Senior Food Scientist

Northwest Frozen LLC • Des Moines, WA

104d

About The Position

Northwest Frozen needs a high-agency food scientist who can bridge product development, shelf life science, and food safety. This role will work closely with our QA Manager and partner across QA, R&D, and operations to validate shelf life, evaluate process risk, improve product stability, and bring strong technical judgment to refrigerated ready meals and pasteurized meal systems.

Requirements

• Degree in Food Science, Food Microbiology, Food Engineering, or a closely related field.
• Expert-level experience in refrigerated ready meal shelf life validation and food safety.
• Strong hands-on experience with pasteurization and lethality-based processing, especially sous vide and cook-in-pouch systems.
• Working knowledge of hot fill soups and sauces.
• Experience writing technical reports for major retail customers and translating data into clear customer-ready conclusions.
• Strong understanding of sensory shelf life parameters and how to build scientifically defensible validation approaches.
• Strong understanding of HACCP, GMPs, food safety systems, and applied microbiology.
• Clear communicator who can work effectively with QA, operations, product development, and external customers.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with clean label systems and natural preservatives, including retailer-driven ingredient standards.
• Experience in frozen foods, refrigerated prepared foods, or multi-component ready meals.
• Comfort designing validation plans, challenge studies, and shelf life protocols that hold up to customer scrutiny.
• Track record of solving technical problems in a fast-moving, growth-oriented manufacturing environment.

Responsibilities

• Lead refrigerated ready meal shelf life validation programs, including microbiological, quality, and sensory assessments.
• Prepare clear, credible customer-facing technical reports related to shelf life validation, sensory parameters, and supporting data for some of the largest retailers in the United States and beyond.
• Provide deep technical expertise in pasteurization, sous vide, cook-in-pouch systems, and hot fill soups and sauces.
• Partner with the QA Manager on the food science behind food safety, including hazard evaluation, validation strategy, process controls, and practical risk-based decision making.
• Evaluate and recommend clean label preservation strategies, including Whole Foods Market-approved natural preservatives and other natural hurdle systems.
• Support development and refinement of HACCP plans and food safety documentation for commercialized products.
• Investigate root causes of shelf life and quality issues, including microbiological risk, texture change, oxidation, package interaction, and formulation-process interaction.
• Work across QA, R&D, and operations to improve formulations, processes, product performance, and speed to commercialization.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior