Senior Food Scientist

Actalent connects visionary companies with specialized engineering and sciences talent to advance innovation and speed to market.

About the role

The Food Scientist leads the development, optimization, and commercialization of food products and ingredient systems, with a primary focus on dry blends, seasonings, sauces, breaders, batters, and related value-added food solutions. This role combines hands-on bench-top formulation with plant-scale commercialization to deliver innovative, high-quality products that meet customer requirements, regulatory standards, and operational objectives. The Food Scientist acts as a technical expert and project leader, partnering closely with Sales, Marketing, Quality, Operations, Procurement, and customers to drive product innovation and continuous improvement across the product portfolio.

Responsibilities

• Lead the development of new products and the reformulation of existing products within dry blend, seasoning, sauce, batter, and breading categories.
• Perform hands-on bench-top formulation, ingredient evaluation, prototype development, and product optimization to achieve desired performance and quality.
• Design and execute experimental trials to improve flavor, texture, functionality, shelf life, and cost efficiency of products.
• Develop products that align with customer specifications, processing capabilities, regulatory requirements, and margin objectives.
• Conduct competitive product evaluations, benchmarking, and ingredient assessments to inform product development strategies.
• Maintain accurate formulation records, project documentation, and technical reports to ensure traceability and knowledge sharing.
• Lead scale-up activities from laboratory prototypes through pilot and commercial production, ensuring smooth transitions to manufacturing.
• Collaborate with Operations and Quality teams to ensure successful implementation of new products and processes in the plant environment.
• Support first production runs, process validations, and manufacturing troubleshooting efforts to ensure consistent product performance.
• Evaluate processing parameters and identify opportunities to improve product consistency, yield, efficiency, and quality.
• Develop clear manufacturing instructions, process specifications, and product standards to support ongoing production.
• Serve as the technical lead for assigned customer and innovation projects, providing direction and technical expertise.
• Provide scientific and technical guidance to junior scientists, technicians, and cross-functional teams to build technical capability.
• Communicate technical findings, recommendations, and project updates to leadership and customers in a clear and concise manner.
• Participate in customer meetings and support technical presentations and product demonstrations to showcase capabilities and solutions.
• Ensure all formulations meet food safety, regulatory, labeling, and specific customer requirements.
• Work closely with Quality and Regulatory teams to support product documentation, ingredient approvals, and compliance activities.
• Assist with shelf-life studies, stability testing, and sensory evaluations to validate product performance over time.
• Support continuous improvement initiatives related to quality systems, product performance, and process efficiency.
• Manage multiple development projects simultaneously while meeting timelines and business objectives.
• Develop project plans, milestones, and resource requirements to ensure effective project execution.
• Coordinate activities across departments to ensure timely product launches and responsive support for customer needs.

Requirements

• 7+ years of food product development experience, ideally 7–10 years; candidates with 5+ years may be considered with highly relevant formulation experience.
• Hands-on formulation experience with dry blends, seasonings, breaders, batters, sauces, or related ingredient systems.
• Proven experience taking products from concept through commercialization, including plant trials, scale-up, and manufacturing support.
• Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Food Engineering, or a closely related field.
• Strong food science knowledge with the ability to apply scientific principles to product development and problem solving.
• Demonstrated experience across the product development life cycle, from ideation and formulation through commercialization.
• Experience with scale-up activities and translating bench-top formulations into robust manufacturing processes.
• Solid understanding of food safety and regulatory requirements relevant to formulated food products.
• Strong project management skills with the ability to manage multiple development projects simultaneously and meet deadlines.
• Effective communication skills to present technical information and collaborate with cross-functional teams and customers.
• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills to troubleshoot formulation and processing issues.

Qualifications

• Experience working with co-manufacturers and supporting external production partnerships.
• Experience supporting or presenting to national accounts or large customers.
• Customer-facing experience, including technical presentations, product demonstrations, or educational sessions.
• Experience serving as a technical lead on cross-functional product development projects.
• Ability to mentor and guide junior scientists and technicians in formulation and commercialization activities.
• Comfort working in both laboratory and plant environments while balancing technical and project leadership responsibilities.

Work Environment

The role operates in both office and laboratory settings, providing exposure to a normal office atmosphere as well as a food laboratory environment. While performing duties, the Food Scientist may work around ingredient dust, food aromas, and typical laboratory and plant noise. The position involves hands-on bench work, collaboration with cross-functional teams in office spaces, and participation in pilot and commercial production runs within manufacturing facilities.

Pay

The pay range for this position is $90,000.00 - $100,000.00 per year. Individual compensation offered within this range will depend on qualifications, skills, relevant experience, job knowledge, geographic location, internal equity, and other pertinent job-related factors.

Benefits

• Dental, health, and vision insurance (full benefits package in development by HR).

Schedule

This is a permanent, fully onsite position based in Fort Mill, SC.