R&D Food Scientist

Title: R&D Food Scientist

Location: Glendale Heights, IL

Hire Type: Direct Hire, Onsite

Benefits: PTO, Paid Holidays, Medical/Dental/Vision Insurance, 401(k)

Salary Range : $85,000 - $100,000/year (plus bonus)

Must-Have Skillset: Must come from a meat processing environment

Job Summary:

Seeking an R&D Food Scientist to support the development and optimization of meat-based products across beef, pork, and poultry platforms. This role partners closely with Operations, Quality, and Supply Chain to formulate new products, improve existing formulas, and support commercialization from benchtop through full-scale production in a USDA-regulated manufacturing environment.

Job Duties:

• Lead product development activities for meat proteins and complementary components such as sauces, marinades, dips, and spreads.
• Drive projects from concept through plant trials and commercialization, providing hands-on technical support during scale-up.
• Develop, optimize, and troubleshoot formulations and processes using sound food science methodologies.
• Collaborate cross-functionally to define processing requirements, equipment needs, and raw material specifications.
• Evaluate and qualify ingredients, suppliers, and co-manufacturers to support product and cost objectives.
• Conduct sensory evaluations, shelf-life studies, benchmarking, and continuous quality improvement testing.
• Analyze production and trial data to assess process capability, efficiencies, and opportunities for improvement.
• Design and execute experiments to improve formulations, enhance yields, or increase manufacturing throughput.
• Monitor market trends and competitive products to identify innovation or renovation opportunities.
• Provide accurate formulation and ingredient data to support nutritional analysis, labeling, and regulatory documentation.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Food Science, or a related discipline.
• 3–5 years of product development experience in food manufacturing.
• Hands-on experience developing USDA-regulated meat products (beef, pork, or poultry).
• Working knowledge of ingredient functionality, flavor systems, and formulation principles.
• Experience with nutritional labeling software (e.g., ESHA Genesis) preferred.
• Familiarity with supplier sourcing, ingredient qualification, and co-manufacturing environments.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to collaborate effectively across functions.
• Highly organized, detail-oriented, and capable of managing multiple development projects.