.
• Design and execute bench microbiology, lab‑scale fermentation, pilot plant trials, plant trials, analytical testing, sensory evaluations, shelf‑life studies, and application evaluations to support product development, troubleshooting, and commercialization decisions.
• Diagnose microbial, process, ingredient, and equipment‑related deviations in cultured dairy manufacturing, including slow or fast fermentation, pH drift, post‑acidification, weak body, graininess, bitterness, gas formation, separation, inconsistent curd, texture drift, microbial spoilage, and shelf‑life failures; partner with Operations and R&D to resolve root causes.
• Develop products and processing approaches for refrigerated, ESL, and other relevant cultured dairy systems, ensuring formulation and process decisions support food safety, quality, sensory, shelf‑life, and manufacturability requirements.
• Reformulate products as appropriate to reduce cost, improve margin, strengthen supply continuity, improve manufacturability, support clean‑label objectives, improve nutrition, or improve texture and consumer acceptance, including building least‑cost and flexible formulation models that account for fluctuating commodity markets, culture costs, and raw material availability.
• Perform applications testing that simulates the customer’s end use to ensure the products developed exceed the customer’s expectations for taste, functionality, nutrition, preparation, handling, stability, and consumer experience.
• Utilize sensory science tools, analytical testing, viscosity measurement, pH and titratable acidity tracking, microbiological testing, texture analysis, whey separation testing, shelf‑life studies, and application evaluations to provide data demonstrating that customer expectations are met or exceeded.
• Lead complex bench, pilot plant, and plant testing required to narrow the gap from bench to pilot plant to scale‑up for DFA manufacturing and the end customer, including trial strategy, fermentation models, technical risk assessment, batching instructions, processing parameters, culture handling requirements, critical control points, validation runs, post‑trial learning, and commercialization recommendations.
• Drive commercialization readiness for new cultured dairy products by partnering with process technology, operations, QA/food safety, regulatory, procurement, finance, culture and ingredient suppliers, and customer teams to ensure technical risks are identified, mitigated, documented, communicated, and resolved before plant trials, launch, and post‑launch improvement.
• Support customer scale‑up and commercialization to ensure DFA people, products, and capabilities are part of the scale‑up and launch process.