Senior Food Scientist

Portsmouth USHQ Portsmouth, NH 03801, USA

The Senior Food Scientist is a leading member of the Product Development and a cross‑functional team responsible for delivering the initiatives, business plan, and objectives of High Liner Foods Inc. The Senior Food Scientist applies scientific, culinary and engineering principles in research & development, production technology, quality control, processing and utilization of ingredients to design, develop and produce new and/or improved products.

The Senior Food Scientist is a Research & Development Subject Matter Expert for the organization and acts as a mentorship/coaching/training role within the PD Department.

This position plays a major role in leading the creation of new products and therefore plays an important part in supporting HLF’s overall strategic goals.

• Leads the development of new products and/or product optimization through HLF project management system including:
  • Gold standard development
  • Formulation development
  • Bench top preparation and testing
  • Sensory evaluation/product cuttings with internal cross functional team members
  • Sample preparation for various activities
  • Customer presentation
  • Specification development
  • Cooking Instruction Development
  • Organoleptic Shelf‑Life Studies
• Collaborates with Sales and/or Marketing to define project parameters based on customer input/request.
• Leverages vendor relationships to deliver new products and products optimized products on time, within cost and quality.
• Leads the coordination, design and execution of line test and first production processes.
• Provides technical expertise for all internal and external customers.
• Leads the development and training of SOPs for the PD team and cross functional team members where applicable.
• Acts as a mentor/coach for R&D team members.
• Leads problem solving with Purchasing and Procurement teams regarding ingredient and raw material substitutions and cost saving initiatives.
• Lead and collaborates with Quality Assurance, Production, Purchasing, Procurement and Engineering to identify root causes and solutions when quality issues are clearly identified.
• Provides approval for modifications to existing product formulas and/or processes to improve productivity, quality and/or cost.

• Educates and ensures accurate laboratory and project work documentation.
• Leads R&D meetings to update and report project status and issues to broader team and leads corporate training sessions as needed.
• Leads and collaborates with the Commercialization Team through the stage gate process.
• Recommends and influences processes improvements within R&D and cross functional team members in order to drive efficiency and profitability through the organization.
• Acts as a SME on ingredients and researches and recommends new ingredient opportunities.
• Collaborates with Process Engineer and other SME’s to be a leader in the knowledge of food manufacturing processes and equipment as they apply to the seafood industry and the food industry.

• Minimum 5 years of experience and a B.S. in Food Science or related degree
  • Seafood and Value‑Added Coating Knowledge is a plus.
  • Culinary training is a plus.
  • Knowledge of Sensory testing an asset.
• Experience in coaching and mentoring team members
• Leadership in various environments includes but not exclusive to manufacturing and processing.
• Able to handle multiple projects in a fast‑paced environment.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• Self
  - Motivated;
  Able to work with little supervision, eagerness to learn and grow.
• Proficient in MS Office

This position is located at High Liner Headquarters. The position involves daily or frequent contact with satellite R&D groups, operations, business channel managers, sales, procurement, purchasing, regulatory, and quality assurance managers. It also involves external contact with suppliers. The position requires frequent and occasional travel, domestically and internationally.

The physical demands described are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential…