Senior Scientist - Cultured Dairy Products & Applications

About Kerry

Kerry is the world's leading taste and nutrition company for the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries and we are hiring a Senior Scientist – Cultured Dairy Products & Applications is a key technical leader within Kerry’s Food Dairy business, driving innovation, customer satisfaction, and commercial success across cultured dairy platforms. This role blends advanced scientific expertise with hands-on processing knowledge to support customers in solving formulation, process, and scaleup challenges. The scientist leads development, optimization, and commercialization of cultured dairy solutions while providing high-impact technical support to internal teams and external customers.

Key responsibilities

• Lead development of cultured dairy applications showcasing Kerry’s technology portfolio and optimization of existing formulations to support customer briefs and strategic EUM priorities.

• Translate market insights and consumer data into differentiated, high-performing product concepts aligned to customer needs.

• Benchmark competitive technologies and products and ensure internal prototypes meet or exceed industry performance standards.

• Develop and execute technical plans that balance cost, quality, functionality, and manufacturing feasibility.

• Create cost effective formulations, batching instructions, and process flow diagrams with a strong understanding of dairy processing unit operations and their impact on texture, flavor, and stability.

• Lead pilot plant trials, factory scaleups, and commercialization in collaboration with Kerry manufacturing sites and customer production teams.

• Provide expert troubleshooting support on cultured dairy manufacturing issues—including fermentation dynamics, culture performance, process deviations, ingredient interactions, and post-fermentation handling.

• Serve as the primary technical resource for customers, delivering formulation support, processing recommendations, and rapid issue resolution throughout the commercialization cycle.

• Conduct onsite and virtual technical sessions, including processing audits, product assessments, root-cause analyses, and optimization workshops.

• Record trial procedures, observations, and results to drive data-informed decision making.

• Lead sensory reviews, product evaluations, and shelf-life studies, communicating clear technical conclusions and improvement paths.

• Identify technical risks, propose mitigation strategies, and maintain robust documentation to ensure repeatability and knowledge transfer.

Qualifications and skills

• BS in Food Science, Dairy Science, Dairy Chemistry, Food Microbiology or related field with 8+ years relevant experience, or MS/PhD with 5+ years preferred.

• Deep technical knowledge of cultured dairy products, including fermentation science, dairy biochemistry, ingredient functionality, and process interactions.

• Proven ability to apply advanced scientific knowledge to solve complex technical and processing challenges.

• Strong project leadership with demonstrated success commercializing new products and delivering customer-focused solutions.

• Customer-centric mindset with the ability to anticipate needs, influence key stakeholders, and translate technical outcomes into business value.

• Experience with experimental design, statistical analysis, and technical reporting.

• Familiarity with food safety, regulatory frameworks, and quality systems relevant to cultured dairy manufacturing.

• Strong understanding of processing equipment used in fermentation, heat treatment, homogenization, and cultured dairy packaging lines.

The typical hiring range for this role is $63,000 - 116,900.00 and is based on several factors including but not limited to education, work experience, certifications, location, etc. In addition to your pay, Kerry offers benefits such as a comprehensive benefits package, incentive and recognition programs, equity stock purchase and retirement contribution (all benefits and incentives are subject to eligibility requirements).