Product Development Formulator, Business Sustaining

Nordic Naturals; Vista (CA); Hybrid; USD 96,000 - 107,000; Full time

Job summary

Nordic Naturals in Vista, CA is seeking a Product Development Formulator, Business Sustaining to own and advance the existing product portfolio. You will lead formulation qualification, ensure regulatory alignment, and drive cross‑functional coordination with Operations, Supply Chain, QA, and PD Engineering.

Responsibilities include evaluating alternate materials, performing reformulations for accuracy and manufacturability, and maintaining rigorous documentation across sustaining activities.

Qualifications

• BS in food science, chemistry, biology, pharmaceutical engineering, or related field required.
• Minimum 4 years’ experience in dietary supplement (capsules, soft gels, liquids, powders, gummies, and/or nutrition bars) or related field.
• Knowledge of Food & Supplement regulations (including DSHEA, FD&C Act Section 21 CFR 111) is preferred.
• Ability to work cross functionally with many different departments and various skill levels.
• Ability to read and interpret documents such as SOPs and regulations.

Responsibilities

• Lead qualification of alternate raw materials, ingredients, and components through technical evaluation, vendor documentation review, and cross‑functional alignment.
• Execute compliance‑driven, supply‑driven, and optimization‑driven reformulations, ensuring nutritional accuracy, regulatory alignment, and manufacturability.
• Conduct impact assessments for formulation or material changes and recommend corrective actions.
• Partner with Operations and Supply Chain to troubleshoot material variability, and manufacturability challenges.
• Collaborate with QA to address deviations, non‑conformances, and specification gaps; contribute to root cause analysis and corrective action plans.
• Support tech transfers by preparing documentation, coordinating cross‑functional alignment, and ensuring formulas and specifications are ready for scale‑up or site changes.

Education

BS in food science, chemistry, biology, pharmaceutical engineering, or related field

Tools

MS Office

Excel

Job description

Product Development Formulator, Business Sustaining

Vista, CA

Location - Remote or On-Site

Salary - 96K - 107K

POSITION SUMMARY

The Product Development Formulator, Business Sustaining owns the technical stewardship of Nordic Naturals’ existing product portfolio, ensuring products remain compliant, manufacturable, cost‑effective, and aligned with brand standards. This role leads qualification of alternate materials, executes reformulations, manages specifications, and drives cross‑functional alignment with Operations, Supply Chain, QA, and PD Engineering. The Formulator is responsible for resolving technical issues, optimizing existing formulas, and maintaining documentation rigor across all sustaining activities. This role is responsible for full ownership of sustaining projects, technical problem solving, and cross‑functional coordination.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

Reasonable Accommodations Statement

To accomplish this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform, with or without reasonable accommodation, each essential function satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to help enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Product Sustainment & Reformulation

• Lead qualification of alternate raw materials, ingredients, and components through technical evaluation, vendor documentation review, and cross‑functional alignment.
• Execute compliance‑driven, supply‑driven, and optimization‑driven reformulations, ensuring nutritional accuracy, regulatory alignment, and manufacturability.
• Conduct impact assessments for formulation or material changes and recommend corrective actions.

Operations, Supply Chain & QA Support

• Partner with Operations and Supply Chain to troubleshoot material variability, and manufacturability challenges.
• Collaborate with QA to address deviations, non‑conformances, and specification gaps; contribute to root cause analysis and corrective action plans.
• Support tech transfers by preparing documentation, coordinating cross‑functional alignment, and ensuring formulas and specifications are ready for scale‑up or site changes.

Specifications, Documentation & Change Control

• Develop, refine, and maintain ingredient, component, and finished product specifications with high accuracy and clarity.
• Manage change submissions, document revisions, and approval workflows within PLM and related systems.
• Ensure documentation integrity and traceability across all business‑sustaining activities.
• Identify and implement improvements to documentation workflows, qualification processes, and cross‑functional communication.
• Maintain and enhance PD systems and databases to support efficient sustaining operations.

Cross‑Functional Collaboration

• Serve as a technical liaison between PD Engineering, NPD formulators, Operations, Supply Chain, QA, and Strategic Sourcing.
• Provide structured follow‑up and project coordination to ensure sustaining initiatives progress on schedule.

POSITION QUALIFICATIONS

• BS in food science, chemistry, biology, pharmaceutical engineering, or related field required.
• Minimum 4 years’ experience in dietary supplement (capsules, soft gels, liquids, powders, gummies, and/or nutrition bars) or related field.
• Must be able to read and interpret documents such as standard operating procedures, and regulations.
• Must be able to work cross functionally with many different departments and various skill levels.
• Knowledge of Food & Supplement regulations (including DSHEA, FD&C Act Section 21 CFR 111) is preferred.
• Ability to objectively review the primary and secondary scientific literature to help support ingredient or product efficacy and safety is preferred.
• Ability to deal with complex problems with many variables.

Competency Statements

• Positive - Ability to view all situations with a positive attitude.
• Accountable – takes ownership for responsibilities, acknowledges and learns from mistakes
• Innovative - Ability to look beyond the standard solutions and "think outside the box".
• Independent – Must be self‑motivated and able to manage obligations without direct supervision
• Assertiveness - Ability to act in a self‑confident manner to facilitate completion of a work assignment or to defend a position or idea.
• Communication - Ability to communicate effectively with others using spoken and written word clearly and concisely.
• Customer Oriented - Ability to take care of the customers’ needs while following company procedures.
• Enthusiastic - Ability to bring energy to the performance of a task.
• Self‑Motivated - Ability to be internally inspired to perform a task to the best of one’s ability using his or her own drive or initiative.

SKILLS & ABILITIES

• Meticulous attention to detail.
• Ability to produce high‑quality work with limited supervision.
• Must possess knowledge pertaining to the nutraceutical industry and must be well versed in a variety of ingredients, their usage, forms, activities and all other relevant characteristics.

Computer Skills:

Must be proficient with MS Office and have advanced Excel skills.

Certifications & Licenses: N/A

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

Physical Demands

Lift/Carry

Stand

O (Occasionally)

Walk

O (Occasionally)

Sit

F (Frequently)

F (Frequently)

O (Occasionally)

Reach Above Shoulder

N (Not Applicable)

Climb

N (Not Applicable)

N (Not Applicable)

Squat or Kneel

O (Occasionally)

O (Occasionally)

10 lbs or less

O (Occasionally)

11-20 lbs

O (Occasionally)

21-50 lbs

O (Occasionally)

51-100 lbs

N (Not Applicable)

Over 100 lbs

N (Not Applicable)

Push/Pull

12 lbs or less

O (Occasionally)

13-25 lbs

O (Occasionally)

26-40 lbs

O (Occasionally)

41‑100 lbs

N (Not Applicable)

N (Not Applicable)

Activity is not applicable to this occupation.

O (Occasionally)

Occupation requires this activity up to 33% of the time (0 - 2.5+ hrs/day)

F (Frequently)

Occupation requires this activity from 33% - 66% of the time (2.5 - 5.5+ hrs/day)

C (Constantly)

Occupation requires this activity more than 66% of the time (5.5+ hrs/day)

Other Physical Requirements

Vision (Near, Distance)

Sense of Sound (ability to hear on the phone)

WORK ENVIRONMENT

Works in a climate-controlled environment