Food Scientist

The National Food Lab is a fast-growing company with a vision to be the destination for tailored solutions for the food industry – beginning to end. Our mission is to provide services that help food, beverage, and supplement companies deliver safe, healthy and successful products.  We seek to make a positive impact in the advancement of food safety, quality and nutrition, fulfilling our corporate promise – to improve health and improve lives.

The National Food Lab’s best-in-class consumer and sensory research capabilities employ a variety of quantitative and qualitative consumer and sensory research techniques to help our clients make products consumers love.  We help our clients:

• Develop new product ideas
• Re-energize a well-established product
• Assess product-concept fit or packaging effectiveness
• Understand the product, brand and category competitive landscapes
• Present objective results to management

A Food Scientist is well versed in all phases of the food product development cycle and can work independently to develop a new product from conception through plant scale-up. May supervise the work of junior professionals such as Technicians, Interns and On-Call staff.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Demonstrates and promotes the company vision.
• Regular attendance and punctuality
• Applies GMP/GLP in all areas of responsibility, as appropriate.
• Plans and designs specific activities required by the projects and distributes activities to Laboratory Technologist or Intern based on skill sets.
• Executes experimental, analytical, and sensory work on both bench and pilot scale. 
• Develops analytical methods and coordinates nutritional and component analysis. 
• Writes reports, formulas, data and communication that is thorough and ready for the client with little or no editing required by supervisor. 
• Ensures all samples are prepared with good GMP’s that are well labeled and of high quality.
• Ensures lab notebook maintenance SOP is followed.  
• Seeks out information/facilities to get the job completed.  
• Collaborates with internal and external resources (suppliers, consultants, professors, service providers and other third-party people) to find solutions.   
• Ensures appropriate and timely communication of key information among client, team, and supervisor.
• Establishes and maintains professional rapport with client.
• Adds insight and value to discussions, understanding client needs.
• Organizes and participates in meetings and conference calls.   
• Reads and responds to emails, phone calls in a timely manner.  
• Assists team members to carry out such communication duties as necessary.
• Independently coordinates pilot and plant trials develops trial plans and protocols, serves as liaison between the manufacturing plant, client, and development laboratory for trial.
• Independently drafts, structures, and executes project plans. Submits to supervisor for review.  Identifies appropriate phases and deliverables and determines resource needs. 
• Writes pilot and plant trial reports.
• Maintains documentation; Organizes computer and hard copy files and records in lab notebook for corporate records and sharing.
• Keeps updated and educated on relevant news, literature, and findings in the industry. 
• Trains less-experienced staff
• Performs other related duties as assigned.
• Travels to various NFL and client locations to support studies and projects.
• Travels to technical conferences to represent TheNFL.
• Conducts all activities in a safe and efficient manner.
• Performs other duties as assigned.
• Will be exposed to potential food allergens.
• Required to handle and evaluate all types of foods and ingredients derived from plants, animals and synthetically manufactured.

To perform this job successfully, the individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements below are representative of the knowledge, skill or ability required.

Education Minimum Required:

• PhD degree from an IFT accredited food science program, or equivalent combination of education and experience

Experience Minimum Required:

• Non-PhD candidates would have a minimum of 2 years practical experience in product or process development

 A salaried range for this position is between $70,000-$75,000

Other Factors:

• Overtime and weekend work as plants required
• Will be exposed to potential food allergens
•  Must use hearing protection, eye protection, proper footwear, lab coat, hairnets and gloves when necessary.

Travel Requirements:

• Occasionally (up to approximately 10% of time) has to travel overnight, weekends, interstate or international where air travel is required.
• Travel is primarily to:  Client facilities, manufacturing facilities and other NFL/Eurofins sites

What Happens Next:

Our people are the backbone of what we do, so it's incredibly important we find the right individuals to join us. As a potential new recruit you'll be invited to meet the team in the form of an assessment centre or a staged interview process dependent on the role and it's requirements, this will give you the opportunity to see what working for Eurofins is really like and enable us to get you know your key skills and strengths.

What we Offer:

• Excellent full time benefits including comprehensive medical coverage, dental, and vision options

• Life and disability insurance

• 401(k) with company match

• Paid vacation and holidays

Eurofins is a M/F, Disabled, and Veteran Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer.

Eurofins is a M/F, Disabled, and Veteran Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer.