Job Description

Working independently, the R&D Sr Food Scientist is responsible for the development of new products across Coffee and Tea from concept to commercialization. Requires work with multi-disciplinary groups to innovate, optimize and customize food ingredients. Consults directly with sales and customers to meet expectations.

Primary Job Functions:

• Product Development
• Innovation
• Commercialization from the bench to production
• Cross Functional Technical Support
• Raw material assessment

Key Responsibilities:

Product Development

• Ideate and Develop new product prototypes and optimization to existing products.
• Improve existing products by optimizing product attributes, efficiencies, etc.
• Develop and maintain accurate records related to the products such as formulas, label development, production process, HACCP, product specification, nutritional data, shelf life, etc.
• Participate on product development teams and cross-functional teams to be the Product Development advocate for internal initiatives, cost-optimization, and ops/qa support.
• Execute sensory tests as-needed, using internal software and statistical analysis to make recommendations for customers or drive development initiatives.

Cross Functional Technical Support

• Provide technical support to customers seeking product information and advice as it pertains to product application/usage levels
• Travel independently with Salesperson on customer demonstrations; work with R&D on site.
• Demonstrate knowledge of field protocols and procedures that support products and solutions to Westrock customers
• Provide comprehensive reports on complex data analysis and summaries

Trade Shows

• Serve as Product Development lead on trade show planning teams
• Provide technical assistance to sales in the trade show booth

Raw Material Assessment

• Evaluate, approve, and analyze risk of new or existing ingredients
• Evaluate new raw materials and conduct sensory analysis with a cross-functional group.
• Evaluate technical specification documentation for compliance with S&D requirements

Additional tasks or projects outside "core" responsibility

• Perform other duties and responsibilities as assigned.