Food Scientist - Commercialization & Optimization

Hello potential future Oatly employee. It’s us, the original oatmilk company that started in Sweden back 25 or so years ago and has since expanded to the U.S. where we’ve continued growing at a rate such that we need more brilliant minds to come work with us to keep the momentum going and the oatmilk flowing.

Sustainability, health, and transparency are the core values that guide everything we do. Basically, we exist to make it easy for people to eat better and live healthier lives without recklessly taxing the planet’s resources in the process. If any of this resonates with you, then maybe you’d like work for Oatly, too. Now onto the formal stuff.

We are looking for a Food Scientist to join our team. This role will be responsible for supporting the commercialization and optimization efforts of our existing oat product portfolio.

In this role, you will collaborate and partner with internal and external teams to globally scale and optimize processes to produce high-quality, safe, and delicious oat products. The role will report to one of the Senior Product Development Engineers.

Here are the things we want to hire you to do:

• Lead and support the commercialization and optimization efforts of oat products in our existing portfolio
• Work closely with the new product development food scientists/engineers to understand new projects and directly oversee the transition of products from small pilot scale prototypes to full-scale production
• Collaborate cross-functionally to identify manufacturing concerns both pre- and post-scale up
• Document observations and analyze data from plant trial runs to provide detailed direction throughout the commercialization process
• Use technical data and resources throughout the scale-up process to troubleshoot manufacturing challenges
• Create and manage finished product specifications in collaboration with the cross-functional team to ensure all products are made consistently
• Partner with quality to design and execute shelf-life studies
• Partner with supply chain operations and other teams to identify and execute portfolio optimization projects
• Work with external manufacturing partners to ensure all products can be efficiently and accurately manufactured
• Support the commercial team with customer documentation and samples from initial trials or production runs
• Routinely evaluate product in market for consistency and performance; troubleshoot any issues to ensure product quality is maintained
• Responds resourcefully to new demands and challenges throughout the commercialization process
• Enter and maintain formulas, processing instructions, and other data in Oatly’s PLM tool
• Generate and validate ingredient statements and nutrition fact panels
• Conduct sensory and analytical testing on products
• Identify opportunities to drive revenue growth, improve productivity, and create intellectual property with a sustainability mindset that enhances our competitive advantage
• Align key stakeholders and identify potential challenges and interdependencies impacting projects and platforms
• May support new product development initiatives as needed
• Comfortable traveling around 50% of the time
  
  

Here Are The Things We Think You Need

• BS with 5+ years or MS with 3+ years of relevant work experience in Food Science or related field
• 3+ years of experience in food science product development to scale-up in the manufacturing environment is required
• Experience in dairy &/or dairy alternative product processing is a plus
• Proactive, willing to be highly engaged and hands-on
• Ability to thrive in a dynamic environment and comfortable navigating through ambiguity
• We want you to be organized, detailed oriented, and able to multi-task, with excellent time management skills
• Naturally curious with a constant pursuit to create improvements
• Must be able to lift up to 40 lbs
• Must be able to stand or walk up to 80% of the time
• Must have a valid driver’s license
  
  

And here’s another list of qualities we think make a good Oatly team member:

• You feel connected to our mission of encouraging health, sustainability, and transparency
• You are a self-starter who doesn’t need direct supervision to motivate you for success – we believe strongly in building a culture of individual accountability and ownership and need partners that can embrace that mentality
• You are ready to make your mark in a smaller, growing brand leveraging your experience to deliver amazing results and build an outstanding company
• You have an entrepreneurial spirit in that you’re comfortable with ambiguity and are energized by the process of building something lasting from the ground up
• You enjoy sharing your quirkiness and talents with your coworkers
  
  

Another bulleted list felt redundant, so we wrote this long sentence with all the ways we sweeten the deal to work with us, like providing flexible vacation for starters, really great benefits, genuinely great coworkers who want to see the company and each other succeed, and a start-up vibe with an established company history.

Our team is available to support you through the hiring process with reasonable accommodations to enable a barrier-free interview experience. We will maintain candidate privacy and confidentiality to enable an unbiased and equitable experience. If you need assistance applying for a role due to a disability or special need, please contact talent.management@oatly.com.

Oatly is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or veteran status.