Pet Product Development Scientist III

Business Unit Overview

Headquartered in Lakeville, Minn., Post Consumer Brands, a business unit of Post Holdings, Inc., is dedicated to providing people and their pets with delicious food choices for every taste and budget. The company's portfolio includes beloved brands such as Honey Bunches of Oats™, PEBBLES™, Grape-Nuts™ and Malt-O-Meal™ cereal and Peter Pan™ peanut butter, as well as Rachael Ray® Nutrish™, Kibbles 'n Bits™ and 9Lives™ dog and cat food. Post also provides private label solutions to customers in pet food, cereal, nut butters and granola.

As a company committed to high standards of quality and to our values, we are driven by one idea: To make lives better by making delicious food accessible for all. For more information about our brands, visit www.postconsumerbrands.com and follow us on LinkedIn or

Facebook for the latest news.

Location Description

Post Consumer Brands corporate headquarters in Lakeville, Minnesota, is about 20 miles south of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Lakeville has all the benefits of smaller town living with access to everything a large metropolitan area has to offer. Join more than 400 team members collaborating on the two-building campus to help put breakfast on the tables of millions of consumers in North America.

Responsibilities

• Turn consumer insights into pet food innovations that deliver quality, value, and an experience pets love. As a Pet Product Development Scientist III, you will lead product development and testing from technical design through manufacturing readiness. You will formulate new and improved products, apply scientific principles to complex challenges, and bring cross-functional teams together to advance innovation, cost optimization, and quality enhancement.

This role is an opportunity to make a visible impact across the pet portfolio while working with R&D colleagues, pilot plant partners, manufacturing sites, and other internal and external collaborators. You will balance hands-on experimentation with project leadership, clear technical communication, and disciplined execution.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the development and formulation of new pet products and improvements to existing products within AAFCO requirements.
• Ensure product development work aligns with company cost, capacity, quality, marketing, and technical requirements.
• Design, coordinate, and execute experiments with pilot plant and manufacturing partners to evaluate sensory and palatability performance, stability, and other critical technical deliverables.
• Analyze results and translate findings into clear learnings, recommendations, and next steps.
• Author or contribute to technical proposals, summaries, presentations, and project reports.
• Lead project or technical teams as needed to meet project priorities, deliverables, and timing.
• Build project plans and key tasks in collaboration with partners within and outside R&D.
• Apply scientific principles to identify and address cost savings opportunities, product or packaging changes, equipment modifications, and manufacturability challenges.
• Why You’ll Love This Role
• Shape pet products that create value for pet owners and their companions.
• Own meaningful technical work from formulation and experimentation through recommendations and scale-up support.
• Collaborate across R&D, pilot plant, manufacturing, and business teams to move ideas forward.
• Use both scientific depth and project leadership to influence innovation, quality, and cost optimization.
• Bring your handprint to high-impact work with the resources of a large company and the collaborative spirit of a close-knit team.
• Location & Travel Requirements
• Based in Lakeville, Minnesota, with a hybrid schedule of three days per week in the office.
• Up to 25% travel.

Qualifications

• Education
• Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Chemical Engineering, Animal Nutrition, or a related field.
• Required Qualifications
• Minimum of five years of relevant research and development experience in the pet industry.
• Demonstrated ability to organize and manage multiple projects in a fast-paced environment while meeting deadlines and communicating status.
• Experience working effectively with multiple functional groups in a collaborative, team-based environment.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to support, facilitate, and lead cross-functional teams, build consensus, and negotiate effectively.

Preferred Qualifications

• Pet food and/or pet snacks formulation and product development experience.
• Experience with food processes such as extrusion, thermal processing, or baking.
• Experience with formulation software such as Concept 5.
• Success in This Role
• Apply strong problem-solving skills, innovation, and creativity to technical challenges.
• Communicate complex findings clearly and turn data into practical recommendations.
• Build productive relationships across functions and work collaboratively toward shared goals.
• Prioritize effectively, adapt as project needs change, and execute multiple initiatives simultaneously.
• Lead discussions and decisions with sound judgment, clarity, and a focus on results.
• Ready to Make an Impact?
• Bring your pet product development expertise, scientific curiosity, and collaborative leadership to Post Consumer Brands. Help us turn insights into products that make lives better for pets and the people who care for them. Big company opportunity. Small company attitude. Discover just right.

The pay range for this position is $80,166 - $118,645 per year.

Responsibilities

• Turn consumer insights into pet food innovations that deliver quality, value, and an experience pets love. As a Pet Product Development Scientist III, you will lead product development and testing from technical design through manufacturing readiness. You will formulate new and improved products, apply scientific principles to complex challenges, and bring cross-functional teams together to advance innovation, cost optimization, and quality enhancement.

This role is an opportunity to make a visible impact across the pet portfolio while working with R&D colleagues, pilot plant partners, manufacturing sites, and other internal and external collaborators. You will balance hands-on experimentation with project leadership, clear technical communication, and disciplined execution.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the development and formulation of new pet products and improvements to existing products within AAFCO requirements.
• Ensure product development work aligns with company cost, capacity, quality, marketing, and technical requirements.
• Design, coordinate, and execute experiments with pilot plant and manufacturing partners to evaluate sensory and palatability performance, stability, and other critical technical deliverables.
• Analyze results and translate findings into clear learnings, recommendations, and next steps.
• Author or contribute to technical proposals, summaries, presentations, and project reports.
• Lead project or technical teams as needed to meet project priorities, deliverables, and timing.
• Build project plans and key tasks in collaboration with partners within and outside R&D.
• Apply scientific principles to identify and address cost savings opportunities, product or packaging changes, equipment modifications, and manufacturability challenges.
• Why You’ll Love This Role
• Shape pet products that create value for pet owners and their companions.
• Own meaningful technical work from formulation and experimentation through recommendations and scale-up support.
• Collaborate across R&D, pilot plant, manufacturing, and business teams to move ideas forward.
• Use both scientific depth and project leadership to influence innovation, quality, and cost optimization.
• Bring your handprint to high-impact work with the resources of a large company and the collaborative spirit of a close-knit team.
• Location & Travel Requirements
• Based in Lakeville, Minnesota, with a hybrid schedule of three days per week in the office.
• Up to 25% travel.

Qualifications

• Education
• Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Chemical Engineering, Animal Nutrition, or a related field.
• Required Qualifications
• Minimum of five years of relevant research and development experience in the pet industry.
• Demonstrated ability to organize and manage multiple projects in a fast-paced environment while meeting deadlines and communicating status.
• Experience working effectively with multiple functional groups in a collaborative, team-based environment.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to support, facilitate, and lead cross-functional teams, build consensus, and negotiate effectively.

Preferred Qualifications

• Pet food and/or pet snacks formulation and product development experience.
• Experience with food processes such as extrusion, thermal processing, or baking.
• Experience with formulation software such as Concept 5.
• Success in This Role
• Apply strong problem-solving skills, innovation, and creativity to technical challenges.
• Communicate complex findings clearly and turn data into practical recommendations.
• Build productive relationships across functions and work collaboratively toward shared goals.
• Prioritize effectively, adapt as project needs change, and execute multiple initiatives simultaneously.
• Lead discussions and decisions with sound judgment, clarity, and a focus on results.
• Ready to Make an Impact?
• Bring your pet product development expertise, scientific curiosity, and collaborative leadership to Post Consumer Brands. Help us turn insights into products that make lives better for pets and the people who care for them. Big company opportunity. Small company attitude. Discover just right.