Product and Process Specialist

Grand River Foods is a leading food solutions company serving customers in the North American grocery and food service industry. As a member of the Sunrise Farm family, we remain as dedicated as ever to both providing a quality work environment for our employees, as well as producing only the highest quality products for our customers. We are known for the great care we take with clients and employees alike.

Role:

As the Product and Process Specialist, you will lead product and process improvement initiatives, assist with the development of new products and re-development of existing products, and work closely with all departments including Sales, Production, Scheduling, Quality Assurance, Procurement, Regulatory Affairs, as well as Suppliers and Customers on different business initiatives.

The successful candidate will be an experienced professional who is highly organized and has excellent communication skills.

Responsibilities:

• Lead product & process improvements across GRF further processing plants.
• Support ingredient substitutions or replacements initiative.
• Assist the Product Development team with new developments or re-formulations to meet customer or company needs from conceptualization to launch.
• Coordinate technical information by gathering and analyzing production data to present to the leadership team.
• Assist with packaging development and material sourcing.
• Collaborate with Regulatory Affairs (RA) to ensure compliance across governing regulations and requirements.
• Work alongside cross-functional team members to facilitate product trials and start-ups.
• Develop label copy documents such as combined ingredient lists, nutrient content claims, health claims, etc.
• Create cooking instructions that result in the best possible eating experience for various products.
• Evaluate product from trials and market samples through sampling and sensory appraisal.
• Maintaining internal and external documents and databases.
• Coordinate customer sample submissions.

Requirements:

• College or post-secondary education in Food Science, Engineering, or related field.
• Minimum 5 years experience in R&D/Product Development role within the food industry.
• Meat industry experience a must.
• Continuous improvement experience is an asset.
• High proficiency in Microsoft Office, Label software experience is an asset.
• Excellent verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills.
• Creative and flexible to learn and bring on new ideas.
• Travel will be required to our other facilities.
• Willing to consume and evaluate food products, including, but not limited to, poultry, beef, pork, seafood, cheese, vegetables and other plant-based meat alternatives.
• Excellent organizational, time management, and problem-solving skills.
• Detail-oriented and analytical mind set.
• Ability to work as a team and with minimal supervision.

Work Environment:

• Varying schedule with some over-time required.
• Work with raw and fully cooked food product.
• Work environment will be a combination of refrigerated manufacturing plant work, deskwork, and lab/kitchen work.
• May be required to stand for extended periods of time in the plant conducting trials or overseeing production runs.

At Sunrise Farms we are proud to be an equal-opportunity employer. All qualified individuals, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or any other identifying characteristic are encouraged to apply.

Please note that the expected new hire salary range provided is derived from a group of like roles within Sunrise Farms. The final offer amount for this role will be dependent on geographical region, applicable experience, and skillset of the candidate.