Agglomeration Product Development and Application Scientist

Company: balchem
Location: Faribault
Posted on: January 28, 2023

Job Description:

COMPANY OVERVIEW:

Balchem Corporation develops, manufactures and markets specialty ingredients that improve and enhance the health and well-being of life on the planet, providing state-of-the-art solutions and the finest quality products for a range of industries worldwide. Our corporate headquarters is located in New Hampton, New York, (Hudson Valley area) and we have a broad network of sales offices, manufacturing sites, and R&D centers, primarily located in the US and Europe. Founded in 1967, Balchem is a publicly traded company (NASDAQ - BCPC) with annual revenues over $700 million and a market cap exceeding $4.0 billion. The company consists of three business segments: Human Nutrition & Health; Animal Nutrition & Health; and Specialty Products. Balchem employs over 1,300 people worldwide who are engaged in diverse activities, committed to developing the company into global market leadership positions. To learn more about our dynamic, stable and growing company, visit www.balchem.com

POSITION SUMMARY :

The Agglomeration Product Development and Application (PD&A) Scientist is a member of the R&D Group based in Faribault, MN supporting manufacturing locations in Faribault and Albert Lea with occasional travel to other R&D sites within the network. The position reports to the Agglomeration PD&A Manager and will participate in a wide variety of projects, with an emphasis on developing processes used to manufacture microencapsulated, agglomerated, and granulated materials for the food, beverage, nutraceutical, and animal nutrition markets. In this role, the candidate will be working at the interface between R&D and several other departments or groups including manufacturing, supply chain, quality, sales, analytical labs, and other R&D groups. They will develop the scientific data on the lab, pilot plant, and commercial scales to allow for transition to manufacturing. In this position you will work closely with the manufacturing plant and be responsible for the execution of plant trials. The working environment will include office, laboratory, pilot plant, and manufacturing environments, and will require business travel.

The Agglomeration PD&A Scientist will be called on to act both as a team member as well as a Project Manager/Technical Project Leader on new product development and support projects. This role is both strategic and tactical in nature and is for someone who enjoys solving a diverse array of challenges and accepts new responsibilities for career growth. The scope of work will include development and improvement of new and existing processes and products, conducting lab scale and bench top experiments, new product commercializations, product characterization studies, qualifying new raw materials, application development, and performing analytical work.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Responsible for working safely in all situations, follows and enforces all safety policies, demonstrates safe behaviors including use of safety equipment and equipment safeguards, and champions the Balchem safety programs at each site.

Follows GMP protocols, regulatory requirements, and works to ensure product compliance with regulatory bodies like FDA.

Develop an understanding of and demonstrate the ability to manufacture ingredients using Balchem Corporation proprietary technology.

Leads product development efforts in formulation, application, process development, process capability, and specification development.

Act as either a Technical Project Leader, or a team member, for research projects to design, develop and improve new and existing product portfolio.

Work closely with Sales, Marketing, Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain, and other functional business partners to develop and test product development solutions for new product launches and to troubleshoot issues with existing products and processes.

Adept at creating experimental designs, executing technical experiments, making detailed observations, analyzing data, recording and interpreting results, and effectively reporting information written and orally.

Carries out hands-on pilot scale trials and supports pilot plant to include pilot plant operation and writing pilot plant reports.

Ensures manufacturing equipment operates according to design or modification and determines if the process is carried out consistent with required specifications and quality control standards.

Works with manufacturing and quality to make any required changes to equipment and/or processes involved to ready the product for full scale production.

Participates in scale-up trials from pilot plant to commercial scale equipment being available at non-traditional hours for scale up trials, as needed.

Troubleshoot production problems relating to raw materials, equipment, and/or processing conditions and documents findings.

Maintains documentation of all aspects of project work, and other activities sufficiently to enable filing of patents where appropriate and to provide a record for future reference.

Assists in the preparation of presentations and reports to communicate results to key stakeholders.

Understands regulatory requirements and works to ensure compliance.

Be able to travel up to 10-20% of the time.

Performs other duties as assigned.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

BS degree in Food Science, Food Technology, Chemical Engineering, or related field required. Will consider other candidates with relevant experience

2-4 years industrial experience in process or product development and commercialization.

2-4 years of bench top laboratory and pilot plant experience preferred.

Excellent communication, influencing, and problem-solving skills.

Highly self-motivated individual comfortable working individually and able to manage multiple tasks and projects efficiently within the context of a fast-paced, busy environment.

Ability to apply prior learning or scientific principles to new situations.

Ability to exhibit a collaborative mindset and to apply innovative solutions.

Proficient with word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation applications, and be able to easily learn new applications.

Experience with Minitab, Microsoft Dynamics 365, and Six Sigma is a plus.

Knowledge of food and dietary supplement cCMPs preferred.

#IN

Balchem is committed to a workplace culture that values and promotes diversity, inclusion, equal employment opportunities, and a work environment free of harassment and hostility.

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Keywords: balchem, Minneapolis , Agglomeration Product Development and Application Scientist, Other , Faribault, Minnesota