Principal Scientist x 2

Kraft Heinz; Warrendale (Allegheny County); On-site; USD 130,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Kraft Heinz is seeking a Principal Scientist in R&D to lead Product Development within the Sauces & Condiments platform. You will drive numerous emulsified product initiatives across our Retail business, providing leadership and execution across platforms.

You will collaborate cross-functionally, influence strategic decisions, and manage testing at plant scale. A strong background in food science/engineering and experience with DoE is required, along with travel readiness.

Qualifications

• BS in Food Science or related field with 7+ years commercializing products end-to-end in food/CPG, or MS/PhD with 3+ years experience.
• Strong knowledge of ingredients, interactions, and lab methods.
• Executional excellence, leadership, and customer focus.
• Self-motivated problem solver delivering objectives in complex environments.
• Experience designing experiments and interpreting results (DOE).
• Excellent communication, influencing, and project management skills.
• Ability to lead, coach, and motivate teams.
• Willingness to travel ~30% (US/Canada).

Responsibilities

• Lead product development across multiple projects with cross-functional teams.
• Learn new product categories and translate research findings to teams.
• Manage product testing and qualification with lab and production partners.
• Define and ensure raw material and final product specs for quality and safety.
• Develop technical timelines, assess risks, and communicate status clearly.
• Prioritize multiple projects and resolve conflicts in business initiatives.
• Mentor and collaborate with colleagues across functions.
• Travel to internal plants, co-manufacturers, and suppliers when needed.

Skills

Product development leadership

Emulsions & sauces

DOE (Design of Experiments)

Food safety & quality

Project management

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication & influence

Multi-tasking in complex projects

Education

BS in Food Science / related field

MS or PhD with 3+ years emulsion/Sauce exp

Job description

This is a Research and Development (R&D) role leading Product Development initiatives within the Sauces & Condiments technical platform. The role offers a variety of businesses to support across our emulsified product lines, as well as the broader Sauces & Condiments categories for our Retail business. The Principal Scientist is expected to provide leadership for and execution of projects across platforms. The candidate should have a proven record of executing work plans and driving for results in a variety of challenging and complex settings, across multiple categories.

Success in the role requires cross-functional collaboration, strategic influence, problem solving, and prioritization to lead multiple projects simultaneously. Successful candidates will have a technical background in food science / engineering, demonstrate strength in the commercialization process, proven ability to design product testing at plant scale, a growth mindset, and powerful teamwork skills.

Key Components of the Role

• Work with cross-functional teams acting as the lead product developer to drive execution across multiple projects
• Demonstrates the willingness/ability to learn new product categories
• Translate research findings and communicate to cross-functional teams
• Manage and execute product testing and qualification while working closely with cross-functional team members in laboratory and production environments
• Collaborate with teams to understand and ensure product quality and food safety requirements are defined and delivered through the completion of raw material, finished product specifications that deliver consistent, high-quality products
• Run technical timelines, provide clear and timely communication, complete risk assessments, raise issues, and develop contingency plans demonstrating strong project management skills
• Manage multiple projects concurrently and possess the ability to call out priority conflicts between a variety of business initiatives
• Mentor, coach and collaborate with other colleagues within and outside of your immediate team

Qualifications:

• BS in Food Science, Chemical Engineering, Biochemistry, Microbiology, Agricultural Science with minimum of 7 years of experience successfully commercializing products end-to-end in the food or CPG industry or minimum 5 years’ experience with Master’s Degree or PhD with 3 years that includes the following: Sauce, dressings, emulsion based product experience is required
• Strong understanding of key subject matter in areas such as ingredients, ingredient interactions, and food product laboratory test methods
• Executional excellence, personal leadership and customer focus a must
• Self-motivated problem solver and the drive to deliver objectives in a complex environment
• The ability to plan, put together well thought out design of experiments, anticipate next steps and incorporate course corrections when hurdles appear
• Excellent communication, influencing, project management and problem-solving skills
• Ability to lead, coach and motivate others
• Highly motivated and ability to multi-task complex projects
• Manage multiple projects concurrently with the ability to question the priority of work
• Strong understanding of Design of Experiments
• Willingness to travel 30%. Travel could include (but not limited to): United States and Canada to internal plants, co-manufacturers, and suppliers