Sr. Scientist - R&D Life Cycle

Leads complex R&D life cycle and formulation workstreams that require strong technical judgment, hands-on product development capability, cross-functional influence, data discipline, process ownership, and commercialization readiness leadership from concept through launch. This role serves as a senior technical and process leader within R&D Lifecycle, helping govern opportunity intake, brief quality, project prioritization, formulation development, bench and pilot work, resource scheduling, documentation standards, sensory and sampling readiness, stage-gate discipline, KPI tracking, and continuous improvement. The Sr. Scientist - R&D Life Cycle partners closely with formulation, process design and validation, pilot plant, sensory, innovation center, commercial, operations, quality/food safety, regulatory, procurement, supply planning, finance, and business leaders to develop technically sound formulas, remove barriers, improve first-round sample acceptance, increase scale-up and commercialization success, and strengthen the R&D operating system.

Job Duties and Responsibilities:

Lifecycle Leadership and Governance:

• Lead medium-to-large or complex lifecycle workstreams and/or multiple concurrent projects, owning lifecycle plans, timing, risks, governance checkpoints, and deliverables.
• Serve as a senior gatekeeper for assigned opportunities, confirming briefs, approvals, documentation, sensory reviews, technical validation, and commercialization readiness requirements are complete before projects advance.
• Review opportunity briefs in depth to clarify customer needs, business value, technical feasibility, project scope, success criteria, decision rights, resource needs, and timing expectations.
• Remove barriers for stuck or high-priority opportunities by aligning R&D, sales, marketing, innovation, operations, process technology, QA/food safety, regulatory, procurement, finance, supply planning, and business leadership.
• Set expectations and coach project teams on lifecycle discipline, standard work, documentation rigor, clean handoffs, and readiness requirements.

Process, Systems, Scheduling, and Analytics:

• Lead and improve lifecycle-critical systems, schedules, templates, dashboards, and project tracking routines used to manage opportunity flow, resource allocation, and commercialization readiness.
• Partner with the AVP - R&D Lifecycle and R&D leadership to prioritize work, balance workloads, maximize resources, and ensure the team is focused on the right opportunities and highest-value work.
• Develop, maintain, analyze, and communicate lifecycle KPIs including sample turnaround time, first-round acceptance rate, scale-up success, commercialization success, documentation efficiency, project cycle time, resource utilization, and ROI impact.
• Use data and process observations to identify bottlenecks, resource constraints, recurring failure points, data quality issues, process gaps, and improvement opportunities across the R&D pipeline.
• Lead implementation and optimization of lifecycle-enabling tools such as stage-gate processes, pipeline approvals, development updates, formula/cost modeling inputs, ingredient databases, specifications, labeling workflows, and commercialization tracking.

R&D Formulation and Product Development:

• Lead and execute R&D formulation work for assigned lifecycle, renovation, productivity, customer, and innovation projects, including formula development, ingredient selection, benchtop work, pilot preparation, sample execution, and technical troubleshooting.
• Translate customer, business, regulatory, cost, nutrition, labeling, sensory, processing, and operational requirements into practical product formulas that can be scaled, manufactured, and commercialized successfully.
• Develop, maintain, and improve formulations, ingredient declarations, nutritional targets, cost assumptions, processing assumptions, and technical documentation in partnership with regulatory, quality, procurement, operations, finance, and commercialization teams.
• Support formula optimization, matching, reformulation, productivity, value engineering, raw material substitution, shelf-life improvement, sensory improvement, and troubleshooting initiatives across assigned product categories.
• Partner with process design and validation resources to confirm that formulas, processing parameters, equipment assumptions, plant capabilities, and scale-up requirements are aligned before trials and commercialization activities proceed.

Sensory, Sampling, and Commercialization Readiness:

• Provide senior lifecycle oversight for sensory science, sampling, customer-ready development output, and stage-gate readiness to help ensure samples meet product brief requirements before customer submission when applicable.
• Ensure matching projects and appropriate development work include sensory review before development begins and before matched samples are released externally.
• Confirm plant trial, scale-up, and commercialization readiness across formulas, process assumptions, quality requirements, nutritionals, claims, raw materials, packaging considerations, shelf-life needs, labeling inputs, food safety considerations, regulatory requirements, and customer deliverables.
• Lead readiness reviews and post-project learning to improve future project speed, robustness, documentation quality, and commercialization success.

