Associate, Food Scientist - Chomps
Chicago, IL
About the Job
Who We Are
We're Chomps, the fastest-growing meat snack brand reimagining best-for-you snacking. Made from the highest quality, humanely raised proteins, no sugar, and only real ingredients, we make snacking simple, delicious, and nutritious. Chomps can be found in over 20,000 stores nationwide with a strong e-commerce presence. Our mission is to inspire, educate, and fuel our community with accessible, sustainable, and real food that tastes great.
Traits of a Chompian
If you've been called scrappy, resourceful, and persistent, then you might just be a Chompian. You're a team player who's self-motivated and action-oriented. You're committed to delivering efficiency and accuracy, and you happen to be great at proactive cross-functional communication. You're a critical thinker and a natural problem solver who enjoys details, research, and data. You take initiative and complete ownership of everything you do, and you'll go the extra mile for your team, consumers, and audience. You're hungry to learn with a passion to grow and improve every day. You also take a keen interest in health, fitness, and nutrition. Sound like you? Then we want to meat you.
What You Will Do
As a Food Scientist at Chomps, you will play a key role in researching, developing, and enhancing our meat snack products and processes. You will collaborate with cross-functional teams to create unique formulations, optimize existing recipes, and ensure the highest standards of quality and taste. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in food science and a passion for creating high-quality products.
Responsibilities
- New Product Development:
- Lead the development of new meat snack products from concept to commercialization, considering factors such as taste, texture, nutritional profile, and cost.
- Recipe Optimization and Continuous Improvement:
- Conduct research and experiments to enhance the flavor, texture, and overall quality of existing products.
- Continuously seek opportunities to improve product formulations and manufacturing processes for better efficiency and product quality.
- Collaborate with the production team to scale up successful formulations for mass production.
- Identify and implement improvements in production processes to increase efficiency and reduce waste.
- Work closely with operations to troubleshoot and resolve production issues, ensuring consistent product quality.
- Quality Assurance:
- Implement and maintain rigorous quality control processes to ensure consistency and adherence to Chomps' quality standards.
- Conduct sensory evaluations and analyze consumer feedback to drive continuous product and process improvements.
- Ingredient Sourcing and Evaluation:
- Identify and evaluate new and sustainable ingredients that align with Chomps' commitment to clean, natural, and ethically sourced materials.
- Regulatory Compliance:
- Stay informed about food safety regulations and ensure all products meet or exceed industry standards and regulatory requirements.
- Cross-functional Collaboration:
- Work closely with marketing, production, and sales teams to align product development with market trends, consumer preferences, and business goals.
- Documentation and Reporting:
- Maintain detailed records of formulations, experiments, and process changes.
- Prepare reports and presentations on product development progress and findings.
Who You Are
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Food Science, Meat Science, or a related field.
- Proven experience in product development and process improvement within the food industry, preferably in meat snacks or related categories.
- Strong knowledge of food chemistry, sensory evaluation, and formulation principles.
- Experience with continuous improvement methodologies (e.g., Lean, Six Sigma) is a plus.
- Familiarity with food safety regulations and quality assurance protocols.
- Excellent communication and collaboration skills.
- Able to Travel up to 50% of the time.
Position: Associate, Food Scientist
Reports to: Director, R&D and Continuous Improvement
Location: Remote + travel
Type: Full-Time, exempt
Salary Range Opportunity:
- The salary range for this role is $75,000 - $80,000 + 15% annual bonus
Compensation Philosophy & Total Comp:
- Our salary ranges are based on verified market data and our philosophy of paying competitively for our size and industry
- Individual pay rate decisions are based on several factors, including qualifications for the role, experience level, skillset, and balancing internal equity relative to peers at the company
- In addition to base salary, full-time team members receive medical, dental, and vision insurance, 401K 6% match, and monthly reimbursements for wellness and home office.
Other Perks:
- Ability to make an impact: Join a rapidly growing and entrepreneurial-spirited team at a pivotal point to positively impact the food industry.
- Opportunities to grow: Advance within Chomps quickly based on outstanding performance.
- Unlimited PTO and 10 paid holiday days. Hybrid & flexible remote schedule. Chicago office open to those in the area.
- Paid maternity and paternity leave.
- Bi-annual total team in-person activities.
- Company-wide Continual Education budget.
- Unlimited snacks: Enough meat sticks that if you wanted to eat your body weight in them you could (no judgment here).
Our Commitment
Chomps is committed to a diverse and inclusive workforce. To achieve our mission of making nutritious food more accessible we greatly benefit from a range of perspectives, which comes from diversity of all types, at all levels of the organization. Achieving true diversity and inclusion is the right thing to do and the smart thing for our business.
We're aware of the research showing that historically underrepresented groups are less likely to apply for a job if they don't believe that they meet all of the criteria. Do you hesitate to submit an application because you believe you need to check every box? Please apply anyway with a thoughtful cover letter! We would love to hear from you to discuss how you can help us build a great team at Chomps.
Important Notice:
It has come to our attention that fraudsters have been posing as Chomps employees or recruiters and contacting job-seeking candidates regarding potential job opportunities. These fraudulent messages sometimes include a request for payment and confidential personal information. Please note that the Chomps recruiting process does not include asking candidates for payments or other confidential financial information.If you are applying for a job, you can confirm the legitimacy of a job posting by viewing current open roles: https://chomps.com/pages/chomps-careers. If you have questions please email us at careers@chomps.com
