What are the responsibilities and job description for the Research and Development Specialist position at CSG Talent?
R&D Specialist - Nutrition Ingredients (Milwaukee Area)
A growing and innovation-focused company within the food and nutrition ingredients sector is seeking an R&D Specialist to support product development and customer-driven innovation across dietary supplement and functional ingredient applications.
This role is ideal for a hands-on professional with experience in food or nutrition product development, particularly within dry ingredient systems and supplement-related applications.
You will play a key role in managing projects from concept through commercialization, working cross-functionally to deliver high-quality, customer-focused ingredient solutions.
Key Responsibilities
- Manage product development projects from customer brief through to commercialization
- Develop formulations to meet nutritional, cost, and timeline requirements
- Create new ingredient solutions for food, beverage, and dietary supplement applications
- Troubleshoot and adjust formulations in response to raw material or supply challenges
- Support pilot-scale work including spray drying, blending, and application trials
- Generate accurate nutritional data, specifications, and supporting product documentation
- Maintain and manage ingredient and formulation portfolios
- Coordinate and fulfil sample requests in a timely manner
- Support urgent project needs and issue resolution as required
- Collaborate cross-functionally with sales, production, supply chain, quality, and operations teams
- Communicate project progress and updates to internal and external stakeholders
- Build strong relationships with customers, distributors, and external partners
- Ensure compliance with U.S. food labeling and dietary supplement regulations (international knowledge a plus)
- Maintain a safe, organized, and compliant laboratory environment following GMP and food safety standards
- Support internal training and knowledge-sharing initiatives
- Utilize internal systems (e.g. ERP/CRM tools) to manage projects and documentation
- Participate in continuous improvement initiatives across product development and lab operations
- Travel periodically for customer visits, manufacturing support, and industry events
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in Food Science or a related field
- 2-5 years of experience in product development within food, nutrition, or dietary supplement manufacturing
- Hands-on experience in laboratory and/or pilot plant environments
- Strong experience working with dry ingredient systems and functional formulations
- Knowledge of dietary supplements, nutraceuticals, sports nutrition, or functional food markets strongly preferred
- Experience with spray drying or similar processing technologies preferred
- Working knowledge of U.S. food labeling and dietary supplement regulations
- Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously with strong attention to detail
- Strong problem-solving skills and ability to develop practical, customer-focused solutions
- Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills
- Comfortable working in a fast-paced, cross-functional environment