Senior R&D Scientist

Position Summary

This role combines strong scientific expertise with increasing leadership responsibility. The Senior R&D Scientist independently leads projects, drives innovation initiatives, contributes to the development of organizational capabilities and ways of working, and mentors junior team members. The role provides opportunities to demonstrate leadership, coaching, project management, and strategic thinking that can prepare an individual for future growth opportunities.

The successful candidate will partner closely with Marketing, Consumer Insights, Engineering, Operations, Procurement, FSQA, Supply Chain, Regulatory, Finance, and Sales to develop consumer-focused products while balancing technical feasibility, business needs, and operational requirements.

What you'll do:

Product Development Leadership

• Serve as the primary technical lead for product development projects from concept through commercialization.
• Develop formulations, prototypes, processing strategies, and specifications that meet requirements for food safety, quality, operational efficiency and business excellence.
• Lead technical assessment and mitigation of project risks.
• Design and execute prototype and product development from bench-top to manufacturing production.

• Develop strong cross-functional partnerships across the organization which drive commercialization readiness and ensure successful startup and launch.
• Uphold safety, food safety, sustainability, security, and intellectual property standards in all research activities.

Technical Excellence

• Apply scientific principles to solve technical challenges and improve product performance.
• Independently design experiments and use sound scientific judgement to interpret results and provide data based technical recommendations.
• Maintain expertise in ingredient systems, processing technologies, consumer trends, and industry innovations.
• Identify opportunities for product innovation, optimization, cost savings, quality improvements, and process efficiencies.

Talent Development & Mentorship

• Coach and mentor technologists, associate scientists, interns, and new hires.
• Share technical knowledge and best practices to strengthen organizational capability.
• Contribute to onboarding, training, and technical skill development programs.
• Provide informal leadership and guidance across project teams, to support Gorton's business objectives.
• Support a culture of continuous learning, collaboration, and innovation.

Innovation & Strategic Contribution

• Identify emerging technologies, ingredients, suppliers, and consumer trends that may create growth opportunities and support long-range innovation planning.
• Recommend and champion new ideas or approaches that support business strategy.
• Participate in external industry organizations, conferences, supplier interactions, and professional networks.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives that enhance R&D effectiveness and efficiency.

Organizational Leadership Development

The Senior R&D Scientist is expected to begin demonstrating readiness for broader organizational leadership by:

• Leading large cross-functional initiatives.
• Influencing decisions outside direct project responsibilities.
• Supporting talent development, recruitment, and succession planning activities.
• Contributing to process improvement and organizational effectiveness initiatives.
• Demonstrating increasing business acumen and strategic thinking.

What you'll need:

• Bachelor's, Master's, or Ph.D. in Food Science, Food Engineering, Chemistry, Biology, or related scientific discipline.
• Minimum 5-8 years of progressive experience in food product development, research, innovation, or process development.
• Proven success leading multiple, highly complex product development projects through commercialization, and an ability to manage competing priorities via strong project management, organizational, and risk assessment skills
• Demonstrated consumer-centric mindset, with the ability to leverage consumer insights and market understanding to guide technical decisions and ensure products consistently meet evolving consumer needs and expectations.
• Strong understanding of experimental design, ingredient functionality, formulation development, manufacturing systems, and scale-up processes.

• Strong written, verbal, and presentation skills, and the ability to communicate technical concepts effectively to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Strong business acumen and the ability to influence cross-functional decisions, and drive execution, while recognizing how technical recommendations affect operational performance, financial results, and strategic objectives across the business.
• Demonstrated innovative and entrepreneurial mindset, with a track record of identifying opportunities, challenging the status quo constructively, leading change, and managing risk intelligently to create value and growth.
• Good interpersonal skills and ability to work well on teams.
• Flexibility for early morning, evening plant trials or when business needs require and willingness to travel (up to 30%).
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office, formulation software, data analysis tools, and technical documentation.
• Willingness to taste fish and shellfish prototypes and discriminate subtle flavor differences.
• Ability to lift up to 50 lbs.

Preferred

• Experience in frozen foods, seafood, protein systems, value-added foods, or related categories.
• Experience mentoring junior technical team members.
• Demonstrated interest in people leadership and organizational development.

Pay Range: $90,320 - $112,900

Gorton's is an equal opportunity employer.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities
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