Downers Grove
Food Scientist The Opportunity This role partners closely with R&D and cross-functional teams to drive end-to-end product development—from concept through commercialization. The Food Scientist will lead formulation, sensory evaluation, and scale-up activities to deliver high-quality, innovative products across multiple formats, including powders, ready-to-eat, ready-to-drink, and dietary supplements. This is a hands-on, lab-based position with significant time spent in both laboratory and pilot/manufacturing environments. Note: This role involves working with and being exposed to common food allergens (e.g., milk, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, eggs). Product tasting is required. Key Responsibilities • Lead product development initiatives from concept through commercialization, ensuring quality, functionality, and regulatory compliance, • Develop and optimize formulations, experimenting with ingredients and flavor systems to create innovative, market-ready products, • Reformulate existing products to meet evolving customer expectations and global regulatory requirements, • Design and execute sensory evaluations, including organizing and leading sensory panels to ensure products meet established standards, • Evaluate and qualify raw materials and suppliers to ensure quality, consistency, and compliance, • Calculate preliminary product costs, factoring in ingredients, processing, and manufacturing considerations, • Develop and review nutritional and supplement facts panels in alignment with regulatory standards, • Support pilot plant trials and scale-up activities, ensuring smooth transition from lab to full-scale production, • Conduct analytical testing on raw materials and finished products to validate performance, stability, and quality, • Maintain thorough and accurate documentation of all formulation and development activities within lab notebooks and internal systems, • Collaborate with cross-functional teams (e.g., procurement, finance, sales) to support product costing, pricing, and commercialization efforts, • Review and advise on raw material specifications to ensure alignment with product requirements, • Ensure adherence to GMP, safety, and regulatory standards across lab and production environments, • Contribute to innovation, troubleshooting, and continuous improvement initiatives, • Manage multiple projects simultaneously, ensuring timelines and deliverables are met, • Build strong relationships with internal teams, suppliers, and stakeholders to support successful product launches Required: • Bachelor’s degree in Food Science or a related field, • Master’s degree or relevant certification, • Strong expertise in flavor systems, with the ability to troubleshoot and optimize flavor profiles, • Solid understanding of formulation, ingredient functionality, and raw material stability, • Hands-on experience in lab and pilot plant environments, • Knowledge of GMP and food safety standards, • Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, • Strong project management skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities, • Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to present technical information clearly, • Customer-focused mindset with strong problem-solving abilities