Product Development Scientist

Ajinomoto Health & Nutrition North America, Inc.•Ayer, MA

3h•$105,000 - $130,000•Onsite

About The Position

The Product Development Team supports the medical nutrition business by developing new and revising existing product formulations to meet target characteristics that will deliver positive patient outcomes through therapeutic nutrition. Strong collaboration with the Directors of Medical Nutrition, Marketing, and Sales will be required to ensure desired nutritional levels are achieved throughout the product shelf-life, patient insights on flavor, texture, and palatability are incorporated. In this role, you will contribute to the ideation and exploration for uses of new to ACI ingredients and new to ACI business ventures in additional disease-states reliant on specialized medical nutrition. This position sits in our Corporate Office located in Ayer, MA.

Requirements

Minimum bachelor’s in food science, nutrition, or related field; Master’s degree preferred. PhD, PharmD a plus.
5+ years of experience in product development, with ability to take concepts from bench top to commercialization for nutritional beverages and / or nutritional powder blends from concept to commercialization.
5+ years in basic and applied research and development preferably in small/mid-sized nutrition, food and/or biotech company. Experience with food/beverage formulation and manufacture of nutritional products that meet stability, sensory and nutritional requirements. Direct experience with aseptic processing / Tetra Pak® a plus.
Expert scientific knowledge in food science with emphasis on product development involving interaction amongst ingredients and impact of process techniques on use of micro-nutrients.
Experience with nutritional modeling software and familiarity with FDA regulations preferred, exposure to EU regulations a plus.
Able to design and monitor product shelf-life procedures both regular and accelerated for nutritional products.
Strong translational science background with experience in converting basic nutrition-science insights into consumable products.
Build relationships with vendors to source ingredients to meet product specifications.
Overall understanding of how business units interact to facilitate successful product development and commercialization.
Ability to define new product needs in terms of process needs and product characteristics including organoleptic needs / claims
Demonstrated Leadership capability with a focus on innovation to drive product development proactively and passionately.
Exhibit the understanding of use of standard operation procedures related to product development, process development and product shelf-life determination.
Well versed with food safety requirements and regulations.
An understanding of human nutrition and ability to review primary scientific literature.
A strong ability to communicate basic science and technical challenges to non-technical audiences.
A strong understanding of ingredient interactions in a food/beverage matrix throughout processing and shelf life.
Ability to design shelf-life evaluation matrices considering product composition, process impact and other critical factors when designing new products in medical nutrition arena.
An understanding of macro and micro-nutrient analytical procedures and their principles.
Ability to work in a fast paced, cross functional team environment.
Excellent analytical skills, strong attention to details, good communication and interpersonal skills.
Excellent organizational skills, the ability to balance multiple projects, set priorities, and drive results.

Responsibilities

Utilize your exemplary food science and ingredient know-how to co-create and execute medical formula products against ACI’s strategic R&D roadmap to support the overall corporate strategy while meeting the internal quality expectations.
Support the Leadership and Management teams with scientific support in the areas of product development, clinical development, product manufacturing and new ingredient compound / product initiatives.
Research and help develop clinical evidence supporting existing and new products and ingredient compounds for use in commercial activities.
Participate in conferences, clinician meetings and other forums to present ACI’s clinical evidence.
Ensure existing and new products, processes or ingredient compounds have strong Intellectual Property protection thus providing ACI a sustained competitive advantage.
Other duties as assigned.