Product Development Scientist – Food Innovation & Lab R&D

Kraft Heinz; Illinois; Hybrid; USD 69,000 - 86,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical

Dental

Vision

Prescription Drug

401k

Flexible Work Arrangements

Paid Time Off

Wellbeing Programs

Employee Assistance Program

Job summary

Kraft Heinz is seeking an Associate Scientist for Away From Home and KHI Product Development in Glenview, IL. The role focuses on research-based development, prototype testing, and commercialization across multiple projects in a fast-paced environment.

The ideal candidate brings a strong technical foundation, effective communication skills, and comfort with traveling up to 30%. Hybrid in-office schedule with regular cross-functional teamwork is expected.

Qualifications

• Good communication, critical thinking, and investigation skills.
• Self-starter with a passion to learn is a must.
• Handle multiple assignments/tasks concurrently with the ability to question the priority of work.
• Strong understanding of Design of Experiments.
• Willingness to travel 30% pending business needs.
• B.S. degree in Food, Dairy, Meat Science or Chemical Engineering or equivalent.
• Internship or Co-op Experience in the food or consumer products industry preferred.

Responsibilities

• Conduct benchtop experiments in the lab to support innovation, renovation, and brand maintenance work across the Away From Home and KHI business.
• Test new and existing products for flavor, texture, color, nutritional content, shelf-life, and adherence to government and industry standards.
• Support development and commercialization of new products, renovation of existing products, ingredient evaluation, and cost savings initiatives across the business.
• Work collaboratively with Packaging, Quality, Operations, Project Management, Marketing, and Sales to scope, support, and implement projects that meet business objectives.
• Support activities such as feasibility assessments, prototype development, costing, supervision of factory trials, development of recipe and factory documentation, recipe and label development, technical approval, shelf-life assessments, and technical support for initial factory production.
• Support pilot plant and manufacturing scale-up of formulas.
• Help progress projects from ideation through commercialization, from benchtop samples to final production and from raw material to finished product specification.
• Support multiple product development assignments concurrently to meet R&D timelines and business needs.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to advance projects, resolve technical issues, and support business continuity.
• Conduct lab, pilot plant, and manufacturing trials to optimize formulations and processing systems.
• Maintain high-quality technical documentation and specifications that support consistent product execution.
• Demonstrate flexibility and willingness to learn new categories, technologies, and processing areas in support of business needs.

Skills

Good communication

Critical thinking

Investigation skills

Self-starter

Multi-tasking

Design of Experiments

Willingness to travel

Education

B.S. in Food, Dairy, Meat Science or Chemical Engineering

Internship or Co-op in food/CP industry

Job description

Kraft Heinz is seeking an Associate Scientist for Away From Home and KHI Product Development in Glenview, IL. The role focuses on research-based development, prototype testing, and commercialization across multiple projects in a fast-paced environment.

The ideal candidate brings a strong technical foundation, effective communication skills, and comfort with traveling up to 30%. Hybrid in-office schedule with regular cross-functional teamwork is expected.