Associate Principal Scientist, R&I - Premier Nutrition

Here's what all the hype is about: Premier Nutrition Company (PNC) is one of the fastest-growing companies in the convenient nutrition space showing clear leadership in the category of protein shakes and protein powders. We make the brands Premier Protein, Dymatize, and PowerBar, which is sold internationally, and we are part of our holding company, BellRing Brands (NYSE: BRBR).

We have a simple, yet powerful, formula for our success, which we’ve been nailing for over 15 years. We start off with an organization powered by our company purpose—Changing Lives with Good Energy. Then our purpose-driven people are given the support and autonomy to develop and grow. Next, we are super-intentional about designing a culture where everyone feels like they truly connect and belong, which is one of our five company core values. Purpose-driven, connected employees who are consistently mastering new skills deliver amazing business results. And winning companies with amazing people and thriving cultures attract and retain top talent, so the cycle becomes self-reinforcing or what we call our regenerative culture.

We don’t mind sharing our formula since, as people who we believe in the power of changing lives with good energy, we think the world would be a better place if more workplaces treated adults like adults and gave them the platform to do the best work of their lives—alongside some truly amazing colleagues. Why don’t more companies do this? It takes deep-in-your-bones conviction to your people, products, and purpose to pull it off. It also takes resisting the urge to try to control people, and instead trusting them to make the right decisions. The results of our vibrant culture speaks for themselves: We were certified as a Great Place to Work™ for the 8^th year-running in 2024. And we currently rank #2 on Fortune Magazine’s Best Workplaces in our category, and in the top 12 for each of the last 5 years.

We have a long list of ways we take care of our people, but here are some crowd-pleasers that our employees often say they love most: Year-round ½ day Fridays, in-office massages, free lunches & snacks, dogs in the office, month-long cultural and diversity celebrations, monthly over-the-top in-office events like bring your kids to work day, 6% 401k match after 1 year, as-needed sick leave, generous paid family leave regardless of gender, all positions bonus-eligible, company-wide volunteer days, company-matched charitable donations, no employee handbook, no dress code, coaching conversations instead of performance reviews, walking meetings, free exercise classes, and company-paid gym membership for Emeryville-based employees.

PNC seeks individuals who will flourish in this type of work environment and will add to our culture and help build this high-growth company for the next phase in our amazing journey. Does this sound like you? Then read on…#LI-hybrid

The role you’re interested in…

The successful candidate will be a technical expert in high protein RTD product development.  This scientist will be a key resource for our R&I teams to ensure robust technical understanding and validation of innovation, renovation projects and new formulations.  As a SME, this position is an internal technical resource/consultant for various R&I scientists and team members and strongly influences or oversees execution of several Strategic Initiatives (SIs).  This role will be instrumental in enhancing technical know-how for the R&I development team. 

This position leads SI and cross-functional initiatives and is a key link between R&D, internal technical functions, and external partners.  This position works with limited supervision and has accountability for significant decisions that drive category growth made jointly with senior leadership in R&I and other functions.   

The work environment…

So, what’s it like to work here? If you’re based in the greater Bay Area, you’ll walk into our Emeryville office each Tuesday morning and start the in-person portion of our hybrid work week at our weekly all-company meeting and find close to 200 of your colleagues sitting on sofas, beanbag chairs, or the floor excitedly talking through the week ahead and watching a newer teammate tell their personal life and career journey followed by a quick update on any hot topics that might be relevant to the week ahead.

We are a dynamic, HYBRID workplace so every employee who lives within 100 miles of our offices is expected to come in each TUESDAY and WEDNESDAY. We aligned on those two common days way back in 2021 to be intentional about connecting in person for things like innovation, impromptu collaboration, having respectful challenges to get to better decisions, leadership role-modeling, and culture building. Great work cultures are built on stories about what great looks like in practice, and great stories on Zoom meetings are few and far between.  The expected pay scale for this role is $155k to $165k, which may vary based on relevant experience, qualifications, geographic area (if applicable), and internal equity for the role.

Our modern 50,000 sq. foot headquarters straddles the border of the cities of Emeryville, Oakland, and Berkeley, California with free onsite parking and many transportation options.

You’re excited about this opportunity because your time will be filled with…

R&D Product Development Activities: 80% of your time

• Strategic Initiatives and Project leadership:
  • Assumes responsibility for definition, initiation, and execution of assigned projects, in particular feasibility assessments and PD building blocks for future application.
  • Creates robust network of external experts and key vendors as strategic partners for PNC R&I team.
  • Provides thought leadership and consistency w/in R&I team by actively partnering in development, execution and analysis of DoE plans and interpretation of data.
  • At the appropriate frequency, aligns outputs with leadership and stage gate process.
  • Issues reports, SOPs and/or training material to capture learnings and share knowledge.

• Build PNC Product development expertise and excellence to support future renovation & innovation activities through:
  • Provides technical expertise to solve problems on ingredients and formulations. Mentor other scientists to enhance their knowledge, understanding and streamline their PD approach.
  • Maintains up to date knowledge of ingredients and technology. Reviews PNC portfolio from technical PD point of view to identify potential renovations and synergies.
  • Collaboration to enhance network of external experts and key vendors as strategic partners for PNC R&I PD team.
  • Staying on top of relevant trends through individual research, seminars and maintaining a network of professional, business, and industrial contacts, especially in the areas of protein and other functional ingredients (RTD/RTM) and new product claims and compliance.
  • Identifies product development improvement opportunities, constraints, hurdles, or gaps and will act upon them and/or provide recommendations to leadership.
  • Provides critical insights for development of long-term plans for functional area (e.g., 3 year I/R pipeline).

