Job Description

OVERVIEW

The Blue Buffalo R&D team is expanding to support and accelerate brand growth. As the Research and Development Scientist for Innovation, Technology, and Quality (ITQ) you will be responsible for the execution of new product strategy, concept development, product formulation, and process development to support the continued growth of our dry and wet main meal products.

In this role, you will have the unique opportunity to impact the ITQ function by leveraging your strong technical, influence, and project management skills to support all aspects of the product development cycle across the dry and wet main meal categories. The right candidate for this role will have demonstrated learning agility, experience working globally, and the ability to influence and advance projects in a heavily matrixed organization.

The projects you manage in this role will provide you with technical depth and breadth, as well as cross-functional leadership experience. In this role, you will have the opportunity to develop the ability to influence across organizations, advance technical possibilities, and develop leadership skills as a subject matter expert on a business team.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

Support a wide range of project activities including ingredient assessments, concept and formula development, consumer interactions, and scouting for new ideas and technologies to enable strategic brand growth.
Manage and lead technically complex projects:
o Design and develop main meal diets that span technology platforms (dry/wet)
o Develop formulations, create timelines, technical testing plans, risk assessments/mitigation plans and identify opportunities by challenging assumptions.
Partner with internal teams and consultants to understand regulations and to ensure the development of products and claims that comply with local regulations.
Independently design and manage the necessary test plans to meet nutritional/regulatory requirements and enhance product foundational knowledge.
Lead commissioning and commercialization of new and existing formulas with efficiency and excellence.
Support the plants in troubleshooting and process improvement activities
Develop and execute formulation strategy to enable efficient brand growth.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering, Food Science, Animal Science or related field
1+ years of experience in product development or an applied science in the pet industry
Applicable Research and development experience in innovation, renovation, and Cost Optimization
Experience commercializing products or working in and with manufacturing facilities
Strong knowledge of raw materials, ingredient functionality, and claims substantiation
Demonstrated ability to manage and lead multiple complex, large-scale, technically-driven projects from concept to commercialization.
Strong technical problem-solving, communication, and collaboration skills
Ability to challenge assumptions and build robust technical plans to test hypotheses
Ability to collaborate on teams spanning multiple time zones and languages
Ability to travel up to 40% of the time (including the potential for international travel)

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

3+ years of experience in petfood R&D across dry and wet technologies
Knowledge and experience in formulating companion animal pet food, leveraging C5
International petfood experience
Understanding of global pet food regulations
Fluent in foreign languages
Strong leadership and strategic thinking skill

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS

This role is located in Minneapolis, MN and General Mills will provide relocation assistance to the selected candidate, if they meet all requirements for assistance.
This role will not consider remote candidates as this is a hybrid role.
We cannot at this time provide sponsorship for individuals needing sponsorship and cannot support international relocations.