Food Scientist

Position Title: Food Scientist

Reports to: Quality Assurance Manager

Department: Technical Services

Classification: Full-time, Exempt

Pay: $75,000 - $90,000 annually

Corto Mission

To attract quality-oriented restaurateurs with consistently superior olive oil, keep them through legendary service, and invest in talented people who share our dedication to customer success.

The Company

Corto Olive is a nationally recognized, family-owned company known for crafting superior olive oil for professional and home chefs.

If you take pride in the quality of your work and prefer working on a team of talented individuals who share your passion for excellence, we invite you to apply for this exciting opportunity! This is a full-time position located on-site at our Stockton Facility. This role requires working at least 6 days a week during our Harvest season, which runs from mid-October to late November. In addition, you will be required to alter your shift to work Swing or Graveyard during our season to support our 24/7 operation during Harvest

As our Food Scientist, you'll play an important role in developing and bringing superior ingredient solutions to market that meet our loyal and new customer needs and fit within operational capabilities. This role focuses on creating and improving formulations, supporting the transition from small-scale testing to full production, and ensuring products perform safely, consistently, and efficiently. In this role, you will be responsible to lead hands-on problem solving, closely collaborate with cross-functional teams, and apply scientific knowledge in practical, manufacturable, and commercially viable ways.

This position will be primarily responsible for:

Product Development & Formulation

• Develop, optimize, and reformulate ingredients, including olive oils, blends, emulsions, and inclusions, to support and enhance Corto's product portfolio.
• Lead the scale-up of formulations from bench development through pilot testing and full commercial production, ensuring alignment with Corto's processing capabilities and quality standards.
• Troubleshoot formulation and processing challenges related to oxidation, viscosity, texture, color, flavor, and shelf-life stability, with particular emphasis on fresh, Fall-harvest olive oils.

Manufacturing & Operations Collaboration

• Partner closely with Operations, Production, and Quality Assurance to ensure formulations run efficiently on milling and packaging equipment while meeting yield, sanitation, and quality targets.
• Support and participate in plant trials, initial production runs, and continuous improvement initiatives, documenting results and recommending process enhancements.
• Provide technical expertise during the Harvest season, when milling operations run at peak intensity and rapid decision-making is critical.

Customer & Cross-Functional Support

• Collaborate with Sales, Marketing, and other cross-functional teams to address application challenges and support customer trials, evaluations, and product approvals.
• Communicate technical insights, trade-offs, risks, and recommendations in a clear, structured, and solution-oriented manner to both internal stakeholders and external partners.
• Assist with customer audits and support the development of product specifications, regulatory documentation, labeling requirements, and other technical support activities.

Documentation & Quality Systems

• Prepare and maintain accurate technical documentation, including product specifications, technical data sheets, sample logs, trial summaries, and formulation records.
• Support cost-optimization and clean-label initiatives, ensuring product performance and Corto's high quality standards remain uncompromised.
• Maintain up-to-date working knowledge of food safety, regulatory, labeling, and allergen requirements relevant to Corto's operations.

Leadership & Team Development

• Lead, coach, and mentor a small team within Technical Services, providing performance feedback, project guidance, and developmental support.
• Demonstrate ownership of assigned projects from concept through commercialization, and post-launch monitoring and refinement.

Perform other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's in Food Science, Food Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or related field.
• 2 years of hands-on experience in ingredient manufacturing and/or food formulation.
• At least one year experience coaching team members.
• Formulation experience with oils, inclusions, or blends.
• Working knowledge of Food Safety, Quality and Regulatory requirements.
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Teams).

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master's Degree in Food Science, Food Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or related field.
• 5 years of hands-on experience in ingredient manufacturing and/or food formulation.
• Reformulation experience for functionality improvements, ease of manufacturing and cost optimization.
• Experience supporting customer trials, recipe development, product approvals and process improvements.
• Bilingual (Spanish/English) speaking and communication skills.

Physical Requirements:

Moderate lifting, carrying, pushing, and/or pulling; occasional stooping, kneeling, crouching, and/or crawling; and frequent fine finger dexterity. The job is performed under moderate temperature variations and in an office environment. Unrestricted visual and audio abilities are required for the safety of all employees. The ability to lift up to 40 lbs. is required.

Wellbeing:

In addition to our solid track record as a stable, growing employer, we offer a variety of different benefits:

• Physical Wellness - Medical plan options, Dental, Vision.
• Social Wellness - Paid Time Off, Company Holidays, Federal and State Leave of Absences.
• Development Wellness - Recognition, Development Training Programs, Succession Planning, Tuition Reimbursement.
• Emotional Wellness - Employee Assistance Program, People Operations Department -Open Door Policy.
• Financial Wellness - Competitive Salary, Performance based bonus, 401k Program, Life Insurance.
• Nutrition Wellness - Access to best-in-class tomato sauce and olive oil products.

#sfplife

Equal Opportunity Employer
This employer is required to notify all applicants of their rights pursuant to federal employment laws. For further information, please review the Know Your Rights notice from the Department of Labor.

Salary : $75,000 - $90,000