Senior Scientist, Product Development - Food

You may know McCormick as a leader in herbs, spices, seasonings, and condiments – and we’re only getting started. At McCormick, we’re always looking for new people to bring their unique flavor to our team.

McCormick employees – all 14,000 of us across the world – are what makes this company a great place to work.

 

With over $6 billion in annual sales across 170 countries and territories, we manufacture, market and distribute spices, seasoning mixes, condiments and specialty flavor products to the entire food industry including e-commerce channels, grocery, food manufacturers and foodservice businesses. Our most popular brands with trademark registrations include McCormick, French's, Frank's RedHot, Stubb's, OLD BAY, Lawry's, Zatarain's, Ducros, Vahiné, Cholula, Schwartz, Kamis, DaQiao, Club House, Aeroplane and Gourmet Garden. Every day, no matter where or what you eat or drink, you can enjoy food flavored by McCormick.

 

We are looking to hire a Senior Scientist, Product Development - Food immediately at our McFONA Labs in Geneva, IL.

 

What We Bring To The Table:

The best people deserve the best rewards. In addition to the benefits you’d expect from a global leader (401k, health insurance, paid time off, etc.) we also offer:

• Competitive compensation

• Career growth opportunities

• Flexibility and Support for Diverse Life Stages and Choices

• We prioritize our communities and the planet we share. We are proud to be awarded as a Diversity Inc. Top 50 company for Diversity and have multiple Sustainability awards (ranking #22 in the World and #1 in Food Products)

• Wellbeing programs including Physical, Mental and Financial wellness

• Tuition assistance

 

POSITION OVERVIEW:

The Senior Scientist will independently develop and evaluate flavor systems for application and evaluation of flavors with the use of proprietary technologies in support of customers and McCormick. Additionally, this role will be the interface with customers, R&D teams, and assist in responding to specific project requests. Assist and leverage the development of new flavors/ingredients and new methodologies and contribute to technically driven business development activities in the Beverage Flavor applications area.

 

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES: 

• Leading flavor applications and prototype development in beverage products and providing excellent flavor applications support for Industrial Customers.
• Facilitating complex projects including planning and leading cross functional project teams, defining, and assessing project requirements and designing and managing experiments.
• Building competency within the area of Beverage Flavor Applications.
• Project Management: Plan and lead project teams, defining and assessing of project requirements, designing, and managing experiments.
• Investigate and assess new ingredients and technologies.
• Provide support as an internal expert on projects performed in other groups within McCormick, with outside consultants, and / or with vendors.
• Commercialization of products (understanding of processes and operations for product manufacture) and troubleshooting problems.
• Offer Technical Support for formulations to Operation and Quality functions.  
• Interface and communicate project status with customers and commercial team.
• Supervise and instruct lower-level employees.

 

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• BSc in Food Science/Technology, Food Engineering, Chemistry, or a related field
• Minimum of 10 years’ experience in the food and/or flavor industry including:
  • At least 3 yrs. of Food Flavor applications in a flavor house AND/OR
  • At least 3 yrs. of Food Product Development within a consumer products company.
• Strong experience with Food Flavor Delivery Systems with emphasis in Protein Bars, Cereal Bars, RTE Cereal, Oatmeal and Confections, Ingredients and Flavors
• Excellent communication skills.
• Ability to interpret data and solve complex problems with incomplete information.
• Ability to manage risk in making critical decisions
• Project management and ability to interact, seek advice, teach, influence, and negotiate.
• Demonstrate the ability to influence across the organization.
• Ability to make presentations that cover technical topics, R&D capabilities, etc.
• An in-depth understanding of ingredients and technology along with their impact on product taste and functionality.
• Knowledge of food industry food ingredients, manufacturing processes, quality assurance programs and food regulations.
• Proficient in product development and commercialization across a wide variety of finished product application categories.
• Intellectual curiosit