Research and Development (R&D) Technologist

Job Type Full-time Description

Join a Mission That Matters – Enrich Lives with Butterball® Farms

At Butterball® Farms, we’re more than a world-class food manufacturer — we’re a company on a mission: to Enrich Lives. For over 60 years, we’ve proudly partnered with the world’s premier food brands to deliver innovative, value-added butter products. But our impact goes far beyond the food industry.

Recognized globally for our excellence and named one of West Michigan’s Best and Brightest Companies, we invest deeply in our people, our communities, and our future. From fostering innovation and personal growth to supporting local neighborhoods, we believe success starts with a strong, supportive workplace.

When you join Butterball® Farms, you’re joining a team that values growth, innovation, and making a difference — together.

What We Offer

At Butterball® Farms, we believe that when our people grow, our company grows. That’s why we’re proud to offer a comprehensive and competitive benefits package designed to support your success — both on and off the job.

• Opportunities for Growth & Advancement Build your career in an environment that encourages development and internal promotion.
• Innovative & Inclusive Culture Join a workplace that celebrates innovation, continuous improvement, personal growth, and diversity.
• Paid Time Off Enjoy paid vacation and holidays to support work-life balance.
• 401(k) with Company Match Plan for your future with our generous retirement savings program.
• Tuition Reimbursement Continue your education with financial support for approved programs.
• Access to The Source Get connected to community resources, support services, and more.
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP) Confidential support for personal, family, or work-related issues.
• Comprehensive Benefits Plan Includes Medical, Dental, Vision, Critical Illness, Flexible Spending Accounts, Dependent Care, and Accident Insurance.

Key Responsibilities

• Support commercialization efforts by converting lab/bench-top formulas to manufacturing scale.
• Conduct research on projects, processes, ingredients, and packaging to support new product development.
• Maintain R&D formulations files and nutritional databases.
• Generate product and nutritional data in Labelcalc.
• Prepare and submit draft formulations/reformulations to accounting for costing.
• Manage the sample request process (scheduling, generation, packaging, shipping).
• Implement customer requests via portals such as PLM, SafetyChain, Tracegains, Repositrak, and Rizepoint.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams (Ops, Sales, Purchasing, Quality) on new SKU development, including ingredient sourcing, approvals, process control, packaging, labeling, and HACCP integration.
• Apply Quality Systems approaches to ensure food quality and food safety in new products.
• Partner with engineering on equipment needs for new processes or improvements.
• Collaborate with purchasing on maintaining ingredient supply lists and substitutions.
• Maintain knowledge of current process equipment capabilities and improvement plans.
• Represent R&D in customer meetings to support sales and build confidence.
• Contribute to food safety assessments and sensory panel development.
• Create recipes and formulations for product innovation.
• Solve production-related challenges with creativity and innovation.
• Study and apply flavor utilization and culinary science.
• Foster strong working relationships across teams.
• Promote and uphold a culture of Food Safety and Quality.

Requirements

 We believe a successful R&D Technologist will have the following qualifications:

Education / Certificates / Licenses / Experience

• Bachelor’s Degree in Food Science (required). 
• Food Safety Training (preferred).
• Minimum 3 years in Product Development or related discipline.
• R&D or culinary experience preferred.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Strong knowledge of food science, culinary science, and flavor applications.
• Broad process and equipment knowledge for scaling up lab formulations.
• Familiarity with ingredient functions, inventory management, and substitutions.
• Proficiency with R&D and food industry systems (Labelcalc, PLM, SafetyChain, Tracegains, Repositrak, Rizepoint).
• Understanding of cGMPs