Senior Seafood R&D Scientist & Product Innovator

Trident-Seafood; Motley (MN); On-site; USD 95,000 - 135,000; Full time

Job summary

Trident Seafoods in Motley, Minnesota is seeking a Senior Food Technologist to lead R&D projects in our Alaska seafood category, developing new formulations and processes with world‑class scientists and chefs.

This role drives end‑to‑end product development from concept to commercialization, collaborates with suppliers, validates shelf‑life and labeling, and guides junior team members to deliver innovative, high‑quality products.

Qualifications

• A minimum of 8 years of experience in food science, manufacturing, or a related field.
• A bachelor’s degree in food science or a related field; or the equivalent combination of education and years of experience.
• A master’s degree in food science or a related field; or the equivalent combination of education and years of experience.
• Strong working knowledge of the scientific methods, ingredients, product formulation and food processing to support best in class development of new, innovative food products.
• Strong knowledge of labeling requirements to review nutritional and ingredient statements and recommend changes when required.
• Strong working knowledge of product development and commercialization requirements, including cooking instructions validation, shelf-life testing and record keeping.

Responsibilities

• Leads end-to-end product development and product renovation projects in the assigned product category.
• Collaborates with ingredient suppliers on new designs, ingredient improvements, and cost optimizations.
• Constantly tracks new functional or other new ingredient options for unique finished product attributes, product improvement and cost reduction opportunities.
• Supports and guides other R&D members on innovation and process & product improvement projects.
• Contributes to New Product Development (NPD) creative exploration (10% of job scope), creates innovation work plan in the assigned category, execution and follow up.
• Leads, initiates, produces, and supplies product samples designed to meet project scope.
• Efficiently leads R&D projects in the assigned project category through all the project development stages and commercialization.
• Creates R&D specifications and documents all tests (lab and plant trials); compiles and records testing data and charts for ingredient performance, production test information/ summary and on-going projects.
• Initiates, performs, and provides guidance in bench top research and evaluation of new ingredients and product formulations, planning lab experiments, shelf-life testing and production trials.
• Leads sensory evaluations, product cuttings / presentations to various vendors and customer groups, introducing or re-acquainting them to specific products, ingredient features, benefits, requirements, and application techniques.

Skills

Food science

Product development

NPD

Shelf-life testing

Project leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in food science

Master's degree in food science

Tools

MS Office

PowerPoint

Database Management

Job description

Trident Seafoods in Motley, Minnesota is seeking a Senior Food Technologist to lead R&D projects in our Alaska seafood category, developing new formulations and processes with world‑class scientists and chefs.

This role drives end‑to‑end product development from concept to commercialization, collaborates with suppliers, validates shelf‑life and labeling, and guides junior team members to deliver innovative, high‑quality products.