Food Scientist Jobs in Riverside, CA (NOW HIRING)

NURA USA LLC aims to be the premier next generation ingredient provider focused on delivering better ingredients. Our team consistently demonstrates a relentless desire to help our customers achieve success, pursues sustainable innovative ideas for future generations, and utilizes a long-term strategic approach to be a true partner to our customers in the dietary supplements, food, and beverage industries. NURA USA is looking for a Food Scientist.

Job Description: The ideal candidate for this position has 3 years min experience to help our team

(i) develop food, beverage and supplement formulations and/or commercialize new branded ingredients; (ii) provide customer-facing technical expertise and support to sales team; (iii) substantiate and evaluate current portfolio offerings for customer technical support; and (iv) carry out general R&D lab operational tasks and enhance our SOPs and standards

Primary Responsibilities:

• 
  Develop Food, Beverage and Supplement formulations & support New Branded Ingredient Commercialization
• Carry out R&D teams' substantiation and evaluation of ingredients through the New Ingredient/Vendor Qualification Standard Operating Procedure.
• Have a deep understanding of the ingredient's businesses and commercialization of branded ingredients: specifically dietary supplements, food, beverage, and pet industries.
• Analyze market trends using AI and other available tools (consumer behavior, market segmentation, competitor positioning, etc.) and emerging demands to propose potential new product concepts.
• Present new product design concepts, benefits and advantages, potential applications to prospective audience.
• Develop new and innovative applications for food, beverage, and nutrition customers in an end-to-end, agile fashion in an agile fashion
• Manage material, document, market data, pricing, formulation etc. for research and new formulation development.
• Conduct experiments to evaluate new ingredients/formulations as defined.
• Collaborate with New Product Commercialization Team to develop commercialization strategy, go-to-market plan, and support sales activities for new products in a variety of delivery applications.
• Collaborate with Marketing on content and data required for sell sheets, presentations, publications, etc. for various tradeshows, social media postings, events, meetings, etc.

Sales Team Support

• A significant portion of your role involves acting as the technical bridge between NURA and our clients. You will support the sales team by providing deep insights into our branded ingredients, competitive advantages, and market positioning, frequently assisting with customer-facing presentations and lead in person formulation workshops.
• By understanding customer needs, you will develop prototype formulations and technical demonstrations that utilize NURA's ingredient portfolio to solve specific challenges. This includes troubleshooting issues related to ingredient functionality, stability, sensory performance, and cost optimization.
• You will also provide essential technical documentation for NURA formulations and claim substantiation materials. Through building strong relationships with the technical teams of new and existing customers, you will help manage and prioritize a robust R&D project pipeline and independently manage customer-specific projects from inception through commercialization.
• Develop prototype formulations, application concepts and technical demonstrations utilizing NURA's ingredient portfolio to support customer evaluations and commercialization opportunities.
• Support customer formulation and processing troubleshooting related to ingredient functionality, stability, sensory performance, processing conditions and cost optimization.
• Promote NURA as a technical leader by presenting new product concepts and technologies to existing and potential customers.
• Partners with sales teams to build a strong R&D project pipeline by identifying and shaping new opportunities & presenting such innovative solutions as prototypes at trade shows & available to distribute as samples
• Lead customer specific R&D projects and provide technical expertise and support to develop high-quality, cost-effective solutions. Independently manage and track project progression, key milestones and commercialization throughout designated project management systems

General R&D Lab Operations

• Maintaining a high standard of laboratory operations is essential. You will help establish and enforce laboratory SOPs, testing methodologies, and prototyping procedures to ensure a safe and sanitized R&D environment.
• Your expertise will directly support powder mix, beverage, and other food and snack application development, including pilot trials and UHT processing evaluations.
• Additionally, you will coordinate with internal and third-party Quality Control labs to analyze test results and assist NURA USA in achieving and maintaining industry-recognized certifications.
• Effective team collaboration and priority driven organizational skills will be key to your success in managing these R&D lab operational tasks.
• You will assist NURA USA to achieve industry recognized certifications and ensure that our lab can meet food safety compliance requirements when making samples and prototypes

Ideal Candidate:

• The ideal candidate holds a Master's degree in Food Science, Nutritional Science, Chemistry, Material Science, Food Engineering, or a related field. We are looking for professionals at the Mid-Level (3-5 years) or Senior Level (5+ years) of experience within the food industry.
• A strong foundation in food formulation, food chemistry, microbiology, and processing is required. We highly value candidates with specific experience in beverage formulation, particularly with protein, nutritional, RTD, and functional beverages. An understanding of ingredient stability under various processing conditions, such as thermal processing, pasteurization, and UHT, is highly preferred, along with knowledge of current protein characterization methodologies.
• Must have strong nutrition, technical, scientific, and regulation background with passion in food, beverage, nutrition industry.
• Knowledge and understanding of protein characterization methodologies and continued updating of new methods.
• We are looking for a strategic thinker who is deeply passionate about the food and nutrition industry. You must be comfortable in customer-facing roles, capable of presenting complex technical information to audiences with varying levels of expertise.
• The successful candidate will think creatively and analytically to solve problems and generate impactful solutions. You should possess strong project management skills, the ability to analyze large datasets, and a proven track record of taking ownership and delivering high-quality results.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills are mandatory.
• We value positivity and proactiveness, a growth mindset, a sense of urgency, and the adaptability to thrive in a dynamic, collaborative team environment.
• Willingness to travel up to 20%, is required.