As the Associate Culinary Researcher, you will support Dotdash Meredith’s Research & Testing team within the transaction space. Our goal is to provide meaningful product insights for our users in the form of original content. You will do vigorous research to come up with unique and thoughtful ways to test and rate kitchen products, such as appliances, cookware, tools, grills, bakeware, and beyond. You will help support the mission of our team by understanding the role of branded testing and demographics associated with our brands: Food & Wine, Serious Eats, Allrecipes, People, and EatingWell. You should have culinary expertise as well as strong writing skills. 

About the Role:

• Conduct research on the products for upcoming tests to create technically sound methodologies, which should include step-by-step instructions on how to test the product category and insightful tester questions, for both at-home and lab testing

• Interview category experts to inform the methodologies

• Collaborate with brand editors to create streamlined and efficient testing procedures in the methodologies

• Create result sheets and forms for testers to fill out during the testing period in the lab or at home

• Collaborate with testing coordinator to ensure testers are appropriately assigned for testing

• Examine products and ingredients in lab pre-test to ensure all details are covered in the methodology

• Work closely with the lab production team prior to testing to ensure each test is set up for success by conducting any necessary preliminary testing and helping prep ingredients

• Act as a supervisor/expert during testing to help testers properly execute tests and adjust methodologies in real-time as needed 

About You:

• 4+ years writing experience at an online or print publisher, specifically in the food space

• Bachelor and Culinary degree or extensive culinary experience

• Strong communication and organizational skills

• Meticulous attention to detail

• Technical and strategic thought processes, who is also comfortable with culinary calculations 

• Analytical and visual mindset 

• A product enthusiast who spends time researching and obsessing over purchases

• Proficiency in project management tools like Google Sheets, Slack, and/or Airtable

• Comfortable working independently and prioritizing across multiple projects

• Flexible and willing to pivot when situations arise in the moment

• A self-starter who is comfortable working in a quickly changing environment