Cross-Functional Partnership, Communication, and Culture:

• Act as a senior cross-functional connector for lifecycle execution, aligning R&D priorities with customer needs, business strategy, operational feasibility, and commercial value.
• Facilitate project reviews, escalation discussions, action item closure, risk mitigation, and leadership updates for high-priority or complex lifecycle work.
• Provide clear, timely, and relevant reporting to leadership on pipeline health, project status, capacity, risks, bottlenecks, wins, and continuous improvement opportunities.
• Coach Scientists, Associate Scientists, technical resources, and project participants on lifecycle process expectations, documentation quality, data integrity, and commercialization readiness.
• Promote a one-team R&D mindset that balances speed, discipline, quality, food safety, regulatory compliance, cost, customer experience, monetization, ROI, and farmer-owner value.

Continuous Improvement and Business Impact:

• Lead continuous improvement efforts that reduce non-value-added documentation work, simplify handoffs, improve project transparency, and standardize how work is initiated, developed, validated, and commercialized.
• Translate R&D priorities into operating routines, lifecycle standards, resource plans, training needs, and measurable performance outcomes.
• Contribute to mid- and long-term R&D capability development by identifying where process, systems, data, documentation, technical discipline, and commercialization readiness should be strengthened.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

The requirements herein are intended to describe the general nature and level of work performed by employee, but is not a complete list of responsibilities, duties, and skills required. Other duties may be assigned as required.

Minimum Qualifications:

Education and Experience

• B.S. degree in Food Science, Dairy Science, Biological Science, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Business, Operations, Project Management, or related discipline required; M.S. and/or Ph.D. desirable.
• 6+ years of industry experience in R&D, product development, formulation, commercialization, food manufacturing, lifecycle management, technical program management, process improvement, operations, or related food industry function.
• Demonstrated progression in technical responsibilities and ability to lead complex projects or cross-functional workstreams with limited supervision.
• Experience developing or optimizing food and/or dairy formulations and leading or improving stage-gate, lifecycle, project management, resource planning, documentation, data analytics, or commercialization processes preferred.
• Food, dairy, ingredient, beverage, cultured, frozen, powder, filtration, aseptic/ESL/retort, or related manufacturing experience preferred.

Necessary Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Must be willing to travel 15-25% (1-2 times per quarter)
• Strong knowledge of R&D lifecycle management, stage-gate governance, commercialization readiness, project prioritization, technical documentation, and cross-functional execution.
• Strong formulation and product development capability, including ingredient functionality, formula design, cost and nutrition targets, labeling inputs, benchtop development, pilot preparation, sensory evaluation, troubleshooting, and scale-up support.
• Ability to translate strategy and business priorities into operating routines, process standards, schedules, metrics, and continuous improvement actions.
• Strong organizational, systems, data, analytics, project leadership, and process improvement skills.
• Ability to lead through influence across R&D, sales, marketing, innovation, operations, process technology, QA/food safety, regulatory, procurement, supply planning, finance, and business teams.
• Strong understanding of ingredient functionality, food safety by design, product specifications, labeling, nutritionals, claims, raw material qualification, sensory evaluation, shelf-life, scale-up, and commercialization requirements.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to simplify complex technical, commercial, and operational issues for leadership and cross-functional decision-making.
• Ability to balance a heavy workload, manage multiple priorities, identify bottlenecks, remove barriers, and drive action with urgency and discipline.
• Strong documentation discipline and proficiency with PLM, CRM/Salesforce.com, lifecycle tools, dashboards, spreadsheets, templates, and standard productivity tools.
• Collaborative, hands-on work style with a "solve for yes" mindset; ability to coach others and influence without direct authority.
• Able to read, write, and speak English.

An Equal Opportunity Employer including Disabled/Veterans