Food Technologist - Flavor

Beyond Meat is focused on raising the bar on talent and dedicated to shaping an inclusive culture that drives excellence, innovation, and results, engagement, and employee experience. The R&D team is a matrix organization within Beyond Meat that is dedicated to creating plant-based protein products that are leading the gold standard globally.

The Food Technologist on the Flavor Team plays a crucial role at Beyond Meat. They need a strong scientific background, excellent problem-solving skills, high attention to detail, a team-oriented mentality, to be self-motivated, creative, results-oriented, and resourceful. Food Technologists have a keen understanding and hands-on experience with innovative flavor development for food products and the ability to think beyond standard methods, as well as to independently lead and reach conclusions and deliver results within a matrix organization.

The Food Technologist on the Flavor Team is responsible for developing the flavor/aroma profiles of our products and through this work to support and deliver innovative plant-based food products through scale-up, commercialization and market launch. This person will have the opportunity to make an immediate impact in our core scientific understanding, to work closely and creatively with researchers, food product formulators, and culinary specialists to arrive at optimal flavor/aroma profiles and creative new food products, and grow professionally using the skills described herein. The Food Technologist candidate must have the ability to follow the Scientific Method, and possess the skill to use negative results as an opportunity to learn and develop a better product.

TASKS, DUTIES, & GENERAL RESPONSIBILITIES

• Continuously develop flavor/aroma descriptive abilities and lexicon to support flavor application work and participate in team sessions/trainings
• Provide general laboratory support, source and purchase ingredient supplies, and share in laboratory cleaning
• Provide prototype samples for shipment to various customers
• Cross-functional collaboration with internal Beyond Meat teams and outside vendors, such as flavor houses, ingredient suppliers, etc., to ensure success of products
• Perform other assigned responsibilities and scientific techniques as needed
• Protect Beyond Meat IP and confidential information
• Ensure that strict hygiene and food safety standards are met daily
• Upload data to appropriate databases and/or spreadsheets
• Participation in sensory studies may be required
• Assist in validating, calibrating, and collecting data from analytical instrument sand maintaining equipment logs and service records
• Maintain a laboratory notebook and experimental records; provide written and verbal reports of flavor activities
• Support the R&D team in attaining short- and long-term product development goals, adapting to evolving market trends
• Conduct flavor application tasks under supervision including but not limited to testing and batching new flavors in product prototypes, cooking prototypes and conducting cook or use-case studies, tasting prototypes and providing organoleptic input/learnings from experiments to new flavor application ideas and experiments, modifying and improving existing formulations, creating and maintaining formula sheets, and developing and evaluating prototypes daily
• Coordinate and participate in flavor tastings with the team
• Learn and abide by Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
• Collect, use and analyze quantitative data to guide flavor and product development
• Assist scientists with test objectives for product development, research, sensory and shelf-life experiments and assist with execution of sensory testing if needed

Supervisory Duties (if applicable)

• May supervise Associate Food Technologists and/or Batching Assistants

QUALIFICATIONS: Education, Technical Skills, and/or Previous Experience

• The ability to work in a team environment and also be self-directed at times
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Food Science, Food Chemistry, or a similar scientific field with 0-2+ years of experience
• Strong verbal and written communication skills
• The ability to work closely with a manager by communicating ongoing progress updates
• Experience in flavor application for food product development and developing innovative or complex flavor profiles preferred
• Ability to work with information and data from multiple sources, including organoleptic and sensory information, technical and scientific data, nutritional information, regulatory and safety information, timeline and project information.
• Ability to independently manage more than one project at the same time and work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment
• Command of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Google Suite
• Knowledge of lab techniques and previous work in a lab environment

WORK ENVIRONMENT/PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

• Position located in a mix of typical laboratory, pilot plant, and office environments
• Position requires to taste and smell food-grade ingredients
• Position requires the ability to stand or sit for prolonged periods, climb, kneel, bend, and consistently lift up to 25 lbs.

The starting annual base pay for this El Segundo, CA based role is between USD $65,000 and $75,000. The actual base is dependent upon many factors, such as: training, transferable skills, work experience, business needs, and market demands. The base pay range is subject to change and may be modified in the future. The role may also be eligible for bonus, equity, and benefits.