Product Development Scientist

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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 $900 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

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Product Development Engineer is a member of the R&D Group based in New Hampton, NY supporting Food Encapsulation Technology in the Particle Engineering Group. The position reports to Technology Manager/Lead and will participate in projects developing new formulation and processes used to manufacture microencapsulated Ingredients for the Human Health & Nutrition markets.

In this role, the candidate will be working at the interface between R&D and several other groups including manufacturing, supply chain, quality, sales, and analytical labs. This person will develop the scientific data in the lab, pilot plant, and commercial scales to allow for an effective transition to manufacturing. The candidate will work closely with the manufacturing plant, attend and be responsible for the execution of plant trials. The working environment will include office, laboratory, pilot plant, and manufacturing environments.

The Product Development Engineer will be called on to act both as a team member as well as a Project Manager/Technical Project Leader on some new product development and support projects. This role is both strategic and tactical in nature and is for a hands-on person 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 commercialization and 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 (PPE) 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 guide the manufacturing of ingredients using Balchem Corporation proprietary encapsulation technology.
• Leads product development efforts in formulation, application, process development, process capability, and specification development.
• Coordinate application testing of ingredients and compile data to prepare for presentation to key stakeholders.
• Act as either a Technical Project Leader, or a team member, to design, develop, and improve new and existing product portfolio.
• Will be adept at creating experimental designs, running technical experiments, making detailed observations, analyzing data, recording, and interpreting results, and effectively reporting information written and orally.
• Work closely with 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.
• Carries out hands-on pilot scale trials and supports pilot plant to include pilot plant operation and writing pilot plant reports.
• Writes detailed manufacturing instructions and specifications to ensure processes are well documented for the effective transition to operations.
• Participates in scale-up trials from pilot plant to commercial scale equipment being available for 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, Chemical Engineering or related technical field required.
• 2-4 years industrial experience in process or product development and commercialization preferred. Entry level candidates will be considered.
• 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.
• Experience with Minitab, Microsoft Dynamics 365, and Six Sigma is a plus.
• Knowledge of food and dietary supplement cCMPs preferred.

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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