Company Overview

Crofters is growing and we are seeking an energetic, reliable & flexible team player to join our Team. Here's your chance to join a highly skilled team of professionals at one of North America's pioneering brands in the organic food movement! Crofters Food Ltd, known in the grocery aisles as Crofters Organic Fruit Spreads, is the leading manufacturer of organic jams, jellies and fruit spreads in North America. Headquartered in picturesque Parry Sound, Ontario, about two hours north of Toronto, we manufacture a vast array of fruit-based spreads sold in stores across Canada, the United States, and select international markets. From the way we source our fruit, to the way we carefully manufacture our products using forward-thinking sustainable processing techniques, to our innovative, health-conscious formulations, every aspect of our operations receives the care and attention they deserve. A small but mighty team, with the support of a US based private equity firm, join us as we look to aggressively scale our business on our mission to become one of the leading organic food brands in North America.

R&D Associate Scientist Position Description

Ready to help lead the next phase of growth for Crofter's Organic?!? Join a team focused on innovating new flavors, new products and new ingredients! The Research and Development (R&D) Associate Scientist plays a critical role in the development and execution of the company's innovation and new product development goals. They should understand phases of the food product development cycle and can work independently to develop a new product from conception through plant scale-up. You'll be responsible for assisting to conduct research on new product concepts, industry trends, and new manufacturing processes.

This position reports directly to the Manager of R&D. The duties and responsibilities of the R&D Associate Scientist is as follows:

Responsibilities

1. R&D Prototypes: Prepare benchtop samples and prototypes for internal and/or external evaluation.

2. R&D Lab Management: Maintain all aspects of the R&D Lab including ongoing cleaning, maintenance, organization and consumable material inventory.

3. R&D Support: Provides administrative support, such as monitoring instrumentation and equipment calibration and maintenance programs, lab files and reports and labeling.

4. New Product Development: Assist with new product development activities. Including acting as a back-up for the R&D Manager. Track and record product development activities and record recipes, formulations, processes, and testing results.

5. Records and Documentation: Maintain accurate records, data entry, tracking & trending to determine process effectiveness and optimization. Maintain organization and filing management of all R&D documentation.

6. Sensory Testing: Maintain an internal sensory testing protocol for all new and existing items, ensuring that the taste, texture, smell, and visual appearance of products are consistent.

7. Production Scale Up: Support the oversight/management of the scale-up process from concept to product launch, ensuring that projects are managed in an organized and orderly manner and that there is strong communication across relevant departments/stakeholders to move projects forward without complications.

8. Ingredient Testing: Support the investigation of alternate ingredients, substitutions and/or recipe tweaks that maintain product integrity and may assist in daily problem-solving of quality, material reliability, and/or operational challenges.

Required Experience and Skills

- Bachelor's degree in food science, nutrition, chemistry, biology, physics, engineering or related science.

- At least 2 years of experience working in a laboratory environment.

Job type: Full-time, Permanent, on-site (not remote), some work travel is required

Benefits

Basic Benefit Plan including Health and Medical, Vision Care, Dental, Wellness & Preventative Services. RSP and Bonus Program.

Rate of Pay

$30.00 - $40.00/hour pending on skillset and experience

A minimum of 40 hours of work per week, possible evening and weekend work as required.

Please submit your resume to indicating your experience and interests

Crofter's Food Ltd. welcomes and encourages applications from people with disabilities.

Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process.

Benefits

• Casual dress
• Company events
• On-site parking
• RRSP match
• Vision care