What are the responsibilities and job description for the R&D Food Technologist position at Ruiz Food Product, Inc.?
Company Information
Ruiz Foods has been family owned since 1964, is one of the largest Hispanic-owned companies in the country, and is the proud maker of two #1 brands: El Monterey frozen Mexican food and Tornados roller grill taquitos in grocery stores and convenience stores across the US and Canada.
Are you looking for career development opportunities in an exciting company that cares about its team members and consumers alike? Come join our team and help us continue our industry-leading track record of growth, quality, and delicious food!
About the Role
We’re hiring an R&D Food Technologist to help develop, improve, and commercialize high-quality food products. This role is ideal for a technically strong food science professional who enjoys hands-on product development, formulation, plant trials, sensory evaluation, and cross-functional collaboration.
Top Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Food Science required.
- Food product development experience, including formulation, ingredient functionality, sensory evaluation, and commercialization.
- Experience supporting bench-top development, plant trials, scale-up, or initial production runs.
- Strong project management, communication, documentation, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
What You'll Do
- Develop new product concepts, prototypes, formulations, and product improvements from idea through commercialization.
- Plan and execute bench-top testing, sensory evaluations, plant trials, and initial production runs.
- Evaluate ingredients, functionality, processing conditions, and product performance to support innovation, quality, and cost objectives.
- Partner with Operations, Quality, Procurement, suppliers, customers, and other stakeholders to move projects forward.
- Maintain accurate product development records, specifications, trial notes, and project documentation.
Preferred Experience
- 5–7 years of food industry experience in R&D, product development, formulation, commercialization, or related technical work preferred.
- Strong understanding of food ingredients, processing, sensory evaluation, product quality, and scale-up activities.
- Ability to turn technical findings into clear recommendations for product, customer, and business decisions.
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office and strong organizational skills to manage multiple projects and priorities.
Why Apply?
This is a hands-on opportunity to influence product innovation from concept through launch. If you are curious, collaborative, detail-oriented, and passionate about creating great food products, we would like to hear from you.