Senior Innovation Scientist

Position Summary

Senior Innovation Scientist owns the food science work that translates brand and innovation direction into commercialized products. The role leads product development projects from bench to commercialization, including category and competitive reviews, rapid prototyping, sensory testing, scale-up trialing and the flawless launch of differentiated and consumer-driven products. The Scientist will be viewed as a technical expert within the organization and own identifying, developing and specifying the key performance indicators, in both materials and finished goods, that ensure project success at each stage of the product development cycle. Projects will cover the entire range of product development, focusing on delivering the innovation pipeline, but can cover product renovation, quality improvement, and value engineering projects as needed. This individual will own the R&D portion of projects through the stage-gate process and is the technical partner to Brand and Innovation Marketing, leading the way on what's feasible, what it costs, and how long it takes to execute. This role will ideally be based in either the Lancaster, PA or Denver, CO metro area and report to the Vice President, R&D. The ability to travel and be comfortable in manufacturing environments is a must.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Innovation execution. Lead the technical execution and commercialization of committed innovation launches — inclusive of finalized recipes, formulations, production standards, analytical requirements, processing parameters, and quality criteria. Drive each project to deliver on time and in full, from concept to successful commercial production in partnership with Innovation, Brand Marketing, Operations, Quality and Finance.

• Platform development. Contribute to future pipeline development by delivering technically validated prototypes for the priority innovation platforms set by Innovation leadership. Assist in initial feasibility assessments and own definition of future process flows, manufacturability assumptions, and the technical pathway for successful scale-up.

• Flavor development. Collaborate with Brand and Innovation to develop R&D readiness to execute new flavor or flavor optimization of the core product line based on insights, trends, and consumer and customer feedback at enhanced speed. Deliver validated flavor updates to commercial production once direction is set.

• Stage-gate ownership. Own R&D's seat in the innovation stage-gate process. Lead the recurring Innovation Pipeline Meeting and Innovation Commercialization Team Meeting from the R&D side. Partner with Innovation Marketing on stage-gate advancement, with Brand on creative integration, and with Project Management on critical path discipline.

• Specifications and standards. Define and maintain product specifications, recipes, formulas, and processing standards for new and improved products. Build the documentation that production, co-packers, and QA run against.

• Sensory and consumer testing. Assist in designing, planning, and executing all necessary sensory testing during the product development lifecycle, encompassing both internal and external testing. Following through with clear documentation and reporting of results to key stakeholders.

• Cross-functional partnership. Team player and key partner with Brand & Innovation on direction, Operations and Co-packers on scale-up, Procurement on ingredient sourcing, Quality on validation, Finance on recipe COGS, and Sales/Marketing on technical and culinary sell-in support.

Minimum Qualifications (Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities)

• Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Chemistry, Culinary or related discipline; advanced degree preferred.

• 5+ years hands-on product development experience in food CPG, with a track record of taking products from concept through commercial production in both internal and co-manufacturing environments.

• Direct experience leading benchtop formulation, sensory work, and pilot/scale-up trials.

• Working knowledge of food chemistry, processing, shelf-life, and food safety as applied to product development.

• Experience operating in a full stage-gate process as a technical expert.

• Strong written and verbal communication; able to translate technical work into clear decisions for Brand, Innovation, and leadership audiences with the ability to inform, influence, and negotiate across functions

• Excellent project management discipline — multiple concurrent projects, defined timelines, structured reporting.

• Willing and able to test and consume a range of ingredients and finished products within our existing and future categories

• Travel to manufacturing locations, supplier sites and to other key external partners is required.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with broth, soup, stock, sauce, or similar shelf-stable categories.

• Aseptic and retort processing experience.

• Formal sensory science training or panel management experience.

• Direct experience with package innovation as part of product development.

• Experience scaling R&D processes in a growth-stage CPG environment.