Associate Food Scientist

Reporting to the Research and Development Manager, you will support innovation and margin expansion across our premium meat snacks portfolio, including Slim Jim. You will bring a strong interest in meat snacks, consumer preferences, and emerging food trends to develop products that excite consumers and strengthen our snacking portfolio. Based at our Innovation Tech Center in downtown Chicago, you will work hands-on with products from early concepts and prototypes through plant trials, scale-up, and successful commercialization.

A Taste of Your Responsibilities

• Develop new meat snack products from concept through successful commercialization.
• Create and evaluate product formulations and prototypes, exploring ingredients, flavors, textures, and processing approaches.
• Design and conduct experiments and prepare results for review.
• Lead product cuttings, prototype evaluations, testing, and other hands-on product development activities.
• Plan and execute plant trials and new product start-ups in partnership with manufacturing and cross-functional teams.
• Develop product development schedules to support project milestones and commercialization timelines.
• Work hands-on with pilot plant equipment to create, test, and refine product prototypes.
• Learn and use the online specification system to support product development and commercialization.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to bring new meat snack ideas from concept to market.

Ingredients Required for Your Success

• Bachelor's degree in Food Science or a related field.
• Knowledge of food product design, formulation, ingredient functionality and interactions, process design, product scale-up, plant testing, and commercialization.
• Understanding of food industry quality and food safety standards and Food and Drug Administration regulations.
• Experience managing and prioritizing multiple projects and timelines.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills with experience working across teams to accomplish research goals.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office software.

Physical Requirements

More information about essential tasks and the facility will be shared during the hiring process. This role may require you to be in our manufacturing facilities. When visiting these sites, the physical requirements below may apply:

• You may be required to walk around the facility, climb stairs/ladders, kneel, or perform repetitive tasks that require hand-eye coordination.
• You may be required to lift or carry materials that can vary in weight and size.
• This is a manufacturing environment with large, moving equipment. Noise levels can be high, and temperatures may vary.

Number of Days in Office: 4

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Compensation 

Pay Range:$59,000-$79,000

The annual salary listed above is the expected offering for this position. An employee’s actual annual salary will be based on but not limited to: location, relevant experience/level and skillset, while balancing internal Conagra employees’ equity. Conagra Brands will comply with applicable law regarding minimum salaries for exempt employees.

Our Benefits

We care about your total well-being and will support you with the following, subject to your location and role:

• Health: Comprehensive healthcare plans, wellness incentive program, mental wellbeing support and fitness reimbursement

• Wealth: Great pay, bonus incentive opportunity, matching 401(k) and stock purchase plan

• Growth: Career development opportunities, employee resource groups, on-demand learning and tuition reimbursement

• Balance: Paid-time off, parental leave, flexible work-schedules (subject to your location and role) and volunteer opportunities

Our Company

At Conagra Brands, we have a rich heritage of making great food. We aspire to have the most impactful, energized and inclusive culture in food. As a member of our 18,000+ person team across 40+ locations, you are empowered to reach your potential, make an impact and own your career. We're in the business of building champions – within our people and our iconic brands like Birds Eye®, Slim Jim® and Reddi-Wip®.

Our focus on innovation extends beyond making great food, it also reflects our commitment to embracing new solutions that positively impact our team, the communities we serve and the health of our planet. Foodies Welcome.

Conagra Brands is an equal opportunity employer and considers qualified applicants for employment without regard to sex, race, color, religion, ethnic or national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, pregnancy, leave status, disability, veteran status, genetic information and/or any other characteristic or status protected by national, federal, state or local law. Reasonable accommodation may be made upon request.