Senior Scientist Development & Industrialization (on-site)

Position Summary

The Senior Scientist – Development & Industrialization owns end-to-end product and technology development from formulation through scale-up, industrial trials, tech transfer, and plant stabilization. This role is accountable for right-first-time industrialization—not just development—driving innovation and renovation that delivers high-impact, scalable solutions to market.

Responsibilities

• Lead development, scale-up, and commercialization of competitive products, owning industrial trials, tech transfer, and plant stabilization to ensure right-first-time execution
• Deliver end-to-end projects with full accountability for efficiency, quality, and speed to market
• Partner with Operations, Markets, and Scientific & Technical Assistance (STA) teams to enhance product performance and new line implementation
• Communicate insights and influence decisions across cross-functional teams and leadership
• Mentor and coach junior team members on product development and industrialization best practices
• Drive Nestlé Continuous Excellence (NCE) initiatives with full accountability for the Nestlé Integrated Management System (NIMS); optimize processes, KPIs, and systems to improve performance
• Champion Food Safety, Food Quality, Occupational Safety, Health, and Environment (FSQ, OSHE) standards across all activities

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree required; Master's or PhD in Engineering, Science, or related field strongly preferred
• 5+ years of experience in product development AND scale-up/tech transfer
• Strong expertise in solid dose manufacturing (blending, encapsulation/compression)
• Proven track record taking products from lab to full production, including hands-on plant trials and troubleshooting
• Knowledge of nutritional formulations, aseptic process development, emulsion technology, and protein/mineral interactions
• Understanding of sensory science and Healthcare Nutrition (HCN) institutional and retail business
• Experience with business operating systems and software
• Strongly preferred: Experience with CMOs and multi-site tech transfer, background in nutraceuticals, VMS or pharma; exposure to process capability, Cpk (Process Capability Index), and related statistical tools, prior factory or manufacturing environment experience

Skills

• Ownership mindset - sees projects through plant stabilization, not stopping at development
• Strong problem-solving and analytical thinking under plant constraints
• Project management with ability to lead work independently
• Business acumen to translate technical work into business impact
• Effective communication and cross-functional influencing, especially with Operations
• Relationship & consensus building, as well as stakeholder collaboration
• Coaching and mentoring of less experienced team members