Senior Food Scientist

McClancy Foods & Flavors

Fort Mill (SC)

On-site

USD 85,000 - 100,000

Full time

6 days ago

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Benefits offered by this job

Competitive pay

Comprehensive benefits program

PTO & Vacation time off

NO LAYOFFS DURING PANDEMIC

Job summary

McClancy Foods & Flavors is seeking a Senior Food Scientist to lead development, optimization, and commercialization of dry blends, seasonings, sauces, batters, and breaders. The role blends bench-top formulation with plant-scale commercialization and requires collaboration with Sales, Marketing, Quality, Operations, and customers to drive innovative, high-quality products.

The ideal candidate will have strong formulation expertise, problem-solving skills, and be able to translate prototypes

Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in a food science/related applied science field.
7+ years in developing and commercializing seasonings, sauces, batters, or meat systems.
Ability to translate bench-scale work to commercial manufacturing processes.

Responsibilities

Lead development of new products and reformulations in dry blends, seasonings, sauces, batters, and breaders.
Design experiments to improve flavor, texture, shelf life, and cost efficiency.
Ensure products meet customer specs, regulatory standards, and margin objectives.
Collaborate with Operations and Quality to implement new products and processes.
Manage multiple projects with timelines and cross-functional coordination.

Skills

Proactive thinking

Organizational skills

Communication skills

Presentation skills

Microsoft Office

Technical writing

Taste and aroma discernment

Seasoning blends & flour bases

Multitasking

Education

B.S. in Food Science/related field

Tools

Microsoft Office

Job description

McClancy Foods & Flavors (“McClancy” or the “Company”) is a privately-held, manufacturer of blends, spices, and seasoning mixes for foodservice, commercial and retail customers. For almost 70 years, the Company has worked with national, international, regional, and local customers in a variety of industries to create formulations and food products that will nourish, delight, and exceed expectations of families across the globe.

The Company is headquartered in Fort Mill, SC near Charlotte, NC. For additional information, please visit http://www.mcclancy.com/.

Build a great career with a great manufacturing company in the Carolinas!

Position Summary:

The Senior Food Scientist is responsible for leading the development, optimization, and commercialization of food products and ingredient systems, with primary emphasis on dry blends, seasonings, sauces, breaders, batters, and related value-added food solutions. This role combines hands-on bench-top formulation work with plant-scale commercialization activities to deliver innovative, high-quality products that meet customer requirements, regulatory standards, and operational objectives.

The Senior Food Scientist serves as a technical expert and project leader, collaborating closely with Sales, Marketing, Quality, Operations, Procurement, and customers to drive product innovation and continuous improvement initiatives. The successful candidate will possess strong formulation expertise, problem-solving capabilities, and experience translating bench-scale prototypes into successful commercial manufacturing processes.

Salary Band: 85k - 100k

Description of Duties:

Product Development & Formulation

Lead the development of new products and reformulation of existing products within dry blend, seasoning, sauce, batter, and breading categories.
Design and execute experimental trials to improve flavor, texture, functionality, shelf life, and cost efficiency.
Develop products that align with customer specifications, processing capabilities, regulatory requirements, and margin objectives.
Conduct competitive product evaluations, benchmarking, and ingredient assessments.
Maintain accurate formulation records, project documentation, and technical reports
Lead scale-up activities from laboratory prototypes through pilot and commercial production.
Collaborate with Operations and Quality teams to ensure successful implementation of new products and processes.
Support first production runs, process validations, and manufacturing troubleshooting efforts.
Evaluate processing parameters and identify opportunities to improve product consistency, yield, efficiency, and quality.
Develop manufacturing instructions, process specifications, and product standards.

Technical Leadership

Serve as the technical lead for assigned customer and innovation projects.
Provide scientific and technical guidance to junior scientists, technicians, and cross-functional teams.
Present technical findings, recommendations, and project updates to leadership and customers.Participate in customer meetings and support technical presentations and product demonstrations.

Quality, Regulatory & Compliance

Ensure all formulations meet food safety, regulatory, labeling, and customer requirements.
Work closely with Quality and Regulatory teams to support product documentation and ingredient approvals.
Assist with shelf-life studies, stability testing, and sensory evaluations.
Support continuous improvement initiatives related to quality systems and product performance.

Project Management

Manage multiple projects simultaneously while meeting timelines and business objectives.
Develop project plans, milestones, and resource requirements.
Coordinate activities across departments to ensure timely product launches and customer responsiveness

Essential Skills and Experience:

B.S. in Food Science, Food Engineering, or related Applied Sciences
7+ years’ experience developing and commercializing seasonings, sauces, batter/breaders, meat systems, or other related food industry development. Culinary experience is a plus.
High degree of proactive thinking, great organizational skills, strong communication, and presentation skills.
High proficiency in Microsoft-based applications.
Ability to quantitatively write and review technical procedures and regulations.
Must be able to accurately taste and smell flavor profiles and food products.
Must be able to mix and compound seasoning blends and flour bases.
Self-directed, detail-oriented, extremely adept at managing multiple projects simultaneously, delivering results while overcoming obstacles, and enjoying working in a fast-paced environment.

Physical demands and work environment

The physical demands and work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee must meet to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Physical demands

While performing the duties of this job, the associate is occasionally required to stand, sit, usehands to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools, or controls; reach with hands and arms; climb stairs; balance; stoop; kneel, crouch, or crawl; talk or hear; taste or smell.The associate must occasionally lift and /or move up to 30 pounds.Specific vision abilities required by the job include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to focus.

Work Environment:

While performing the duties of the job, the associate is exposed to a normal office atmosphere as well as laboratory ingredient dust, aromas, and noise.

So why pick McClancy? We offer: