R&D Scientist, Product Development

Business Unit Overview

Headquartered in Lakeville, Minn., Post Consumer Brands, a business unit of Post Holdings, Inc., is dedicated to providing people and their pets with delicious food choices for every taste and budget. The company’s portfolio includes beloved brands such as Honey Bunches of Oats®, PEBBLES®, Grape-Nuts® and Malt-O-Meal® cereal, and Peter Pan® peanut butter, as well as Rachael Ray® Nutrish®, Kibbles ‘n Bits® and 9Lives® dog and cat food. As a company committed to high standards of quality and to our values, we are driven by one idea: To make lives better by making delicious food accessible for all. For more information about our brands, visit www.postconsumerbrands.com and follow us on LinkedIn for the latest news.

Brand

Post Consumer Brands recently acquired several iconic pet food brands, venturing into a new market while remaining true to our purpose to provide delicious and accessible food that our consumers love. We’re always searching the center store for the next exciting product to add to our portfolio, and right now, we’re growing and need passionate, driven individuals with diverse perspectives to help us reach greater heights. That’s where you come in. Join a team where your voice is not only heard but valued. Make a real impact on brands enjoyed by millions of people and their pets.

Location Description

Post Consumer Brands corporate headquarters in Lakeville, Minn. is about 20 miles south of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Lakeville has all the benefits of smaller town living with access to everything a large metropolitan area has to offer. Join more than 400 team members collaborating on the two-building campus to help put breakfast on the tables of millions of consumers in North America.

Responsibilities

The R&D Scientist in Product Development is responsible for applying knowledge of food science and product development principles to design and formulate new and improved pet food and treat products for companion animals. The Scientist will manage product activities utilizing project management techniques and participate in and lead cross-functional product development activities for new product innovations, cost savings, and quality improvements.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop new products and improvements to existing products. Assure that product activities meet company cost capacity, quality, marketing and product development requirements.
• Improve and develop extensions to existing brands using laboratory bench top, vendor facilities and full-scale manufacturing systems. Ability to go from bench top to pilot scale to full scale production.
• Provide design and processing parameters inputs for new products, capacity improvements, and equipment design.
• Support the identification and solution of cost savings issues, product/packaging change issues, equipment modifications, manufacturability issues, etc., using appropriate scientific principles.
• Learn and apply formulation software and systems, develop and manage specifications, work in other software and systems as required.
  
  
  

Qualifications

Education

• BS or MS in Food Science, or related field.
  
  
  

Experience

• Experience in the food industry in a product development and formulation role.
• Experience in product formulation, scale up from bench to pilot plant to plant production, cost savings and quality improvements is preferred.
• Experience in extrusion, retort, baking or other thermal processes of manufacturing is a plus.
• Experience in pet food or animal feed is a plus.
  
  
  

Other

• Demonstrated problem-solving skills.
• Proven innovation and creativity.
• Ability to work effectively in team-based environment with multiple functional groups, in a collaborative and positive manner.
• Ability to achieve results and execute multiple simultaneous projects.
• Must have excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to organize and manage projects; interact, support, facilitate and lead multi-functional work teams; ability to lead team to a consensus; strong negotiation skills.
• Ability to manage multiple projects, in a fast-paced environment, meeting deadlines, and communicating status.
  
  
  

Required Travel

• Up to 25%