Food Scientist II

Who We Are

At Voyage Foods, our mission is to make delicious, sustainable, and accessible foods that are better for people and the planet. All of our products work together to support and sustain a food system designed for everyone, now and into the future. We're a team of food scientists, CPG experts, and professionals with a passion for making good food available for generations to come.

What do peanut butter, chocolate, and coffee have in common? They're some of our favorite foods but are often inaccessible and unsustainable. That's why we created our Nut-Free Spreads, Cocoa-Free Chocolate, and Bean-Free Coffee. From food allergies to climate change and unjust labor practices, the foods we love are in serious need of an upgrade. Our future-proofed foods are always top-9 allergen-free, vegan, gluten-free, non-GMO, affordable, and most importantly, utterly delicious.

How We Work

We're a rapidly growing team of people who value diversity in all its forms. We love adding new perspectives and appreciate those who ask questions that help us challenge assumptions, explore new directions, and improve what we've already built. We are a group of like-minded difference makers. Curiosity drives our development. We have tenacity and a risk-taking mentality at every level of our organization to keep challenging normalcy. We believe it's our responsibility to create an environment in which every person can bring their full, authentic selves to work. We push each other to be our best and do our products proud.

This is an exempt position based at our Mason, Ohio Manufacturing Facility location and will report directly to the Process Technology manager.

About the Role

We are looking for a Food scientist or chemical engineer to join our R&D team. You will play a critical role in continuing to improve and scale Voyage's cacao-free chocolate, peanut-free spreads, and bean-free coffee. As we are a start-up and small team, responsibilities can vary daily and will also include general operations. This is a great opportunity for an individual looking to develop in their career within a fast-paced and rapidly growing organization.

This is an on-site position based at Mason, Ohio that requires travel to our Oakland, CA headquarters approximately 20% of the time.

What You'll Do

• Work closely with Operations, QA/QC, and Maintenance teams to troubleshoot and improve manufacturing processes.
  
• Serve as the technical point of contact between the production team and R&D during scale-up, launch, and steady state production.
• Execute plant trials to validate new ingredients, formulations, and processes developed by the R&D team.
• Identify and address root causes of process deviations or inefficiencies.
• Execute plant trials to validate new ingredients, formulations, and processes developed by the R&D team.
• Contribute to HACCP plans, risk assessments, and food safety documentation. Ensuring all processes comply with GMP, HACCP, SQF, and customer-specific requirements.
• Develop and maintain process documentation related to key performance indicators (KPIs), including throughput, yield, waste, downtime, and line efficiency.
• Track and analyze production data to support continuous improvement and process optimization initiatives.
• Create clear, standardized documentation for process parameters and performance targets to ensure alignment across teams.
• Contribute to regulatory and food safety documentation (e.g., HACCP plans, SOPs) as needed, ensuring processes support compliance with GMP, SQF, and customer requirements.
• Scope and propose new processes and optimizations that enhance Voyage's IP and over-all plant efficiency.

What Makes You Successful / What Makes a Great Candidate

• 6+ years experience in the food manufacturing
• Bachelor's degree in chemical engineering or food science
• Experience with chocolate, spreads, or coffee is a plus
• Strong analytical and troubleshooting skills
• Excellent communication and documentation skills