PRINCIPAL R&D SCIENTIST-SAUSAGE

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end sausage product development from concept through commercialization, ensuring products meet targets for flavor, texture, yield, shelf life, food safety, and cost.
• Leverage deep expertise in sausage formulation, emulsion systems, ingredient functionality, and processing technologies to optimize products and manufacturing processes.
• Drive innovation and reduce commercialization risk through ingredient research, evaluation of emerging technologies, and data-driven experimentation.
• Lead scale-up, pilot, plant trial, and commercialization activities to successfully transition products from development to full-scale manufacturing.
• Drive manufacturing startups and production ramp-ups, troubleshooting technical and operational challenges to ensure smooth implementation.
• Partner cross-functionally with Operations, Quality, Engineering, Regulatory, Supply Chain, and Commercial teams to deliver successful product launches.
• Support the commissioning, optimization, and scalability of new equipment, processing systems, and manufacturing capabilities while ensuring technical readiness throughout development.
• Serve as the technical authority for sausage product and process development, establishing best practices in formulation, process optimization, product performance, and manufacturing startup.
• Build organizational capability by mentoring scientists, engineers, and cross-functional teams while strengthening technical rigor and problem-solving expertise.
• Influence technical strategy and drive cross-functional alignment through collaboration, deep expertise, and data-driven decision-making.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to identify opportunities for revenue growth, margin improvement, and operational efficiency.
• Contribute technical expertise to customer engagements, innovation initiatives, and commercialization planning.
• Maintain awareness of industry trends, emerging technologies, competitive activity, and evolving consumer preferences within protein and prepared foods categories.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Meat Science, Food Science, Chemical Engineering, Food Engineering, or related discipline required.
• With Bachelors degree: 12-15 years in the industry strongly preferred.
• With Masters degree: 8+ years of industry experience strongly preferred.
• Extensive experience in sausage product development, including formulation, meat systems, ingredient functionality, and processing technologies.
• Strong background in R&D, commercialization, pilot production, manufacturing scale-up, and plant startup activities.
• Solid understanding of food safety, HACCP, sanitary equipment design, and commercialization readiness.
• Proven ability to solve complex technical and operational challenges in manufacturing environments while driving process improvements.
• Strong self-directed leader who thrives in fast-paced environments, effectively managing multiple priorities while operating with a high degree of autonomy.
• Excellent collaborator and communicator with an entrepreneurial mindset, skilled at building processes, driving cross-functional partnerships, and creating structure in evolving organizations.
• Ability to travel 50% to our facilities in IAC.