Senior Pet Food Innovation Scientist

Company: Cargill
Location: Wichita
Posted on: June 29, 2025

Job Description:

Cargill’s size and scale allows us to make a positive impact in the world. Our purpose is to nourish the world in a safe, responsible and sustainable way.Cargill is a family company providing food, ingredients, agricultural solutions and industrial products that are vital for living. We connect farmers with markets so they can prosper. We connect customers with ingredients so they can make meals people love. And we connect families with daily essentials — from eggs to edible oils, salt to skincare, feed to alternative fuel. Our 160,000 colleagues, operating in 70 countries, make essential products that touch billions of lives each day. Join us and reach your higher purpose at Cargill. This position is in Cargill’s protein and salt business, where we provide wholesome, high-quality food products to a wide range of customers, from foodservice operators and grocery stores to manufacturers and exporters.Job Purpose and ImpactThe Senior Pet Food Innovation Scientist will coordinate, align and innovate by exploring, developing and implementing new and existing products. In this position, you will provide technical expertise related to formulation and new product development of wet/ human grade/ temperature controlled pet food. Additional responsibilities will include the technology/process development for these products. This position identifies and implements technical solutions against business goals.Key AccountabilitiesIdentify product growth and new product opportunities, modifying plans to meet opportunities.Stay current with literature and analytical advancements and works with independently on daily tasks.Provide technical leadership in product and process development and improvement, quality systems and regulatory oversight.Develops and implements innovation roadmap market plans including market and innovation plans aligned to the business strategy.Work with cross functional teams that include marketing, insights, sales, ops, food safety quality and regulatory.Collaborate with research and commercial brand to develop short and long term testing programs for experimental and commercial products and hybrids.Partner with sales, business management and marketing partners to identify customer needs and translate these into new product development opportunities.Independently handle complex issues with minimal supervision, while escalating only the most complex issues to appropriate staff.Other duties as assignedLI-AE3FGBthemuseQualificationsMinimum QualificationsBachelor's degree in a related field or equivalent experienceMinimum of four years of work experience (could be combined professional/university) in one or more of the following areas: Pet Food Formulation Development, Ingredient Functionality, & Product CommercializationBaseline understanding of companion animal palatability, nutrition, & AAFCO nutrient requirements.Ability to work in a cold environment and lift up to 30lbs.Ability to travel up to 30%Preferred QualificationsMaster's degree or other post-secondary degreeDemonstrated financial and business acumenExperience formulating wet pet food or extruded pet food productsThermal processing experienceExperience working in a manufacturing or operations environment. (University or Commercial Scale)Experience with statistical modeling and interpretation of dataStrategic thinker with the ability to build effective plans to support strategic initiativesExperience working successfully in a matrixed organizationExperience conducting continuous improvement events such as Kaizen, Six Sigma, or Lean ProcessesEqual Opportunity Employer, including Disability/Vet Salary: . Date posted: 06/08/2025

Keywords: Cargill, Wichita , Senior Pet Food Innovation Scientist, Science, Research & Development , Wichita, Kansas