The daily stuff that everyone does but few quantify: 20% of your time

• Attending meetings and presentations.
• All hands, team, and cross-functional meetings.
• Participating in company-wide activities and events galore.
• Impromptu conversations with colleagues.
• Administrivia like email, calendaring, expense reports, and other non-value-added work.

What are we looking for?

Education:

• BS in Food Science, Food Engineering, Chemical Engineering or similar disciplines.
• Note: Highly relevant hands-on experience can supplant required traditional academic preparation.

Experience:

• 12+ years’ experience in Food industry, which includes substantial experience in R&D, New Product Development, Product Commercialization, Project Management and/or product/process improvement experience.
• 5+ years’ experience with dairy protein RTD beverages.
• Substantial experience influencing other developers.
• Success in matrixed organizations that require working in cross-functional teams and with external technical resources is required.

Skills and mindset:

• Strong fundamental experience in dairy protein RTD beverages product development.
• Demonstrated ability to plan, execute and analyze robust experiments to answer business relevant questions and clearly communicate/document recommendations.
• Demonstrated ability to execute and/or oversee execution of projects within timelines and meet/exceed project targets.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively in dynamic technical team environments (cross-functional teams, both internal and external resources) through excellent interpersonal, influencing and communication skills (both written and verbal).
• Demonstrated ability to effectively influence other scientists and aptitude for technical mentorship.
• Ability to excel in fast-paced business environment, demonstrated ability to self-motivate and manage multiple priorities.
• Ability to travel up to 20% to various sites e.g., project exploration/implementation at third parties/co-manufacturers.
• Ability to lift ______________ and work with bulk ingredients.

So, if after reading through this long list you’re thinking—I’m not sure I meet 100% of these requirements, should I still apply? YES—if you embody a growth mindset, see challenges as opportunities to develop, and find innovative ways to get the real work that matters done, you sound like our kind of candidate!

The 5 capabilities or mindsets most relevant to this role:

• Thrive in ambiguity amid competing priorities
• Creativity, exploration, & innovativeness
• Drive and own results
• Embody a strategic mindset
• Bring people along

You will thrive here and may just do the best work of your life if…

• You can be flexible in your approach to people challenges and abandon past practices if they don’t make sense or would lead to a poor outcome.
• You are comfortable being natural, casual, open, and even a bit playful at work.
• You don’t have a big ego and hate siloed thinking.
• You can be friendly, vulnerable, and self-deprecating in one moment, and deal with a challenging, delicate people-related matter as a professional in the next.
• You want to be an integral part of shaping and nurturing an amazing work culture.

This may not be your ideal next career move if…

• You like a lot of structure, rules, and uniformity.
• You like hierarchy, command and control management.
• Dealing with ambiguity or experimentation is not your jam.
• You like managing from your house with your camera off and demonstrating excellence through email.
• You tend to chase whatever shiny object presents itself during the day instead of real results.
• You enjoy writing stuffy job descriptions (smiley face).

Here’s the deal with our not-so-standard, um…standard  interview process because we know you are the curious type, which is why you’re still reading this…

• Quick 30 min phone chat with a high energy member of our Talent Acquisition team to do a quick overview of your background and answer any burning questions you have.
• Team interviews are kept to a minimum to foster a more efficient, candidate-friendly process (too many interviewers yields little value and drags out the process for you—and who wants that, right?):
• A short series of in-person or video interviews in a 1:1 setting; these are usually with the hiring manager, one or two other team members, and a person from another team to get broader perspectives (note: we don’t do panel interviews because they don’t give interviewers a chance to ask you unique questions, and we assign interviewers different roles so we’re probing different capabilities).
• A case study or job task to simulate what you’d actually be doing in the role (since your job is not actually to be interviewed for a living, why is that the thing companies rely on so much?) Yes, there will be a small panel for this one so you don’t have to do it more than once, and yes, they might ask you some kind yet probing questions at the end after the raucous applause stops.
• Once your interview concludes, the team will meet for an in-depth consultative process to ensure we are hiring the right person for the right job. Interviewers must come in with a strong yes or no vote beforehand to avoid groupthink with supporting reasons. The collective thoughts on your candidacy will be discussed in an environment of safety to challenge ideas respectfully, debate. and be open to all important qualifications of the candidates.  A trained, disinterested bias blocker will be present to help mitigate bias so the team can make a sound hiring decision. The moment of truth arrives when the hiring manager makes the big decision. If you nailed the interviews and the case study was brilliant, guess what? The offer is all yours! And the ball is in your court. Will you accept? We sure hope so because this place is the real deal, and don’t just believe us—just ask the 93% of our people who said this is a great place to work in our most recent employee survey.                                                                                          

We strive to create an equitable and inclusive environment to contribute to the success of our organization.  Premier Nutrition provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, status as a covered veteran and any other category protected under applicable federal, state, provincial and local laws.