Research Scientist I

International Vitamin Corporation • Greenville, SC

1d

About The Position

The Research Scientist I is responsible for the design, development, optimization, and scale-up of dietary supplement products from concept through commercial manufacturing within a CDMO / white-label environment. This role requires strong formulation fundamentals across multiple dosage forms, with the ability to balance customer requirements, consumer centricity, cost targets, regulatory requirements, and manufacturing feasibility.
Experience with gummies and flavored dosage forms is a strong plus. The successful candidate will demonstrate versatility across dosage forms and the ability to rapidly learn and adapt to new technologies and formats.
Provides technical leadership on moderately complex development programs, supports customer-facing innovation, and plays a key role in ensuring formulations are robust, scalable, and commercially viable.
The candidate must be comfortable working cross-functionally with R&D, Quality, Regulatory, Supply Chain, and Manufacturing in a fast-paced, customer-driven CDMO environment
Formulate dietary supplement products in response to customer requests ranging from highly defined specifications to open-ended innovation briefs
Conduct bench-scale trials, physical evaluations, and data collection to support formulation decisions
Support and participate in sensory evaluations and tasting panels for flavored dosage forms
Develop and maintain costed formulations, including raw material, processing, and packaging assumptions
Prepare and maintain formulation specifications, technical documentation, and development reports
Collaborate with Quality and Regulatory teams to proactively address compliance, labeling, and claims considerations
Provide ongoing technical support to internal stakeholders and external customers throughout development, scale-up, and commercialization
Continuously improve formulation approaches, platforms, and best practices based on customer needs, market trends, and manufacturing learnings
Prepare, review, and approve Master Batch Records (MBRs), Master Change Requests (MCRs), and other formulation-related documentation
Provide hands-on technical support during manufacturing trials and initial commercial production runs
Execute responsibilities with minimal supervision while managing multiple projects
Ownership & Accountability – Takes responsibility for outcomes from concept through commercialization
Collaboration & Influence – Works effectively across R&D, Quality, Regulatory, and Operations without formal authority
Resilience in Ambiguity – Thrives in fast-paced, changing environments typical of CDMO operations
Perform other duties as assigned

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in chemistry, biology, food science, chemical engineering, or a related scientific discipline
• Ability to use the principles of general science, chemistry, and physics to produce formulations that will run efficiently in manufacturing operations
• Must be able to safely operate equipment and instruments used in the development and manufacture of nutritional dosage-forms & gummies
• Must be able to use mathematical skills to accurately calculate formula inputs as well as to create cost approximations for finished products in bulk and/or packaged forms
• Must be computer literate and capable in technical data accumulation and reporting
• Must be able to communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing
• Must possess strong interpersonal skills
• Must be able to perform duties with minimal supervision

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree or additional professional technical training preferred
• Experience with gummies and flavored dosage forms is a strong plus

Responsibilities

• Lead and support simple to moderately complex formulation development programs across multiple dietary supplement dosage forms
• Design formulations with consumer experience, cost, manufacturability, and quality as primary design constraints
• Develop flavored formulations to match benchmark products or create new flavor profiles where no benchmark exists
• Apply formulation and process understanding to troubleshoot scale-up, processing, and manufacturing issues
• Support salvage, reformulation, and rework strategies for at-risk or failed production batches
• Partner with Product Development leadership on pilot-scale and commercial-scale batches, collecting data to define in-process parameters and finished product specifications

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Number of Employees: 501-1,000 employees