Food Scientist

At Niagara, we're looking for Team Members who want to be part of achieving our mission to provide our customers the highest quality most affordable bottled water.

Consider applying here, if you want to:

• Work in an entrepreneurial and dynamic environment with a chance to make an impact.
• Develop lasting relationships with great people.
• Have the opportunity to build a satisfying career.

We offer competitive compensation and benefits packages for our Team Members.

The Food Scientist is responsible to lead development of new flavored beverages, line extensions and value engineering projects. The incumbent will also act as a conduit to the cross functional teams, including but not limited to: marketing, sales, quality, procurement, and manufacturing.

Essential Functions

• Lead primary development of beverages either internally or through working with flavor houses.
• Formulate products to achieve target flavor and nutritional profile, and label claims, while keeping cost in mind.
• Be technical lead on beverage formulations, ingredient functionalities, and the different processing capabilities at Niagara. Act as technical expert during commissioning of new formulas by applying key knowledge of ingredient functionalities, formulas, and processes, as well as troubleshooting skills to ensure successful scale-up.
• Independently develop specifications for finished products and ingredients.
• Manage internal sensory evaluations to determine product acceptability and provide summary and recommendations to proceed.
• Support Sales objectives by in/directly interact with target/key customers in support of existing and new business growth opportunities.
• Keep abreast of new ingredients, technologies, and processes that are applicable to Niagara product portfolios.
• Maintain records of documents during development process independently with great attention to accuracy and details that will allow repeatability of data. This includes, but are not limited to: lab notebooks, analytical/organoleptic and sensory test results, formulas, and specifications.
• Ensure streamlined communications between Product Development, Marketing, Supply Chain, Procurement, PLM, QA, Operations and Sales to maintain great rapport with all cross functional teams and ensuring awareness of key project milestones.
• Responsible for producing (or work with flavor houses to produce) samples for customer evaluations while ensuring product specifications and safety are met.
• Collaborate with QA, tech service, and operations to conduct line trials of new formulations to verify manufacturing feasibilities.

• Please note this job description is not designed to contain a comprehensive list of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without prior notice.

Qualifications

• Minimum Qualifications:
  • 6 Years - Experience in Food/ Beverage Product Development
  • 6 Years - Experience in Project Management
  • 6 Years - Experience in Food or Beverage manufacturing
  • 6 Years - Knowledge of major PLM software is a plus

*experience may include a combination of work experience and education

• Preferred Qualifications:
  • 10+ Years- Experience in Food/ Beverage Product Development
  • 10+ Years - Experience Project Management
  • 10+ Years - Experience in Food or Beverage manufacturing
  • 10+ Years - Knowledge of major PLM software is a plus

*experience may include a combination of work experience and education

Competencies

• Fluent with all MS Office software (Outlook, Excel, Word, Powerpoint)
• Knowledge of Genesis label development tool is a plus
• Knowledge of Agile/Oracle project management system is a plus
• Strong understanding of ingredients and its functionality used in the water/beverage industry,
• Strong understanding of product development processes and different manufacturing processes
• Demonstrated excellent problem solving, continuous improvement and strategic thinking skills with very minimal guidance.
• Ability to work collaboratively cross-functional team environments
• Must be well organized
• Excellent communication skills - written and verbal
• Detail oriented; able to work independently and with minimal supervision

This position embodies the values of Niagara's LIFE competency model, focusing on the following key drivers of success:

• Lead Like an Owner
  • Identifies safety issues and takes prompt corrective action
  • Coaches/corrects unsafe team behavior
  • Effectively prioritizes quality, productivity, and cost
  • Encourages honest feedback from direct reports, peers, and up-line manager
  • Uses customer feedback to improve service levels and internal/external customer relationships
• InnovACT
  • Understands the concepts of process consistency and waste minimization
  • Modifies goals based on changing business needs
  • Promotes sharing of opposing viewpoints
• Find a Way
  • Anticipates problems and opportunities within functional area, and recommends proactive solutions
  • Uses technical knowledge to coach team performance and educate others
  • Leverages technical know-how to solve challenging problems
  • Encourages and models teamwork to demonstrate behavioral expectations for Team Members
  • Builds relationships up, down, and across effectively
• Empowered to be Great
  • Provides effective coaching and feedback to improve individual and team performance
  • Provides positive recognition for Team Member results
  • Assigns responsibilities to maximize team strengths
  • Resolves team conflicts with a calm demeanor and skill
  • Effectively communicates team and individual expectations and follows up appropriately

Education

• Minimum Required:
  • Bachelor's Degree in Food Science, Chemistry, or other science related field

• Preferred:
  • Master's Degree in Food Science, Chemistry, or other science related field

Certification/License:

• Required: N/A
• Preferred: N/A

Foreign Language

• Required: None Required
• Preferred: None Required

Typical Compensation Range

Benefits

https://careers.niagarawater.com/us/en/benefits

* *Los Angeles County applicants only** Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, the California Fair Chance Act, and any other applicable local and state laws.

Any employment agency, person or entity that submits a resume into this career site or to a hiring manager does so with the understanding that the applicant's resume will become the property of Niagara Bottling, LLC. Niagara Bottling, LLC will have the right to hire that applicant at its discretion without any fee owed to the submitting employment agency, person or entity.

Employment agencies that have fee agreements with Niagara Bottling, LLC and have been engaged on a search shall submit resume to the designated Niagara Bottling, LLC recruiter or, upon authorization, submit resume into this career site to be eligible for placement fees.