Senior Applications Scientist

A Typical Day

The Senior Application Scientist will take the lead on projects that develop the commercial and applied understanding of new products and improvements in current ones. They are able to conduct and supervise research and formulate experiments at bench, pilot plant, and commercial scale to develop knowledge and data needed to understand cheese and ingredients products and processes. They evaluate new technologies and scientific methods, and provide internal company wide support for Hilmar Cheese products. Evaluate competitor products and use this a tool to drive product improvements that increase the profitability of products manufactured and sold by Hilmar. In addition, they provide technical training to internal and external customers through communication and demonstration of research data, results and conclusions.

Job Responsibilities

• Works cross functionally across the business to deliver an industry leading product and process. 
• Provides technical leadership for the application and troubleshooting of dairy protein, cheese and lactose ingredients. 
• Conduct analysis of current and new products to determine functional, nutritional and sensory properties. 
• Mentors and develop skills of other applications team members.
• Understands commercial, trade and regulatory issues pertaining to the marketing and use of food ingredients in regions where Hilmar products are sold and used. 
• Formulation and preparation and of products for use in demonstrations and assistance at tradeshows, distributor and customer locations.
• Maintain knowledge and network on about current developments in research of food ingredients and applied sciences.
• Manage documentation including R&D project reports, sales requests, product formulations, and SOPs.
• Conduct characterization studies of competitor products and of consumer products that offer opportunities to expand market for current products or to develop new ones. 
• Improve technical knowledge of the functionality of cheese and whey products. Apply and communicate this knowledge to the benefit of HCC and its customers 
   

What You Will Need

• Bachelor’s degree and 5 years’ of related experience or Master’s degree and 3 years of related experience.
• Knowledge of research principles and ability to perform experiments requiring precise control of process variables and execution of complicated method.
• Good knowledge of chemistry, specifically in the field of dairy chemistry and protein chemistry and ability to apply the knowledge to process trouble-shooting and product development. 
• Good knowledge of experimental design, methods of data analysis, and basic statistics and ability to apply the analytical skills in trouble-shooting and product development.
• Ability to effectively use common lab and pilot plant instruments/equipment. 
• Good organizational skills and ability to work with multiple projects and deadlines. 
• Strong communication skills including presentation of scientific materials.

What Will Put You Ahead

• Bachelor’s degree and 10 years’ of related experience or Master’s degree and 5 years’ of related experience or PHD plus two years of experience.
• Demonstrate hands-on dairy product development experience from its inception to scale-up and commercialization. 
• Possess extensive knowledge and experience within the categories of dairy products, F&B categories, and nutritional/ functional food products.
• Advanced knowledge of cheese making.
• Background with process improvement programs and procedures.
• SAP, JMP, and Historian experience.
   

Physical Demands & Work Environment

The role has periods of time when the work environment is sedentary and conducted in an office environment balanced with frequent occasions that require prolonged walking or standing, lifting/ carrying/handling moderate weight objects on a regular basis.   Is required to wear PPE and have a regular presence in manufacturing and warehouse environments in both temperature controlled and uncontrolled locations. Must frequently interact with people verbally.  Specific details of the essential functions of the position is available in the Job Safety Analysis, made available on request.