Job Description:
This position is responsible for driving the development, innovation and renovation of salad products and fruit snacks from inception through all stages of development. The Senior Product Development Technologist will also provide strong scientific/technical guidance to team members and support projects to deliver innovative and competitive products/processes/systems in platform that he/she is leading in response to business and consumer needs. Position will report to Senior Product Development Manager.
Compensation/Salary:
DOE
Requirements:
- Exposure to manufacturing processes and equipment for periodic extended workdays.
- Must be comfortable working in sub-40°F environments
- Use of tools, equipment, and machinery
- Walking, standing, or sitting for extended periods of time
- Ability to lift up to 50 lbs
Responsibilities & Duties:
- Proactively propose and drive new ideas/projects/methods to grow our innovation pipeline
- Provide project leadership in the development and commercialization of new products, product improvement, and cost savings
- Develop new products and improvements to existing products. Assure that product activities meet company cost capacity, quality, marketing and product development requirements.
- Improve and develop extensions to existing brands using laboratory bench top, vendor facilities and full- scale manufacturing systems. Ability to go from bench top to pilot scale to full scale production.
- Provide design and processing parameters inputs for new products
- Carry out shelf life evaluations for new products and ingredients.
- Improve existing products by optimizing product formulas or attributes (cost, nutritional profiles, and ingredient statements)
- Support the identification and solution of cost savings issues, product/packaging change issues, equipment modifications, manufacturability issues, etc., using appropriate scientific principles
- Develop Master Recipe and process in collaboration with the Innovation team that are robust and highly adaptable to factory environment.
- Researches and incorporates new flavors, ingredients and processes into new product ideas
- Collaborates with operations to optimize processes and production for existing items within the limits of product specifications
- Manage the resources and budgets for projects and platforms
- Leverage good verbal, written communication and presentation skills to effectively communicate with cross functional business partners
- Travels to Fresh Express facilities sites as required in support of product development and launch efforts
Qualifications:
- Minimum 4 (for Master’s) to include working in R&D or Technical Applications environment in Product Development or related areas
- 5-8 years of experience in the food industry in either product or process development roles. Experience in product formulation, process optimization, scale up from bench to pilot plant to plant production, cost savings, shelf life and quality improvements. Produce experience a must.
- Proven experience and ability to communicate and relate to business partners and other cross-functional team is required.
- Demonstrated problem-solving skills. Proven innovation and creativity. Ability to work effectively in team-based environment with multiple functional groups, in a collaborative and positive manner
- Person must be dynamic and flexible enough to adapt to fast pace commercialization needs of projects under his/her responsibility
- Candidate must be team oriented and handle multiple projects in a fast paced, multi-disciplinary environment. The ideal candidate must have strong interpersonal skills, be detail oriented and have excellent organizational and analytical skills.
