Senior Food Scientist

T. Marzetti Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lancaster Colony Corporation (NASDAQ: LANC), is a manufacturer and marketer of specialty food products for the retail and foodservice markets. Our retail brands include Marzetti^®, New York Bakery™ and Sister Schubert’s^®, in addition to exclusive license agreements for Olive Garden^® dressings, Chick-fil-A^® sauces and Buffalo Wild Wings^® sauces. Our foodservice business supplies many of the top restaurant chains in the United States. 

We kindly request that recruitment agencies and staffing firms refrain from submitting unsolicited resumes to our company. Any resumes sent without a prior agreement and access to proper submittal into the ATS will be considered the property of T. Marzetti, and we reserve the right to contact those candidates without any obligation to pay a fee.

A Sr. Food Scientist has a strong background in emulsions, flavor development and application and product commercialization to lead the development of salad dressings, sauces, and condiments. This role requires demonstrated technical expertise in ingredient functionality, formulation, process optimization and functional leadership in project management. The ideal candidate will play a key role in driving new product development, improving product performance, and mentoring junior scientists while collaborating with cross-functional teams to bring new products to the market.  

• Product & Process Development: 

• Lead the development of innovative salad dressings, sauces, and condiments that align with market trends, customer strategies, regulatory changes, and sustainability initiatives. 

• Optimize formulations for taste, texture, stability, nutrition, and cost-effectiveness while ensuring scalability for mass production. 

• Explore emerging ingredient technologies (e.g., next-generation emulsifiers, natural preservatives, and plant-based alternatives) to enhance product performance. 

• Technical Leadership & Expertise: 

• Serve as the technical resource on developing emulsions, flavor, use of stabilizer systems to enhance product functionality. 

• Troubleshoot complex formulation and processing challenges such as separation, viscosity inconsistencies, and flavor matching. 

• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to food scientists and technologists. 

• Food Service: Serve as the primary technical contact for key food service accounts, providing expert support, troubleshooting, and solutions to enhance product performance, customer experience, and business relationships. 

• Regulatory & Quality Compliance: 

• Ensure all formulations comply with FDA, FSMA, and relevant food safety regulations. 

• Work closely with regulatory affairs to develop accurate ingredient declarations and compliant nutrition panels. 

• Collaborate with quality assurance to verify product specifications and maintain consistency across production batches. 

• Commercialization & Process Optimization: 

• Lead plant trials and start up production process and execution; troubleshoot processing challenges in batch and continuous production environments. 

• Partner with operations and engineering teams to seamlessly transition formulations from lab-scale to commercial production. 

• Optimize processing parameters (e.g., shear rates, homogenization, and order of addition) to enhance product texture and stability. 

• Cross Functional Collaboration & Industry Engagement: 

• Collaborate with internal cross functional project teams: culinary, marketing/consumer insights, sales, procurement, to align product and customer strategies with business objectives. 

• Engage with supplier and industry partners to stay ahead of emerging ingredient technologies and global food trends. 

• Bachelor’s in food science, Food Chemistry, or a related field preferred. 

• 5-10 years of experience in sauce, dressing, or condiment formulation. 

Technical Skills: 

• Strong knowledge of processing, shelf-life process, and ingredient functionality. 

• Experience with sensory methods and testing, physical and chemical testing and analysis.  

• Familiarity with HACCP, GMPs, and USDA/FDA regulations. 

Leadership & Soft Skills: 

• Ability to collaborate with cross-functional teams, mentor junior scientists, and drive R&D strategy. 

• Strong project management and critical thinking skills. 

• Excellent communication skills for interfacing with internal and external teams.