Food Technologist (Liquid Applications)

Kinder's•Walnut Creek, CA

6d•$105,000 - $115,000•Onsite

About The Position

The Food Technologist provides technical support for product development activities for liquid application projects from exploratory/concept through commercialization. Emphasis on bench-top formulation for innovation and renovation projects, product cuttings, and documentation. Kinder's is a privately held, founder-led CPG company that is expanding globally and approaching $1 billion in revenue. They describe themselves as a 'pirate ship in a sea of cruise ships' and are looking for adventurous and fearless individuals to join their team.

Requirements

BS Degree in Food Science, Chemical Engineering, or a similar discipline
1-3 years food industry experience.
Knowledge of food manufacturing, formulation, and ingredient functionality for sauces.
Understanding of food safety and microbiology.
Familiarity with packaging technology to evaluate adequacy of packaging.
Understanding of food labeling regulations.
Excellent time management skills, sense of urgency, and desire to complete all assignments on a timely basis.
Must be able to travel up to 20% of the time.

Nice To Haves

Growth mindset with an excitement to learn.
Passionate people-lover excited by the opportunity to build strong relationships with teammates, consumers, and production partners.
Low ego with a strong sense of humility.
High level of adaptability to thrive in a dynamic, lean, and agile environment.
Collaborative mindset with an ability to find creative solutions.
Self-starter who takes initiative and is willing to speak their mind.
Excited to be part of a fast-moving team with the ability to be a leader and a follower where required.
Enjoy making decisions and finding ways to say ‘yes’ as often as possible to impactful and important priorities.

Responsibilities

With guidance, support product development innovation, renovation, cost optimization and quality initiatives.
Follow-through on product refinements based on PD, Marketing, and Customer feedback.
Leverage vendor capabilities and co-packers to expand formulation possibilities, new ingredients, and product technologies to increase speed to market.
In conjunction with Culinary Team and PD teams support internal cuttings, providing guidance on product development and provide recaps and next steps.
Optimize product formulations based on consumer feedback, ingredient opportunities, nutritional guidelines, and cost constraints.
Assist new product launches including plant trials and initial production runs at contract manufacturers.
Confirm specifications are met for product.
With process engineer, confirm specs are met for package, and process.
Coordinate logistics for plant trial unique raw materials and sample delivery/acquisition.
Support shelf-life stability testing for new products.