Senior Scientist, Cultured Dairy & Fermentation

Dairy Farmers of America; Rochester (MN); On-site; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Dairy Farmers of America seeks a Principal Scientist to lead the development of cultured and fermented dairy products from concept through commercialization. You will serve as a technical expert in fermentation, starter cultures, milk design, acidification kinetics, texture development, and shelf-life design across cottage cheese, yogurt, drinkable yogurt, sour cream, and related platforms.

You will mentor R&D staff, collaborate across engineering, QA, and operations, and drive commercialization

Qualifications

• B.S. degree in Food Science, Dairy Science, Food Microbiology, Dairy Chemistry, Biological Science, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Fermentation Science, or related discipline
• Master's degree or Ph.D. desirable
• 10+ years of industry experience in R&D, product development, applications, formulation, commercialization, cultured dairy, cottage cheese, yogurt, fermentation, dairy microbiology, refrigerated dairy foods, dairy processing, or related food manufacturing environments
• Proven track record in new product development with multiple commercialized cultured dairy products or solutions

Responsibilities

• Develop cultured dairy products from concept to commercialization across cottage cheese, yogurt, sour cream, and cultured beverages
• Lead formulation, culture selection, coagulation, texture, and shelf-life considerations for new products
• Mentor R&D resources and contribute to IP opportunities and capability development
• Collaborate with process technology, operations, QA, regulatory, and sales to scale bench formulas to pilot and manufacturing
• Drive commercialization readiness and speed-to-market for new products

Skills

Dairy fermentation science

Starter culture selection

Acidification kinetics

pH control

Texture development

Shelf-life design

Food safety by design

Scale-up

Mentoring and leadership

Analytical testing

Education

Bachelor's degree in Food Science or related

Master's degree or Ph.D. desirable

Tools

Salesforce

Job description

Dairy Farmers of America seeks a Principal Scientist to lead the development of cultured and fermented dairy products from concept through commercialization. You will serve as a technical expert in fermentation, starter cultures, milk design, acidification kinetics, texture development, and shelf-life design across cottage cheese, yogurt, drinkable yogurt, sour cream, and related platforms.

You will mentor R&D staff, collaborate across engineering, QA, and operations, and drive commercialization