R&D Technologist - Food & Meat Product Development
Salary: $80,000-$90,000/year
Bonus: $7,500-$10,000 annual bonus
Schedule: 1st Shift, typically around 7:00 AM-4:00 PM
What You'll Do
- Manage approximately 20 R&D and product development projects at a time
- Take new products from benchtop development through full commercialization
- Develop and modify meat product formulations
- Create prototypes and conduct pilot plant testing
- Coordinate and execute plant trials
- Evaluate ingredients and their functionality within meat products
- Identify opportunities to improve product quality, cost, and manufacturing efficiency
- Troubleshoot formulations and processing challenges
- Document test results, formulations, specifications, and project progress
- Work closely with FSQA and food safety teams
- Partner with Manufacturing, Quality, Engineering, Marketing, Sales, Finance, and other departments
- Communicate directly with production employees and plant leadership during trials
- Learn the capabilities and processes of multiple manufacturing facilities
- Support continuous improvement and cost optimization projects
- Ensure products and processes meet applicable USDA/FDA requirements
- Travel to manufacturing facilities to conduct trials and support projects
What We're Looking For
Meat industry experience is required.
Candidates should meet one of the following experience/education combinations:
- Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Animal Science, Meat Science, Biology, Microbiology, or a related field plus 2+ years of relevant experience
- Master's degree in a related field with relevant meat/food industry knowledge
- High school diploma/GED plus 6+ years of directly relevant industry experience
Internship experience within food or meat manufacturing may also be considered as part of a candidate's experience.
Must-Have Qualifications
- Experience working with meat products or within the meat processing industry
- Understanding of meat ingredients, formulations, processing, or product development
- Strong communication skills
- Ability to communicate effectively with both plant-floor production employees and corporate teams
- Ability to manage multiple projects and priorities simultaneously
- Comfortable working independently
- Willingness to spend significant time in a manufacturing environment
- Ability to travel approximately 40% (day travel, very limited overnight travel)
#LP
Posted by Adam Spaulding on September 4, 2026.
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