Sr. Food Scientist

About the role

We are seeking a Senior Food Scientist to join our R&D team at our Oak Brook, Illinois corporate office. This role is responsible for leading the development and commercialization of new products, product improvements, and cost optimization initiatives across powdered beverage and dry mix categories. In this role, you will work closely with cross-functional teams including Marketing, Sales, Quality, Procurement, and Operations to deliver innovative, high-quality products that meet business and customer needs. This position offers the opportunity to lead product development from concept through commercialization while supporting innovation and continuous improvement across the organization. You'll add value to this role by performing various functions including, but not limited to: Lead bench to plant development of new products, cost optimization initiatives, and quality improvement projects Create prototypes, evaluate ingredient functionality, and assess new manufacturing and supplier options Develop product specifications, process documentation, and technical playbooks to support scale up and production Support technology transfer and provide onsite support during internal and external manufacturing startups Apply scientific methods across experimental design, trial planning, data analysis, and interpretation Provide technical guidance and influence cross functional decision making Lead complex problem-solving efforts and support root cause analysis activities Partner with Marketing, Sales, Quality, Procurement, Finance, Operations, and Engineering to deliver aligned solutions Support customer facing technical activities including presentations and product discussions Contribute to innovation, productivity, and continuous improvement initiatives Mentor and support development of less experienced team members Important Details: The anticipated compensation for this position ranges from $82,600 to $123,800 annually. This is the lowest to highest salary we in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting. An employee's position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to, specific competencies, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, seniority, geographic location, performance, shift, travel requirements, sales or revenue-based metrics and business or organizational needs. For certain roles, the successful candidate may be eligible for annual discretionary merit compensation award, bonus and equity pay. This is a full-time, hybrid role based in our Oak Brook, IL office. Travel up to thirty percent (30%) may be required to support plant trials, customer needs, an