Senior Product Designer - Fresh Sous Vide

Deli Star Corporation•Saint Louis, MO

27d•Onsite

About The Position

Deli Star is seeking a Senior Product Designer to develop fresh sous vide protein products and prepared foods for its REVEL retail brand and customer innovation programs. The role combines culinary creativity, food science, and first-principles problem-solving to create products with desirable flavor, texture, appearance, nutrition, convenience, and value. The designer formulates and prototypes products, conducts experiments, evaluates results using sensory judgment and scientific measurement, and documents findings and design decisions. The position owns product science, formulation, bench design, and technical intent, with direction from the CEO and Chief Science & Innovation Officer. The designer works across DESIGN, Sales, Marketing, Product Management, Commercialization, Purchasing, Logistics, Technical Services, Technology, Manufacturing, Engineering, and Food Safety & Quality. The role remains involved through pilot and plant trials and scale-up, assessing product performance and guiding formulation refinements. The Sr. Development Scientist leads commercialization trials, scale-up coordination, manufacturing-readiness evidence, and technical transfer to Manufacturing.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Meat Science, Food Engineering, or a related discipline.
Passion for designing food products, supported by examples from professional, academic, or independent projects.
First-principles thinking and ability to explain why a product behaves as it does.
Understanding of protein and ingredient functionality, thermal processing, and refrigerated food quality.
Ability to plan and conduct bench experiments, assess results, and refine formulations.
Strong sensory judgment, analytical skills, and disciplined technical documentation.
Ability to communicate a design clearly, welcome critique, and solve problems collaboratively across functions.

Nice To Haves

Three or more years of experience with sous vide, cooked proteins, vacuum packaging, or refrigerated prepared foods.
Experience with prepared meals, home meal replacement, entrées, sauces, sides, or meal components.
Experience supporting pilot or plant trials and translating culinary concepts into repeatable formulations and manufacturing specifications.
Experience designing for reheating performance, component compatibility, texture, moisture retention, and shelf-life quality.

Responsibilities

Design sous vide protein products and fresh prepared foods for REVEL and customer innovation programs.
Translate customer and consumer needs into product goals for flavor, texture, appearance, nutrition, convenience, and value.
Create formulations and bench prototypes, refining the details that affect preparation and eating experience.
Explore new applications and product formats enabled by Fresh Sous Vide, establishing measurable quality targets and technical intent.
Question assumptions, identify underlying problems, and test what improves the product.
Conduct focused experiments that combine sensory judgment with scientific measurement.
Assess how ingredients, cooking, chilling, packaging, and reheating affect product quality and eating experience.
Simplify formulations and methods where possible, and accurately document findings and design decisions.
Partner with Sales, Marketing, and Product Management on customer discovery, samples, and technical feasibility.
Provide formulations, product specifications, quality targets, and technical intent to the Sr. Development Scientist.
Participate in pilot and plant trials, assess results against the intended product experience, and refine formulations with the development team.
Collaborate with Purchasing, Logistics, Technical Services, Technology, Manufacturing, and Food Safety & Quality to preserve product intent through production and support required evaluations and approvals.
Remain engaged through scale-up to assess product performance and guide formulation refinements.