Research and Development Food Scientist

Description

General Summary

The R&D Food Scientist leads the development, optimization, and plant scale-up of value-added seafood and vegetable products, including battered, breaded, marinated, and ready-to-cook items. This role works cross-functionally to create products that meet customer requirements and deliver consistent taste, texture, quality, and profitability for King & Prince Seafood. This role supports products from bench-top concept through commercial production by ensuring formulas, processes, and specifications are practical, scalable, and aligned with quality and food safety requirements.

Note: This is an on-site role based in Brunswick, GA. Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Lead new product development activities for value-added seafood and vegetable products, from bench-top concept through commercialization.
• Develop, innovative, value-added products, including battered, breaded, marinated, glazed, and ready-to-cook items.
• Formulate functional batters, breading, marinades, glazes, and flavor systems optimized for frozen storage and customer reheating methods, including oven, air-fryer, and deep-fry applications.
• Research and evaluate new products, ingredient, coating, flavor, and processing technologies that can improve product quality, efficiency, or customer value.
• Develop and maintain product specifications that are accurate, manufacturable, and aligned with customer, quality, and production requirements.
• Lead plant trials and commercial manufacturing line trials to transition new formulations into large-scale frozen production.
• Evaluate ingredient functionality, including starches, hydrocolloids, and phosphates, to improve water-holding capacity, reduce purge loss, and support product quality during frozen distribution.
• Conduct sensory testing, texture analysis, and to evaluate product performance, stability, and quality over time.
• Ensure formulations, raw materials, specifications, and processing steps comply with applicable food safety, quality, allergen labeling, and regulatory requirements, including Seafood HACCP requirements.
• Build customer relationships and provide technical support through product presentations, sales meetings, trade shows, seminars, and customer visits.
• Other duties and projects as assigned.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in food science or a closely related field.
• Three to six years of product development experience in a food processing environment; seafood, chicken, or value-added protein manufacturing experience strongly preferred.
• Strong understanding of seafood protein functionality, coating systems, freezing technologies, and thawing kinetics; breading and battering experience preferred.
• Working knowledge of FDA Seafood HACCP requirements, Good Manufacturing Practices, labeling regulations, and sanitation protocols for wet and frozen processing environments.
• Ability to define problems, collect and analyze data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions.
• Strong project management skills, including the ability to manage priorities, timelines, and cross-functional deliverables.
• Proven ability to collaborate cross-functionally with Procurement, Operations, Quality Assurance, and Category Management to meet project milestones.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to explain technical information clearly to internal and external audiences.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word.