Product Development Specialist

Nestle Operational Services Worldwide SA•Fremont, MI

14d•$81,375 - $106,190•Onsite

About The Position

The Product Development Specialist within the Technical Applications Group at Nestlé Nutrition will support the Healthy Snacks category, encompassing products for infants, toddlers, and older children. This role will act as the technical lead to identify solutions, deliver innovation and renovation agenda, and drive optimization and improvement projects managing for cost, quality and compliance. Additionally, they will represent the Technical Applications Group as the subject matter expert, ensuring effective knowledge transfer to the factories.

Requirements

BS or MS degree in Food Science, Food Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or a related field.
3+ years of experience in product development within the CPG industry.
Strong understanding of project management with the ability to lead project teams.
Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, high-performing environment.
Ability to manage multiple projects and assignments.
Strong communication skills: interpersonal, presentation, oral, and written.
Highly motivated, critical thinker, goal-oriented, and adaptable to change.
Consumer-centric growth mindset and creative problem-solving abilities.
Computer Skills: SAP, Recipe Management and PLM systems, Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Teams.

Nice To Haves

Preferred experience in baking, extrusion, and other low moisture food technologies.

Responsibilities

Lead product development activities from concept to commercialization to introduce new products and processes within factories, ensuring safety, stability, and legality.
Act as the technical lead and apply leadership, coaching and influencing skills to steer the project on-time, on-budget, meeting key success criteria and consumer desire.
Partner with global experts within Nestlé to leverage innovative capabilities and drive product superiority.
Lead technical projects utilizing product development expertise across manufacturing operations, raw material sourcing, quality improvements, cost savings, and compliance. Take ownership and lead those initiatives with good project management practices.
Drive quality initiatives using Nestlé systems for ingredient qualification, supplier onboarding, technical acceptance, and regulatory compliance. Lead recipe optimizations to enhance manufacturability while ensuring compliance.
Apply problem-solving skills and scientific knowledge to unlock operational excellence.
Lead the onboarding, evaluation, and qualification of raw materials and suppliers including assessment for allergens and claims.
Identify, influence, and lead the development of the product and process standards in compliance with Nestlé requirements, external regulations and industry benchmarks.
Provide subject matter expertise, especially in the areas of ingredient, recipe and processing to ensure consistent production of high-quality products.
Define, develop, and coach the competencies and training materials required for product/process mastership to enable manufacturing excellence.
Acts as an ambassador for TAG when representing globally or externally.