Senior Applications Scientist

Hilmar Cheese Company Inc. • CA

98d • $103,145 - $154,718

About The Position

At Hilmar Cheese Company we improve lives around the world through wholesome dairy products. Since our founding in 1984, Hilmar Cheese Company has been committed to innovation and sustainability. Our state-of-the art production facilities convert an abundance of locally sourced high-quality milk into a variety of nutritious cheeses, whey protein and lactose. The Cheese and Ingredients that we produce create a wide variety of retail and food service products from sliced and shredded cheeses, to protein supplements and infant formula. We are a trusted partner to premier food and beverage brands in more than fifty countries helping bring their vision into reality. Throughout our decades of success and growth we have remained committed to our mission and values and these principles unite our people and guide all that we do. The Senior Application Scientist will take the lead on projects that develop the commercial and applied understanding of new products and improvements in current ones. They are able to conduct and supervise research and formulate experiments at bench, pilot plant, and commercial scale to develop knowledge and data needed to understand cheese and ingredients products and processes. They evaluate new technologies and scientific methods, and provide internal company wide support for Hilmar Cheese products. Evaluate competitor products and use this a tool to drive product improvements that increase the profitability of products manufactured and sold by Hilmar. In addition, they provide technical training to internal and external customers through communication and demonstration of research data, results and conclusions.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree and 5 years’ of related experience or Master’s degree and 3 years of related experience.
• Knowledge of research principles and ability to perform experiments requiring precise control of process variables and execution of complicated method.
• Good knowledge of chemistry, specifically in the field of dairy chemistry and protein chemistry and ability to apply the knowledge to process trouble-shooting and product development.
• Good knowledge of experimental design, methods of data analysis, and basic statistics and ability to apply the analytical skills in trouble-shooting and product development.
• Ability to effectively use common lab and pilot plant instruments/equipment.
• Good organizational skills and ability to work with multiple projects and deadlines.
• Strong communication skills including presentation of scientific materials.

Nice To Haves

• Bachelor’s degree and 10 years’ of related experience or Master’s degree and 5 years’ of related experience or PHD plus two years of experience.
• Demonstrate hands-on dairy product development experience from its inception to scale-up and commercialization.
• Possess extensive knowledge and experience within the categories of dairy products, F&B categories, and nutritional/ functional food products.
• Advanced knowledge of cheese making.
• Background with process improvement programs and procedures.
• SAP, JMP, and Historian experience.

Responsibilities

• Works cross functionally across the business to deliver an industry leading product and process.
• Provides technical leadership for the application and troubleshooting of dairy protein, cheese and lactose ingredients.
• Conduct analysis of current and new products to determine functional, nutritional and sensory properties.
• Mentors and develop skills of other applications team members.
• Understands commercial, trade and regulatory issues pertaining to the marketing and use of food ingredients in regions where Hilmar products are sold and used.
• Formulation and preparation and of products for use in demonstrations and assistance at tradeshows, distributor and customer locations.
• Maintain knowledge and network on about current developments in research of food ingredients and applied sciences.
• Manage documentation including R&D project reports, sales requests, product formulations, and SOPs.
• Conduct characterization studies of competitor products and of consumer products that offer opportunities to expand market for current products or to develop new ones.
• Improve technical knowledge of the functionality of cheese and whey products. Apply and communicate this knowledge to the benefit of HCC and its customers.

Benefits

• 401k
• health_insurance
• dental_insurance
• vision_insurance
• paid_holidays
• tuition_reimbursement
• professional_development

What This Job Offers

• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: Bachelor's degree