Senior Food Scientist

CareersInFood.com; Florida; On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Vibrant Ingredients is seeking a Senior Scientist to shape the future of premium coffee and tea extraction. You will apply expertise in chemistry and sensory performance to develop scalable ingredient solutions with distinctive flavor and aroma for a range of applications.

This hands-on, visible role requires strong project management and cross-functional collaboration, with travel up to 25%. Bachelor’s degree in a related field and 10+ years of experience are required.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field is required.
• 10 years of experience in the Food Industry with a track record in new product development.
• Experience with coffee/tea/botanical extraction and processing is highly preferred.
• Deep knowledge of manufacturing processes including extraction, filtration, and drying.
• Experience with aqueous extraction and separation technologies such as Spinning Cone column, cold brew coffee, filtration, evaporation, and drying.
• Hands-on experience with different tea and coffee raw materials and their sensory characteristics.
• Excellent technical execution and project management skills.
• Strong communication skills across organization levels.
• Ability to travel up to 25%.

Responsibilities

• Lead formulation and development of coffee and tea extracts and related products.
• Assess existing processes and redefine parameters to balance extraction efficiency with flavor preservation.
• Design benchtop and pilot extraction experiments to study material characteristics and processing parameters.
• Generate technical data and translate results into actionable conclusions.
• Collaborate with sensory teams and conduct sensory evaluations to assess performance.
• Stay current with new technologies and industry trends in tea and coffee ingredients.
• Manage projects to successful outcomes.

Education

Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, or related field

Job description

Founded in 1954, Vibrant Ingredients is committed to providing innovative clean label solutions that naturally provide exceptional food protection, flavor, color and texture for a variety of applications, including processed and cured meat, beverages, plant-based alternatives, health and wellness, culinary, and pet nutrition. Vibrant Ingredients believes in improving the food and beverages we eat and drink with ingredients from nature that work. We are a trusted partner to our customers when it comes to innovation and an industry leader in clean label ingredients, we are a true partner. We collaborate with our customers in ways that respect people and the environment. A commitment to Real. Simple. Better™ drives our innovation team to discover new, on trend solutions.

About the role:

We are seeking a creative and technically accomplished Senior Scientist to help define the future of premium coffee and tea extraction. In this highly visible, hands-on role, you will apply deep expertise in tea and coffee chemistry, sensory performance, and process development to turn complex technical challenges into scalable ingredient solutions with distinctive flavor, aroma, and quality.

How will you contribute:

Essential job functions and duties include, but are not limited to:

• Lead formulation and development of new coffee and tea extracts, concentrates, essences, and other value-added products.
• Conduct systematic technical assessment of existing processes. Redefine process parameters to balance extraction efficiency with preservation of desirable flavor and aroma characteristics.
• Design and execute benchtop and pilot extraction experiments to understand the relationship between raw material characteristics, extraction conditions, processing parameters, and finished product performance.
• Generate high-quality technical data and translate results into clear conclusions and recommendations.
• Work with sensory teams and/or conduct structured sensory evaluations to assess product and process performance.
• Stay current with emerging technologies, competitive products, processing methods, and industry trends related to tea and coffee ingredients.
• Manage and drive projects to a successful outcome.

Minimum Requirements/Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, or related field.
• 10 years of experience in the Food Industry with a proven track record of success in new product development, improving process performance, and product quality.
• Direct experience with coffee/tea/botanical extraction and processing is highly preferred.
• Deep knowledge of manufacturing processes, including extraction, filtration, drying.
• Experience and knowledge of a wide range of aqueous extraction and separation technologies including Spinning Cone column, cold brew coffee, filtration, evaporation, drying.
• Hands on experience working with different tea, coffee raw materials and knowledge of their sensory characteristics and extraction behavior.
• Excellent technical execution and project management skills
• Well-developed communication skills with the ability to communicate effectively throughout all levels of the organization.
• Ability to travel up to 25%
• May involve exposure to allergens such as Soy, Wheat, Fish, Shellfish, Milk, Egg, Tree Nuts and Sesame.