Director, R&D - Formulation

Dairy Farmers of America•Rochester, MN

22h

About The Position

Leads formulation-driven R&D activities across priority business platforms, ensuring development of commercially viable products that meet customer, regulatory, operational, sensory, nutritional, and financial expectations. Responsible for translating customer briefs and business priorities into optimized, scalable formulations while driving innovation, cost competitiveness, IP development and protection, and monetization of the opportunity pipeline. This role leads the formulation organization with a clear focus on speed-to-market, first-round sample acceptance (making it to the second round and/or hitting customer expectations), commercialization success, and organic growth through new product development, applications development, benchtop sessions, standard samples, and formulation cost-out. While formulation is the primary focus, this role and the team also provide process design, process validation, scale-up support, plant trial leadership, and troubleshooting expertise when required to ensure products can be successfully manufactured at commercial scale.

Requirements

B.S. degree in Food Science, Dairy Science, Biological Science, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, or related discipline required.
12+ years of progressive food, dairy, ingredient, or related R&D experience, including demonstrated leadership of formulation-driven development from concept through commercialization.
Proven career advancement in food or dairy product development, applications, formulation science, or ingredient systems.
Demonstrated people leadership, talent development, project leadership, and cross-functional influence.
Proven track record commercializing new products, improving formulas, supporting strategic customers, and delivering cost-out or margin improvement through formulation.
Ability to travel 50-75% (up to 2 weeks per month)
Deep expertise in formulation science, ingredient functionality, dairy chemistry, sensory optimization, applications testing, and commercial product development
Strong practical understanding of process design, validation, scale-up, plant trial planning, process troubleshooting, and how formula decisions impact equipment performance, product stability, yield, quality, food safety, and commercial feasibility
Strong understanding of food safety programs, food safety by design, GMPs, and development practices that protect product quality and consumer safety
Working knowledge of food regulatory and labeling requirements, including USDA and FDA considerations relevant to assigned categories
Strong people leadership, team building, coaching, prioritization, and resource deployment abilities
Exceptional communication skills with the ability to translate complex technical topics for customers, commercial teams, operations, and senior leadership
Ability to solve complex formulation, customer, operational, and commercialization challenges using data, scientific method, and sound judgment
Self-driven, hands-on leadership style with the ability to initiate, drive, and adapt to change in a fast-paced environment
Ability to balance a heavy workload, manage multiple priorities, and focus resources on the highest-value opportunities
Strong documentation discipline and proficiency with CRM/Salesforce, formula/cost modeling tools, and standard productivity systems.
Must have the ability and capability to interact and communicate with the most senior levels of the organization.
Able to read, write, and speak English.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree or Ph.D. is desirable.
Dairy beverage systems including ESL, aseptic, retort, high-protein, and cultured beverages
Cultured dairy, cottage cheese, sour cream, yogurt, sauces, cheese, butterfat, and dairy-based culinary applications
Dry blends, dairy powders, spray drying, specialty co-drying, concentrates, flavors, and protein systems
Stabilization, emulsification, fermentation, enzyme modification, natural emulsification, fat utilization, and formula cost modeling
Process design, process validation, scale-up, plant trials, troubleshooting, and formula-process interaction across dairy and ingredient-based manufacturing systems.

Responsibilities

Lead formulation development from concept through pilot plant readiness across dairy beverages, cultured systems, sauces, cheese, dry blends, concentrates, flavors, specialty co-drying, and other priority platforms
Translate customer briefs, business objectives, and consumer needs into executable formulation plans with clear success criteria, timelines, risks, and decision points
Own ingredient selection, supplier qualification input, benchtop development, iterative prototyping, formula optimization, nutritional targets, and application validation
Use sensory science, analytical data (from R&D work and plants), and customer end-use testing to ensure products meet or exceed expectations for taste, functionality, nutrition, processing performance, and shelf-life
Drive disciplined documentation in R&D modeling solutions, including formula version control, development notes, learnings, specifications, sample history, and commercialization readiness inputs
Define and validate critical product and process requirements, including processing conditions, ingredient addition sequence, hydration, shear, heat treatment, hold times, cooling, packaging considerations, and other parameters needed to translate bench formulations into repeatable manufacturing processes.
Monetize the opportunity and innovation pipeline by prioritizing formulation work that supports growth, margin, strategic customer needs, and ROI expectations
Drive formulation support for priority commercialization programs, ensuring samples are internally validated before customer submission and ready for scale-up handoff
Partner with Processing Design & Validation, Operations, Quality, Regulatory, Procurement, Supply Chain, Finance, and Commercialization to reduce risk from bench to pilot plant to full-scale production
Lead or support process design and validation work when formulation decisions directly affect equipment capability, processing windows, yield, product stability, food safety, quality attributes, throughput, or commercial feasibility
Improve speed-to-market, sample turnaround time, first-round acceptance (making it to the second round and/or hitting customer expectations), scale-up success, and customer conversion through disciplined development plans and decision-making
Partner with plants and technical resources to design trials, establish run conditions, evaluate process performance, document learnings, and confirm that the final formula-process combination is ready for repeatable commercialization
Use CRM/Salesforce and R&D metrics to manage opportunity status, project milestones, sample activity, pipeline health, and leadership reporting.
Lead formula cost modeling, least-cost formulation, and flexible formulation strategies that account for commodity volatility, raw material availability, customer requirements, and supply chain realities
Deliver margin improvement through ingredient optimization, reformulation, cost-out, and value engineering while protecting product performance and customer acceptance
Build formulation approaches that allow for ingredient substitution, raw material flexibility, and supply continuity without compromising quality, safety, or label expectations
Partner with Finance, Procurement, and Commercial teams to ensure development decisions are connected to COGS, pricing effectiveness, profitability, and business case expectations
Drive formulation-based innovation in protein fortification, stabilization and emulsification, fermentation and flavor development, natural emulsification, fat utilization, dairy powders, concentrates, sauces, permeate, cultured products, specialty co-drying, and other new aspects of food science
Expand DFA’s technical capabilities by identifying new ingredients, technologies, methods, and formulation approaches that create differentiated customer solutions and switching barriers
Partner with engineering, process technology, operations, and Sr. Principal Scientists to connect advanced discovery with scalable formulation and commercialization pathways
Contribute technical leadership to process design and validation for new or complex product platforms, particularly where formulation functionality, process capability, equipment design, and commercialization risk are highly interdependent
Identify, develop, document, and protect intellectual property where formulation, ingredient systems, applications, or process/formula combinations create unique value.
Lead technical engagement with customers through benchtop sessions, ideation meetings, demos, sample reviews, troubleshooting, plant trials, and post-launch support
Support Sales, Marketing, Innovation, and business leaders by translating customer strategies, brand needs, and category priorities into commercially relevant formulation solutions
Influence cross-functional partners to “solve for yes” while maintaining food safety, regulatory, quality, operational, and financial discipline
Contribute technical content and review customer-facing presentations, sell sheets, technical briefs, and commercialization materials for accuracy and impact
Lead and develop a formulation team that may include Principal Scientists, Sr. Scientists, Scientists, Associate Scientists, and other technical resources assigned to formulation-related work
Build technical depth and breadth across wet and dry dairy systems, applications, cost-out, customer support, and commercialization readiness
Ensure the team maintains practical capability in process design, process validation, plant trial execution, troubleshooting, and scale-up support so formulation work remains connected to operational reality
Establish development plans, coaching routines, technical standards, and learning opportunities that strengthen bench strength and career progression
Create a culture of accountability, speed, monetization, customer focus, and “do what it takes to win” while reinforcing a “never stop learning” mindset