Senior Food Scientist - Beverage & Sweet Products
Location: Chicago, IL, United States
Job Function: Innovation Quality & Food Safety
Req Number: 1164
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Description
We are a global leader in food & beverage ingredients. Pioneers at heart, we operate at the forefront of consumer trends to provide food & beverage manufacturers with products and ingredients that will delight their consumers. Making a positive impact on people and planet is all part of the delight. With a deep-rooted presence in the countries where our ingredients are grown, we are closer to farmers, enabling better quality, and more reliable, traceable and transparent supply. Supplying products and ingredients at scale is just the start. We add value through our unique, complementary portfolio of natural, delicious and nutritious products. With our fresh thinking, we help our customers unleash the sensory and functional attributes of cocoa, coffee, dairy, nuts and spices so they can create naturally good food & beverage products that meet consumer expectations. And whoever we’re with, whatever we’re doing, we always make it real.
Position Summary
Reporting to the Sr. Innovation Manager, the Senior Food Scientist will be responsible for the product development and innovation activities from bench top to scale-up of formulations in the Beverage and Sweet categories, as well as support other innovation application categories. The Senior Food Scientist will work closely with Olam Food Ingredient (OFI) Ingredient and Culinary teams to provide solutions for customer projects. This position will support customers as well as Olam teams on-site or at their facilities within North America.
The ideal candidate for this position will have the ability to work with multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment. They will need to be able to work effectively in a team environment across multiple business units and teams, as well as be a strong individual contributor.
Position Responsibilities
- Perform product development activities focused on beverages and sweet applications such as spreads, syrups, ice cream and other dairy based products.
- Manage the scale-up of bench top formulations to pilot plant and plant trials.
- Collaborate with ingredient specialist in the Cocoa, Nuts, Spices and Coffee teams to design best in class product formulations that exceed customer’s expectation.
- Design formulations for customer and trade show demonstrations that showcase current trends and new ingredient technologies.
- Develop formulations and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that meet the specific sensorial, stability, nutritional and regulatory demands of our customers.
- Conduct routine bench top analytical testing activities and interpret results. Communicate findings with the teams.
- Maintain thorough records of product formulations, specifications, and nutritional calculations in a database, track projects through CRM systems
- Work with the ingredient suppliers to determine optimum ingredients for finished product formulations and evaluate different options on bench top formulas.
- Build insights based on development learnings to accelerate product development timelines.
- Ensure all product developments meet all required food and safety, consumer, and industry standards.
- Scale benchtop products to trial and production quantities. Attend plant-trials and competed relevant documents.
- Ensure all projects are completed within the budget and on time.
- Perform other duties as assigned.
Position Requirements
- Bachelor's Degree in Food Science/Technology, Food Engineering or a related field is required, Master’s degree is preferred.
- Eight (8) years of experience in food science required beverage industry is preferred.
- Experience in the development and launch of beverage products beyond simple prototype development is required. Must understand the impact of plant processing and be able to design formulations accordingly.
- Expertise in product scale-up and commercialization from bench top formulations is required.
- Strong understanding of general sensory testing, including its application to product development, is required.
- Experience with the manufacturing processes, ingredients, and equipment is required.
- Strong written and oral communication and interpersonal skills to effectively work with external customers and colleagues at Olam are required. Ability to communicate effectively with Leadership is required.
- Ability to conduct experimental design tests and accurately report results to management is required.
- Strong computer skills are required. Previous experience in the following systems is desirable: Microsoft office, SAP, CRM, Genesis, etc.
- Ability and willingness to travel 20%- 25%
The pay for this role in the state of Illinois ranges from $101,000 - $126,000 and is based on the position responsibilities and geographic location. Actual pay within this range may be determined based on the candidate's experience, qualifications, and/or other determining factors.
Additional components include but are not limited to:
- Bonus: Eligible for a discretionary performance-based bonus as provided by the plan terms and governing documents
- Benefits: Employees (and their eligible dependents) covered through affordable access to healthcare, protection, and saving for the future
- Well-being: We offer events, resouces and learning opportunities that inspire a physical, social, emotional, and financial well-being lifestyle for our employees and their families
Note: This job description is not intended to be all-inclusive. Employee may perform other related duties as negotiated to meet the ongoing needs of the organization.
ofi provides equality of opportunity for all persons with respect to hiring without discrimination on the grounds of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, age, disability, veteran status, or sexual orientation. All employment will be decided on the basis of qualifications, merit and business need. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, you may contact us for support at: [email protected]
At ofi, we celebrate our diversity. Olam Americas LLC is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.
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