Food Scientist

At MyFOREST Foods, we're on a mission to create sustainable and delicious food products that are good for people and the planet.

A Food Scientist at MyForest Foods is a creative and technically driven product development expert responsible for driving innovation, scale-up, and continuous improvement of MyForest’s product portfolio. This role leads cross-functional initiatives across R&D, Operations, Quality, and Marketing, with a focus on formulation development, process optimization, cost savings, and packaging innovation—particularly in structural packaging design for plant-based foods.

Role Responsibilities

• Conduct research to enhance product performance, shelf-life, sensory quality, and cost-efficiency, including studies involving formulation, process, packaging, and quality variables.
• Lead product optimization and scale-up efforts, including definition and refinement of processing methods and structural packaging formats.
• Collaborate with marketing and business teams to translate consumer insights into new product concepts and pilot-scale production runs.
• Evaluate and recommend ingredient, processing, and packaging changes to support commercialization, regulatory compliance, and consumer safety.
• Design and execute experiments to understand ingredient functionality and interactions, including sensory, nutritional, and stability outcomes.
• Lead packaging-related innovation efforts with a strong emphasis on structural packaging science, evaluating material compatibility, product protection, barrier properties, and environmental footprint.
• Partner with Supply Chain and Operations to identify and specify equipment needed for product scale-up, including influence on line layout and throughput requirements.
• Work with the Quality and Regulatory teams to ensure compliance with FDA guidelines, including GMPs, HACCP, and Food Safety Plans.
• Stay current on developments in plant-based ingredient technologies and emerging packaging solutions, and communicate findings to senior leadership.
• Maintain detailed technical documentation and present research findings and recommendations in a clear, actionable format.

Minimum Qualifications and Competencies

• Bachelor’s degree in Food Science,  Chemistry, or a related technical discipline required; Master’s degree preferred.
• Minimum of 3 years’ experience in food product development, with demonstrated success in taking products from concept to market.
• Proven experience with packaging design, including structural packaging development, material selection, barrier optimization, and machinability for both primary and secondary packaging.
• Strong understanding of food manufacturing, especially within the plant-based meat or analog space.
• Hands-on experience in product scale-up and commercialization, including line trials, co-manufacturing coordination, and specification development.
• Familiarity with shelf-life modeling and food packaging interactions.
• Strong project management and business acumen; ability to balance speed-to-market with technical and regulatory rigor.
• Applied knowledge of analytical and sensory evaluation techniques.
• Exceptional communication skills (written and verbal), able to translate complex technical content into business-relevant insights.
• Comfortable working in cross-functional teams and mentoring or supervising technical staff
• Self-starter with a proactive and safety-first mindset.
• Proficiency in technology platforms for data capture, formulation, and product lifecycle management.
• Knowledge of FDA food regulations, GMPs, HACCP, and preventive control strategies.

Certifications / Licenses

• Valid Food Handler Certification required; additional certifications in HACCP or Preventive Controls for Human Food preferred.

The pay range for this role based on skills and experience is $80,000 - $110,000 annually.

Excited? So are we!

MyFOREST Foods is an Equal Opportunity Employer.