R&D Food Scientist

Nura•Irvine, CA

11h

About The Position

NURA USA LLC aims to be the premier next generation ingredient provider focused on delivering better ingredients. Our team consistently demonstrates a relentless desire to help our customers achieve success, pursues sustainable innovative ideas for future generations, and utilizes a long-term strategic approach to be a true partner to our customers in the dietary supplements, food, and beverage industries. NURA USA is looking for a Food Scientist. The ideal candidate for this position has 3 years min experience to help our team (i) develop food, beverage and supplement formulations and/or commercialize new branded ingredients; (ii) provide customer-facing technical expertise and support to sales team; (iii) substantiate and evaluate current portfolio offerings for customer technical support; and (iv) carry out general R&D lab operational tasks and enhance our SOPs and standards.

Requirements

Master’s degree in Food Science, Nutritional Science, Chemistry, Material Science, Food Engineering, or a related field.
Mid-Level (3-5 years) or Senior Level (5+ years) of experience within the food industry.
Strong foundation in food formulation, food chemistry, microbiology, and processing.
Specific experience in beverage formulation, particularly with protein, nutritional, RTD, and functional beverages.
Understanding of ingredient stability under various processing conditions, such as thermal processing, pasteurization, and UHT.
Knowledge of current protein characterization methodologies.
Strong nutrition, technical, scientific, and regulation background with passion in food, beverage, nutrition industry.
Knowledge and understanding of protein characterization methodologies and continued updating of new methods.
Comfortable in customer-facing roles, capable of presenting complex technical information to audiences with varying levels of expertise.
Creative and analytical thinking to solve problems and generate impactful solutions.
Strong project management skills.
Ability to analyze large datasets.
Proven track record of taking ownership and delivering high-quality results.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
Positivity and proactiveness.
Growth mindset.
Sense of urgency.
Adaptability to thrive in a dynamic, collaborative team environment.
Willingness to travel up to 20%.

Nice To Haves

Experience in dietary supplements, food, and beverage industries.
Experience with AI and other available tools for market trend analysis.
Experience with pilot trials and UHT processing evaluations.
Experience coordinating with internal and third-party Quality Control labs.

Responsibilities

Develop Food, Beverage and Supplement formulations & support New Branded Ingredient Commercialization
Carry out R&D teams’ substantiation and evaluation of ingredients through the New Ingredient/Vendor Qualification Standard Operating Procedure.
Have a deep understanding of the ingredient’s businesses and commercialization of branded ingredients: specifically dietary supplements, food, beverage, and pet industries.
Analyze market trends using AI and other available tools (consumer behavior, market segmentation, competitor positioning, etc.) and emerging demands to propose potential new product concepts.
Present new product design concepts, benefits and advantages, potential applications to prospective audience.
Develop new and innovative applications for food, beverage, and nutrition customers in an end-to-end, agile fashion in an agile fashion
Manage material, document, market data, pricing, formulation etc. for research and new formulation development.
Conduct experiments to evaluate new ingredients/formulations as defined.
Collaborate with New Product Commercialization Team to develop commercialization strategy, go-to-market plan, and support sales activities for new products in a variety of delivery applications.
Collaborate with Marketing on content and data required for sell sheets, presentations, publications, etc. for various tradeshows, social media postings, events, meetings, etc.
Act as the technical bridge between NURA and our clients, supporting the sales team by providing deep insights into our branded ingredients, competitive advantages, and market positioning.
Assist with customer-facing presentations and lead in person formulation workshops.
Develop prototype formulations and technical demonstrations that utilize NURA’s ingredient portfolio to solve specific challenges.
Troubleshoot issues related to ingredient functionality, stability, sensory performance, and cost optimization.
Provide essential technical documentation for NURA formulations and claim substantiation materials.
Build strong relationships with the technical teams of new and existing customers.
Manage and prioritize a robust R&D project pipeline and independently manage customer-specific projects from inception through commercialization.
Develop prototype formulations, application concepts and technical demonstrations utilizing NURA's ingredient portfolio to support customer evaluations and commercialization opportunities.
Support customer formulation and processing troubleshooting related to ingredient functionality, stability, sensory performance, processing conditions and cost optimization.
Promote NURA as a technical leader by presenting new product concepts and technologies to existing and potential customers.
Partner with sales teams to build a strong R&D project pipeline by identifying and shaping new opportunities & presenting such innovative solutions as prototypes at trade shows & available to distribute as samples
Lead customer specific R&D projects and provide technical expertise and support to develop high-quality, cost-effective solutions.
Independently manage and track project progression, key milestones and commercialization throughout designated project management systems
Maintain a high standard of laboratory operations.
Help establish and enforce laboratory SOPs, testing methodologies, and prototyping procedures to ensure a safe and sanitized R&D environment.
Support powder mix, beverage, and other food and snack application development, including pilot trials and UHT processing evaluations.
Coordinate with internal and third-party Quality Control labs to analyze test results.
Assist NURA USA in achieving and maintaining industry-recognized certifications.
Ensure that our lab can meet food safety compliance requirements when making samples and prototypes.