Senior Food Scientist

Ripple Foods; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 105,000 - 135,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

On-site lab days in Austin, TX

Wellness stipend

Unlimited Everyday Dose products

Career path

Job summary

Everyday Dose is seeking a Senior Food Scientist to lead benchtop formulation and product development for functional beverages. You will own end-to-end formulation, from prototype through stability validation and production readiness, collaborating with the CEO and cross-functional teams.

You will design coffee bases, evaluate flavor, solubility, mouthfeel, and ingredient compatibility, while integrating functional stacks and sensory data into practical formulations.

Qualifications

• 4–6 years hands-on formulation and product development in functional food, beverage, or dietary supplement R&D.
• Delivered 2–3 commercial CPg SKUs from bench to launch.
• Experience with coffee formulations and functional stacks in beverages.

Responsibilities

• Own benchtop formulation & product development from prototype to production-ready.
• Develop coffee bases across SKUs evaluating flavor, solubility, mouthfeel and compatibility.
• Formulate around functional ingredient constraints with carrier systems.
• Design stability and sensory studies and interpret results for decisions.
• Support cost optimization without compromizing sensory or function.
• Maintain formulation records and documentation standards across bench.

Skills

Formulation & product development

Coffee formulation

Functional ingredients in wellness

Flavor & sweetening systems

Analytical mindset

Sensory evaluation

Independent project ownership

Documentation discipline

Startup environment adaptability

Education

Food science degree preferred

Tools

COAs

Nutritional analysis

Job description

About Everyday Dose

Everyday Dose is redefining the daily coffee ritual. Our mushroom + collagen coffee blend helps people feel focused, calm, and energized without the jitters, crashes, or gut issues of traditional coffee. We’re a fast-growing functional wellness brand with a loyal DTC customer base, an expanding retail footprint, and an innovation pipeline that's rewriting the rules of what a coffee company can make. We’re building an R&D bench to develop the next generation of functional products and we need someone who is as obsessed with the science of how something works as they are with how it tastes.

THE ROLE

We’re hiring a Senior Food Scientist to work directly with the CEO and lead the development of new functional beverage formulations from benchtop through commercialization. This is a science-forward role with full ownership of the formulation work — analytical rigor, sensory methodology, and ingredient functionality are the core of the job, and you’ll set the technical direction for how we formulate.

Coffee formulation, sweetener systems, and flavor systems experience is a meaningful differentiator. We work extensively with complex functional stacks layered into coffee systems, and we need someone who understands the sensory, solubility, and stability challenges that come with that.

This role owns formulation end-to-end. Regulatory, co‑manufacturer management, and quality assurance are partnered functions — your bench is the center of gravity, not a service desk. As we grow the team, this seat will mentor junior food scientists and lab technicians and define what good looks like across the bench.

A food science degree is preferred but not required. Demonstrated bench experience, shipped products, and functional beverage expertise are what we’re actually evaluating.

What You’ll Do

Benchtop Formulation & Product Development

• Own new functional beverage formulations end-to-end: first prototype through stability-validated, production-ready formula. You drive the technical direction on each project, not just execute against a brief
• Develop and iterate on coffee bases across multiple SKUs: evaluate flavor profile, solubility, mouthfeel, and ingredient compatibility
• Formulate around functional ingredient constraints with a rigorous understanding of how each interacts with a particular carrier system
• Determine functional performance and sensory properties of ingredients in finished products using established analytical and sensory evaluation tools
• Identify and execute cost optimization opportunities across formulations without compromising sensory or functional integrity
• Build and maintain version-controlled formulation records: batch sheets, trial reports, experimental write-ups, taste evaluation records, and handover documents — and set the documentation standard the rest of the bench follows

Analytical Testing & Stability

• Design and execute shelf-life, stability, and oxidation studies across formats and storage conditions, flagging sensory, appearance, or functional changes over time and making data-driven reformulation recommendations
• Partner with the Quality Manager and external analytical labs to collect data on nutritional content, microbial testing, and packaging compatibility
• Prepare finished good formulas for costing, nutritional analysis, and sensory review, ensuring accuracy of nutrition facts panels and ingredient declarations
• Organize benchtop trials, pilot plant sessions, and shelf-life testing timelines with cross-functional teams

