Sr R&D Engineer - Coffee Processing & Extraction

Keurig Dr Pepper•Burlington, MA

34d

About The Position

Come join a creative team of scientists and engineers on the forefront of beverage innovation! This team is dedicated to growing the category by pushing the boundaries of beverage development and delivery to satisfy every consumer need. Years ago, the coffee industry was revolutionized with the launch of the Keurig brewing system, allowing consumers to brew one cup of coffee on demand. Now with the power of Keurig Dr Pepper, join a new challenger in the beverage industry and let's discover the possibilities!The Senior Engineer will lead coffee processing and extraction development, author specifications for processing systems, and support equipment selection in partnership with Engineering. This role is critical to driving innovation and operational excellence in coffee processing. As part of the KDP coffee processing team, the Senior Engineers provide high level strategic recommendations for the company's coffee processing capabilities, while also supporting NPD and leading system improvements in manufacturing, quality, cost, and safety. This position partners closely with internal cross functional teams such as project management, engineering, quality, marketing, safety, environmental and operations resources, and external partners. The Senior Engineer in this position will be expected to provide leadership and guidance to fellow scientists, to co-manufacturing research teams, and to in-house operational team members. This position requires strong skills in critical thinking, collaboration, consumer insights, and the ability to positively influence project direction. This includes product scale up, specifically of coffee extraction & coffee processing unit operations, test methods development, communication with key suppliers, partners, and specifications development. Intimate knowledge and demonstrated application of extraction techniques and core coffee processing science are critical for success in this role; knowledge of particle engineering, formation, solids handling, and processing are a plus.

Requirements

B.S. in food science / engineering discipline with 10+ years of experience, M.S. with 7+ years of experience, Ph.D. with 2-4 years of experience.
Knowledge and experience in coffee processing with specific experience in the food industry (especially in coffee beverages) required, including practical experience across green coffee cleaning, roasting, degas, grinding, and flavoring
Knowledge of coffee extraction phenomena and rate kinetics, including extraction at a commercial scale
Knowledge of design requirements related to food safety, including SQF, FDA, GMP
Hands-on experience with process development, startup and commissioning
Strong statistical capability
Ability to travel as required (up to 50% of the time)
Knowledge and experience in preparation of PFD's, P&ID's
Knowledge and experience in modeling unit operation processes, including parameter estimation and material modeling.

Nice To Haves

Particle science experience a plus: Knowledge and experience with food processes such as blending, spray drying, drying, compaction, high shear agglomeration, fluid bed agglomeration, and extrusion.
Knowledge and experience with bulk solids and material handling, including pneumatic conveying and dust collection is preferred

Responsibilities

Research in knowledge-base and active development of coffee extraction methodologies (lab and commercial scale)
Defining coffee processing requirements to deliver new product specifications
Evaluate proposed improvements to existing coffee processes
Strategic planning for coffee processing capabilities required at lab scale as necessary
Evaluating latest coffee processing innovation & recommending any to assess further; in partnership with Engineering, making long-term recommendations for manufacturing network capabilities
Generation of process flow diagrams
Creation of business proposals to demonstrate and evaluate various project options
Provide technical support for commissioning, qualification and verification (CQV) processes
Utilize statistical data analysis for data driven decision making
Coach junior team members and grow technical capability across the team