Food Scientist Jobs

Food Scientist - Blackfoot, Idaho
What BAF Is Like
As a relatively flat organization, you have a voice from your first day, along with opportunities to explore, learn, and develop new skills with challenging and rewarding work. We're focused on your success, both professionally and personally, and we are committed to offering competitive salaries and a comprehensive benefits package. We are a family-owned, family-friendly company that empowers and supports our employees. We live out our company values and expect all team members to do the same.
What is a typical day?
The R&D team is the hardworking group of product champions who bring food ideas to life, providing our customers with convenient and delicious mealtime solutions.
We are looking to hire a Food Scientist with a deep-rooted curiosity of food and the drive to help lead food development initiatives across our portfolio.
A typical day as a Food Scientist includes working with cross-functional project teams to scope feasibility and execute projects, develop prototypes in the lab, analyze & evaluate food products, test in the lab, pilot plant and full-scale manufacturing facilities. As the Food Scientist, you will have responsibility for planning and executing the project path from concept through commercialization and adhering to project timing and cost metrics. You will be welcomed into a highly collaborative and motivated team in an organization with world class values.
This role is based in Idaho but offers flexibility with an opportunity to work from home some days within a week and company-wide summer Fridays.
Do You Have the Ingredients to Become a Basic American Foods Hero?
Some of the essential duties and responsibilities of this position include:

• Drive a culture of Quality by providing technical support for customer service, production and QRO teams to identify and solve product related problems.
• Support the creation, routing, and management of ingredient, formula and finished good specifications.
• Proactively identify ideas and research on new functional ingredients/technologies that can be used to drive continuous improvement.
• Apply scientific principles and foundational product development concepts to projects. Leverage Lean principles to complete Root Cause Analyses, analyze statistical data, and identify trends that inform data-driven decision ownership.
• Collaborate with internal cross-functional partners and external suppliers to identify and troubleshoot technical product development hurdles. These partners may include, but are not limited to Project Management, Marketing, Sales, Customer Service, QRO, Procurement, Operations, Continuous Improvement Engineering, Ingredient Suppliers, and Co-Manufacturers.
• Develop new products beginning at the concept phase through successful commercialization by designing and leading bench trials, supporting pilot plant & scale up of manufacturing plant trials, creating analytical reports, organizing tasting sessions with RDQA team and/or Marketing.
• Develop, organize, and document product shelf-life studies and product cutting sessions. Analyze results to draw conclusions and communicate clear recommendations for next steps.

We're Looking For Someone With

• Bachelor's degree (B. S.) in Food Science or related discipline from a four-year college or university. Preferred degrees include Food Science, Food Engineering, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, and Culinology.
• 3-5 years related experience with aforementioned degree OR a minimum of 10-12 years of experience in related roles within the food industry.

Additional Traits That Set You Apart

• Possess a general understanding of Lean principles and data driven problem solving methods, lab testing tools and apparatus, food processing and manufacturing equipment, and sensory evaluation methods.
• Must be food focused, with a demonstrated ability to formulate new food products that deliver on taste expectations.
• Demonstrates leadership, cost consciousness, communication skills, and diplomacy that will promote good relations with all facets of management and other disciplines in the effective execution of projects.
• Must be a results oriented with proactive problem-solving skills and excellent verbal and written communication. Functions effectively as a project team member and technical expert
• Proven ability to manage multiple projects with a sense of urgency and attention to detail, execute against assigned project activities and deliverables, communicate progress and challenges to a variety of audiences, and serve as a technical expert.
• Must maintain the highest standards of data management by completing all necessary record-keeping to maintain intellectual property and share knowledge across the organization.
• Embody resourcefulness and critical thinking, with an ability to utilize scientific principles to develop new products, processes, and formulations.

Who We Are
What makes an amazing meal so great? The people who create them - those in kitchens and dining rooms everywhere who work hard to plan, prepare, and cook every dish to perfection. They're heroes in our eyes, and it's our job to set them up for success. We are proud of our 85-year history, and we credit success to our startup mentality and strategic focus on providing tasty and innovative products to kitchens, cafeterias, and dining rooms throughout America. Our supportive and collaborative culture is driven by our mission - to make mealtime victories happen every single day.
Where We Are
Our locations in Southeast Idaho provide the family-friendly feel of a small town with plenty of nearby nature to explore. This area is perfect for the outdoor activities lover and is only a short distance from two national parks!
What We Offer
In addition to competitive compensation, Basic American Foods is committed to providing our employees with a benefits program that is both comprehensive and competitive. Our benefits program offers health care, dental, and vision coverage, as well as financial programs such as 401k, life & disability insurance, and Healthcare FSA to our employees. Additionally, we invest in our employees and community through our Educational Assistance and Matching Gifts for Education programs respectively.
You'll Love Working Here If You

• Love what you do, and it shows. Our employees are passionate about what they do and enjoy challenging work.
• Are guided by a deep belief in integrity & personal values. This is a part of our employees' personal value systems as much as it is the organization's.
• Believe in professional development for ourselves, as well as support the development of others.
• Hold yourself and others accountable, while always maintaining dignity and respect for yourself and those around you.
• Are knowledgeable and confident, but never boastful. While we are proud of our company, our team, and the products we create, we are humble and down-to-earth at our core.

At BAF, we are an equal opportunity employer. We value diversity and strive to create a supportive and inclusive community of individuals committed to helping each other and our company thrive.