Sensory Evaluation

• Design and run internal sensory panels — blind tastings, triangle tests, paired comparisons — synthesizing feedback into actionable formulation changes
• Evaluate competitive and benchmark products systematically: identify taste, texture, and functional gaps our formulas need to close or beat
• Support consumer lab testing (CLT) programs by preparing samples, documenting protocols, and interpreting sensory results for go/no-go formulation decisions

Ingredient Research & Innovation

• Stay ahead of the functional ingredient landscape — emerging adaptogens, novel delivery formats, clinically-studied actives — and bring validated, evidence-backed ideas to the innovation pipeline
• Source and evaluate new ingredients: pulling COAs, reviewing third-party clinical data, confirming certifications, and assessing sensory impact in finished product
• Conduct competitive benchmarking and ingredient research to identify formulation white space and emerging category trends
• Co-lead new product ideation with the CEO, contributing both scientific rigor and sensory instinct to early-stage innovation

Technical Leadership

• Set the technical bar for formulation work across the bench. As we add junior scientists and lab technicians, mentor them on methodology, documentation, and sensory craft
• Communicate project status, formulation decisions, and technical tradeoffs clearly to the CEO and cross-functional stakeholders. Make the call when the call needs to be made
• Travel as needed to partners for innovation sessions and prototype trials
• Maintain GMP in laboratory and pilot settings; perform all activities safely and in compliance with food safety standards

Requirements

WHAT YOU BRING

• 4-6 years of hands‑on formulation and product development experience in functional food, beverage, or dietary supplement R&D — and a track record of personally shipping at least 2-3 commercial CPG SKUs from bench through launch
• Coffee formulation experience: you understand sensory profile differences between arabica and robusta, spray-dried vs. freeze-dried instant, and you know how to build functional stacks around a coffee base without wrecking the flavor
• Working knowledge of functional ingredients in wellness beverages: mushroom extracts, adaptogens, collagen peptides, L-theanine, amino acids, and solubility-enhancing systems (lecithins, cyclodextrins, emulsifiers)
• Flavor and sweetening systems experience to compete with the best of them and bring delicious, functional products to market
• Strong analytical mindset: you can design a shelf-life study, interpret lab data, and turn sensory panel results into a clear formulation decision — and explain the reasoning to a non-scientist
• Exceptional sensory evaluation skills. You can taste something and articulate precisely what's off and why, beyond "it doesn't taste good."
• Independent project ownership: you can take a fuzzy brief, scope it, design the work, and drive it to a commercial‑ready finish without being project‑managed
• Organized and documentation‑disciplined: formulation records, trial reports, experimental write‑ups, and version tracking are non‑negotiable parts of how you work, not afterthoughts
• Comfortable in a fast‑paced startup environment: fast timelines, shifting priorities, high bar for both taste and function, and genuine ownership of your work

Who Thrives In This Role

You get genuinely annoyed when a functional product doesn't taste good. You believe taste and function are not a tradeoff — they're a design challenge. You can hold a sensory opinion and an ingredient science perspective in the same conversation without losing either one.

You have opinions about coffee. You know the difference between a formula that's technically correct and one that's actually great. You're the person who brings samples to team meetings without being asked, because you want real feedback from real people, not just data from a lab report.

You're data‑driven but not data‑dependent. You can design a study to answer a question rigorously, and you can also make a good call based on sensory instinct when the situation calls for it. You document both, own both, and follow up on both.

You want to build a bench, not just sit on one. This is an early R&D seat — you'll set how things run, what gets measured, and how junior people get trained when we hire them.

Preferred, Not Required

• M.S. in Food Science, Food Engineering, Nutrition, Chemistry, or a related field. B.S. with deep bench experience is genuinely accepted — this is not a box‑checking requirement
• Hands‑on experience with sensory panel methodology: panel design, triangle tests, ballot construction, and data analysis
• Experience writing or reviewing regulatory‑facing documentation: nutrition facts panels, ingredient declarations, and functional claim substantiation
• Experience with stability and oxidation studies, and working knowledge of accelerated shelf-life testing methodologies
• Prior experience as the first or second R&D hire at an early-stage CPG brand

Benefits

• Competitive salary commensurate with experience
• Wellness stipend + unlimited Everyday Dose products
• On‑site lab days in Austin, TX with hybrid flexibility
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage
• A small team where your scientific contributions are visible and valued
• Lunch provided Monday‑Friday when in office
• Career path