Senior Food Scientist

Job Title: Senior Food Scientist - Bakery and Snacking (Temporary Assignment)

Job Description

This temporary Senior Food Scientist - Bakery and Snacking role offers the opportunity to lead high-impact product development projects over an anticipated 5‑month period, providing maternity leave coverage. You will own product development and innovation activities from benchtop through scale-up and commercialization for nut-based spreads, fillings, confectionery applications, baked crackers, cookies, snack bars, and other snacking products. Working closely with ingredient and culinary teams, you will deliver customer-focused solutions, maintain project continuity, and support both internal and customer-facing initiatives across North America.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end product development from concept through commercialization for bakery and snacking products, including nut-based spreads, fillings, confectionery items, baked crackers, cookies, snack bars, and other snack applications.
• Translate project briefs (for example, reducing sugar content in baked goods such as muffins) into practical development plans, generate multiple formulation options, and select the best-performing prototypes based on sensory, performance, and customer requirements.
• Design, develop, and optimize formulations to meet sensory, shelf-life, nutritional, cost, food safety, regulatory, and customer-specific requirements.
• Conduct benchtop formulation work, including ideation, ingredient selection, mixing, and baking, to create and refine prototypes for internal review and customer presentations.
• Plan and execute pilot plant trials, including preparation of materials, coordination with operations teams, and adjustment of process parameters to ensure successful scale-up.
• Lead scale-up validation, plant trials, and first production runs, troubleshooting formulation and process issues to ensure manufacturability, quality, and consistency.
• Collaborate with ingredient specialists in cocoa, nuts, spices, coffee, and other ingredient categories to develop differentiated solutions that align with customer needs and market trends.
• Coordinate and manage materials for bench, pilot, and plant trials, ensuring timely availability of ingredients, packaging, and other required resources.
• Develop and prepare prototypes for customer meetings, innovation sessions, and trade shows, clearly communicating product benefits, ingredient stories, and technical attributes.
• Conduct analytical and functional testing on prototypes and finished products, including texture, moisture, stability, and other relevant quality attributes.
• Plan and execute sensory evaluations and shelf-life or stability studies, interpret results, and use findings to refine formulations and processes.
• Document formulations, specifications, processing parameters, nutritional calculations, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and other technical documentation in an accurate and timely manner.
• Maintain and update technical documentation systems, including specification databases and formulation tools, to ensure data integrity and traceability.
• Support project transitions and handoff summaries, ensuring clear communication of status, risks, and next steps to internal stakeholders.
• Work cross-functionally with R&D, culinary, quality, regulatory, procurement, marketing, commercial teams, manufacturing sites, co-manufacturers, ingredient suppliers, and customer teams to drive projects forward.
• Ensure compliance with food safety, regulatory, and labeling requirements throughout the product development and commercialization process.
• Manage multiple projects and priorities in a fast-paced environment, balancing customer deadlines, internal initiatives, and innovation pipelines.
• Provide technical support during customer visits, plant trials, and production start-ups, including on-site troubleshooting and process optimization.
• Use tools such as Microsoft Office and preferred systems like Genesis and Salesforce to manage projects, document work, and communicate with stakeholders.
• Contribute to a culture of collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement within the bakery and snacking category and the broader organization.

Essential Skills

• Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Food Technology, Food Engineering, or a related field.
• 3-5 years of research and development (R&D) experience, preferably within the food industry.
• Hands-on food product development experience, ideally in bakery, snacking, confectionery, nut-based spreads, fillings, crackers, cookies, snack bars, or commercial bakery applications.
• Proven ability to lead product development from concept through commercialization, including ideation, formulation, bench work, sensory evaluation, shelf-life and stability testing, pilot plant trials, plant trials, and first production runs.
• Strong understanding of ingredient functionality, including fats, sugars, proteins, hydrocolloids, cocoa, nuts, spices, coffee, and other functional ingredients used in bakery and confectionery systems.
• Demonstrated experience translating bench-top formulas into manufacturable products and troubleshooting issues during scale-up or production transfer.
• Experience working with pilot plant and full-scale manufacturing equipment and processes, including mixing, baking, depositing, enrobing, and related manufacturing operations.
• Knowledge of sensory evaluation principles and the ability to design, conduct, and interpret sensory tests.
• Experience with shelf-life testing, stability evaluation, and quality assessment methods for bakery and snacking products.
• Solid knowledge of food safety, regulatory requirements, and labeling standards applicable to food products.
• Strong project management skills, including the ability to manage multiple projects, timelines, and stakeholders in a fast-paced environment.
• Excellent problem-solving and analytical skills, with the ability to diagnose formulation and process issues and implement effective solutions.
• Strong written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively across cross-functional teams and with customers.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications for documentation, data analysis, and communication.
• Ability to travel up to 20% within North America to support customer meetings, plant trials, and production activities.

Additional Skills & Qualifications

• Degree in Food Science, Food Technology, Food Engineering, or a related field.
• Experience specifically with nut-based spreads, confectionery fillings, baked snacks, crackers, cookies, snack bars, or commercial bakery applications.
• Strong understanding of ingredient interactions in bakery and confectionery systems, particularly fats, sugars, proteins, and hydrocolloids.
• Experience with application work in bakery or snacking environments, including practical, hands-on baking and product preparation.
• Familiarity with Genesis for nutritional calculations and labeling support.
• Experience using Salesforce or similar customer relationship management tools to track projects and customer interactions.
• Prior experience in a global or multi-site organization, collaborating across regions and functions.
• Demonstrated ability to work both independently and as part of a highly cross-functional team.
• Comfort working in a customer-facing innovation environment, including presenting prototypes, explaining technical concepts, and responding to customer feedback.
• Interest in market trends across bakery, snacking, confectionery, and related categories, and the ability to translate trends into new product concepts.

Job Type & Location

This is a Contract position based out of Chicago, IL.

Pay and Benefits

The pay range for this position is $30.00 - $40.00/hr.

Eligibility requirements apply to some benefits and may depend on your job classification and length of employment. Benefits are subject to change and may be subject to specific elections, plan, or program terms. If eligible, the benefits available for this temporary role may include the following:

• Medical, dental & vision
• Critical Illness, Accident, and Hospital
• 401(k) Retirement Plan - Pre-tax and Roth post-tax contributions available
• Life Insurance (Voluntary Life & AD&D for the employee and dependents)
• Short and long-term disability
• Health Spending Account (HSA)
• Transportation benefits
• Employee Assistance Program
• Time Off/Leave (PTO, Vacation or Sick Leave)

Workplace Type

This is a fully onsite position in Chicago,IL.

Application Deadline

This position is anticipated to close on Jul 24, 2026.

About Actalent

Actalent is a global leader in engineering and sciences services and talent solutions. We help visionary companies advance their engineering and science initiatives through access to specialized experts who drive scale, innovation and speed to market. With a network of almost 20,000 consultants and 5,000 clients across the U.S., Canada, Asia and Europe, Actalent serves many of the Fortune 500. We are proud to be an Engineering News-Record (ENR) Top 500 Design Firm for our engineering design services and a ClearlyRated Best of Staffing winner for both client and talent service.

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