Yerba Madre is looking for an Associate Product Developer to support beverage innovation and product development activities within the R&D team, bridging concept development and technical formulation, and contributing to benchtop prototypes, testing, and scale-up.
Requirements
- Working knowledge of formulation principles, ingredient functionality, and processing impacts.
- Proficient in Excel; basic sensory evaluation knowledge required.
- laboratory experience required.
- Ability to balance multiple priorities in a dynamic environment.
- Comfortable conducting trials, analyzing data, and communicating results clearly and confidently.
- Applies scientific curiosity and critical thinking to understand and improve beverage systems.
- Demonstrates sound problem-solving and adaptability in situations with limited standardization.
Responsibilities
- Support new product development through benchtop formulation, prototype preparation, sensory evaluation, data analysis, and documentation for regulatory, nutritional, and certification compliance. Assist with flavor development and approaches to formulation.
- In partnership with Product Developers &/or Manager, lead 2-3 R&D projects per product cycle from concept through commercialization.
- Contribute to early-stage concepting, technical research, feasibility assessments, and pilot trials to ensure successful scale-up and product launch.
- Participate in pilot, line trials, and first production runs to evaluate product quality, process consistency, and adherence to specifications.
- Manage R&D ingredient inventory and ensure all benchtop evaluations follow Good Laboratory Practices in partnership with the R&D Technician.
- Design and perform sensory, analytical, and performance testing to guide formulation optimization and ensure product quality.
- Recommend and help implement process improvements to enhance the efficiency and rigor of the NPD workflow.
Other
- Bachelor's degree in Biochemistry, Chemistry, Food Science, or a related field/equivalent experience
- 2-5 years of experience in beverage product development, food science, restaurant, or laboratory environments
- Strong organizational and time management skills
- Clear and professional written and verbal communication skills suited to cross-functional corporate collaboration.
- 30% of time to support new product commercialization
