FOOD SCIENTIST II-OPTIMIZATION

Purpose and Scope/General Summary

As a Food Scientist II, you will be responsible for the development of new products and improvement of existing products. You will engage in customer and cross-functional conversations related to product development, working closely with Operations, Operational Excellence (OE), Research and Optimization (R&O), Quality Assurance (QA), Category Marketing, Culinary, Innovation, Regulatory, Procurement, and Sales teams to drive execution of the Fresh and Prepared Poultry strategies.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with operations and OE teams to optimize marination processes which maximize yield and product quality.
• Participate in raw material improvements initiatives for prepared food products related to quality, yield, and specification adherence.
• Research and evaluate new equipment, processes, and technologies that can improve product quality and process efficiencies, collaborating with operations, QA, and regulatory teams to validate and implement.
• Lead and execute pilot projects for new technologies, analyzing results and making recommendations for full-scale implementation.
• Analyze processing data, cook yields, slicing yields, and formulation costs to identify improvement opportunities.
• Work closely with product development, operations, and QA teams to address specification and process-related quality or yield issues and implement corrective actions, working with product developers as needed to execute.
• Lead cross-departmental projects and initiatives, fostering a collaborative and continuous improvement environment.
• Mentor and develop R&D team members on best practices related to poultry marination and further processing and the use of functional ingredients in product development.
• Provide technical expertise and support to other departments as needed.
• Ability to travel up to 50% of the time.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Meat Science, Poultry Science, Animal Science, Engineering, or related fieldstrongly preferred.
• BS & 5-7 years of relevant experiencestrongly preferred.
• MS & 3-5 years of relevant experiencestrongly preferred.
• Experience working in food manufacturing facility, operations, or continuous improvementstrongly preferred.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills.
• Well-versed in Project Management Systems and Recipe Development (e.g., SAP).
• Strong knowledge of USDA and/or FDA guidelines.
• Proficient in Microsoft Excel, Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, and Microsoft TEAMS / Cisco Webex.