Food Scientist

Purpose and Scope/General Summary: This position places you within one of the largest global poultry companies, with operations in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Mexico, and the U.K. At Pilgrim's, we are committed to our values and culture, dedicating ourselves to feeding the world and being the best in all we do. Our people are at the heart of our business, and we prioritized providing a safe and well-managed workplace, offering the best opportunities for our team members to thrive and build a better future. For this role, the ideal candidate should have experience in optimizing formulations and food processing for meat products in a production environment.

Responsibilities:

• Learn the details of our value-added product processes to become an internal subject matter expert on industry technology for poultry food processing.
• Research and evaluate new equipment, processes, and technologies to enhance product quality and process efficiency. Work closely with operations, Quality Assurance (QA), and regulatory teams to validate and implement these improvements.
• Collaborate with the Operational Excellence (OE) and Operations teams to optimize processes and processing equipment, maximizing yield and product quality.
• Effectively communicate technical development activities like costing, design of experiment, report analysis, among others to cross-functional teams with simplicity.
• Support and execute pilot projects for new technologies, analyze results and prepare reports to be shared with cross functional teams.
• Work on several projects at once, frequently encountering overlapping deadlines and priorities.
• Work closely with operations and QA teams to address specification and process related quality or yield issues and implement corrective actions, working with product developers as needed to execute.
• Support the OE team in developing robust Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for all current value-added product processes as well as write SOPs for new processes and technologies implemented by R&D.
• Ability to travel up to 50% of the time.
• Other duties as assigned

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Meat Science, Poultry Science, Animal Science, Engineering, or related field strongly preferred.
  • BS & 3-5 years of relative experience
  • MS & 0-3 years of experience

• Experience working in food manufacturing facilities, operations, or continuous improvement is highly preferred.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills.
• Well-versed in Project Management Systems and Recipe Development (e.g., SAP).
• Good understanding of USDA, FDA guidelines with occasional support from manager.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel, Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, Microsoft TEAMS / Cisco Webex and at least one statistical software (e.g., JMP, GraphPad prism, etc.).

The applicant who fills this position will be eligible for the following compensation and benefits:

• Benefits: Vision, Medical, and Dental coverage begin after 60 days of employment.
• Paid Time Off: sick leave, vacation, and 6 company observed holidays.
• 401(k): company match begins after the first year of service and follows the company vesting schedule.
• Base salary range of $60,000 - $70,000.
• Incentive Pay: This position is eligible to participate in the Company’s annual bonus plan, the amount of bonus varies and is subject to the standard terms and conditions of the incentive program.

For individuals assigned and/or hired to work in Colorado, JBS and Pilgrim’s is required by law to include a reasonable estimate of the compensation for this role. This compensation range is specific to the State of Colorado and considers various factors that are considered in making compensation decisions, including but not limited to a candidate’s relevant experience, qualifications, skills, competencies, and proficiency for the role.

This position does not have an application deadline. We will continue to recruit until the position has been filled.

The Company is dedicated to ensuring a safe and secure environment for our team members and visitors. To assist in achieving that goal, we conduct a drug, alcohol, and background checks for all new team members post-offer and prior to the start of employment. The Immigration Reform and Control Act requires that verification of employment eligibility be documented for all new employees by the end of the third day of work.

About us: Pilgrim’s is the second largest chicken producer in the world, with operations in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Mexico and the U.K. Pilgrim’s processes, prepares, packages and delivers fresh, further-processed and value-added poultry products for sale to customers in more than 100 countries, employs more than 50,000 people and contracts with more than 5,200 family farmers. Pilgrim’s is headquartered in beautiful Greeley, Colorado, at the JBS USA corporate office where our 1,200 employees enjoy more than 300 days of sunshine a year.

Our mission: To be the best in all that we do, completely focused on our business, ensuring the best products and services to our customers, a relationship of trust with our suppliers, profitability for our shareholders and the opportunity of a better future for all of our team members.

Our core values are: Availability, Determination, Discipline, Humility, Ownership, Simplicity, Sincerity

EOE/Vets/Disability

Unsolicited Assistance: JBS and its companies do not accept unsolicited assistance from any recruitment vendors for any of our open jobs. All resumes or candidate profiles submitted by recruitment vendors or headhunters to any employee at JBS and its companies or via the applicant tracking system, in any form without a valid written request and search agreement previously approved by HR, will be solely owned by JBS and its companies. No fees will be paid should the candidate be hired by JBS and its companies because of an unsolicited referral.