Food Scientist

About Us:

Carl Buddig and Company is a legacy in the meat manufacturing industry with a rich heritage spanning over 80 years. Established as a family-owned enterprise, we have grown into a leading producer of quality meat products, including our renowned lunchmeats, ready-to-eat cooked meats under the Kingsford, LLC division, and savory snack meats from Old Wisconsin.

As a third-generation family business, our success is deeply rooted in our commitment to quality, innovation, and community. Over the decades, we have expanded our reach and capabilities, now employing 2,500 dedicated team members across Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana. Our growth trajectory continues to accelerate, with significant expansion anticipated in the next five years, driven by our vision for excellence and our dedication to meeting the evolving tastes of our consumers.

Carl Buddig and Company prides itself on fostering an awesome culture where teamwork and innovation are at the core of everything we do. We believe in creating an environment that encourages creativity and collaboration, ensuring that every team member feels valued and empowered to contribute to our shared goals.

Our connection to the communities we serve goes beyond business. We are deeply committed to philanthropy and actively support numerous charitable initiatives and organizations. Whether it's through direct contributions, volunteer efforts, or community partnerships, we strive to make a positive impact and give back to the neighborhoods that have supported us for generations.

Join us at Carl Buddig and Company, where tradition meets innovation, and where our passion for quality meat products is matched only by our dedication to our people and communities.

Position Summary:

The Food Scientist position will have the opportunity to directly impact and drive innovation, renovation, and optimization of our retail and food service smoked meats business. You will work closely with cross-functional teams to ensure our products meet safety, quality, and regulatory standards while also aligning with consumer trends and preferences. Development work will include culinary prototypes, formula development, food safety & quality, process development, cost, and continuous improvement of new and existing products. A strong knowledge and passion of the food industry, food trends, and a sense of curiosity and creativity are essential.

Key Responsibilities:

• Manage multiple ongoing projects concurrently in an organized manner.
• Taking ownership and accountability for technical projects, executing small- and large-scale plant tests while documenting data and analyzing results.

Innovation:

• Work directly with the sales and marketing teams on new concept development and seeing through the project all the way through the NPD process (concept development, consumer testing, concept refinement, benchtop development, pilot development, and commercialization).
• Identify culinary trends that can be incorporated into new products with new and existing capabilities.

Renovation:

• Work cross functionally with plant operations and FSQA to enhance existing portfolio items.
• Developing new SKUs while using established formulas and processing methods as a foundation.

Optimization:

Work directly with operation and finance to identify optimization opportunities pertaining to formulation, raw processing, cooking programs, and packaging processes that drive revenue and margin growth.

Qualifications:

• Must demonstrate a culinary and technical competence - background in Food Science, Meat Science, Culinary Science, Process Engineering, and/or related field.
• Strong Product development and commercialization experience.
• 3+ years of experience in food product development. Experience in meat and/or BBQ product development is a plus but not required.
• Understanding of ingredient functionality and interrelationship of formula and process.
• Can manage multiple tasks concurrently with the ability to prioritize the work.
• Excellent communication, influencing, prioritization, presentation, and project management skills.
• Strong critical thinking skills and ability to make connections to bigger company goals when developing.
• Ability to coach and train staff in new processes.