R&D Specialist, Pet Nutrition Job Opening

Spectrum Brands – The Pet Care business unit of Spectrum Brands is based in St. Louis, Missouri with distribution, manufacturing and sales offices throughout the US and globe. Owners of dogs, cats, birds, small animals, fish and reptiles rely on our brands for exceptional value and trusted results. Our industry-leading brands include Tetra®, Instant Ocean®, Marineland®, 8-in-1®, Dingo®, FURminator®, Nature’s Miracle®, GloFish®, DreamBone® and SmartBones®.

The R&D Lab Specialist is responsible for providing product development and testing services in the Pet Nutrition R&D Department. This individual assists in troubleshooting existing product and manufacturing issues and provides technical expertise and support to manufacturing, marketing and sales. This position will take direction from the R&D Nutritionist and/or R&D Senior Nutritionist.

Product Development

• Frequent contacts with Marketing, Manufacturing, Quality Assurance and Regulatory
• Participate in product briefs with vendors
• Assist the Nutritionist with completing the Design Control Document (DCD)

Documentation

• Log and compile stability data into cohesive reports
• Assist in the maintenance and entries of R&D data bases
• Maintain a detailed laboratory notebook for all projects
• Maintain and update R&D laboratory Standard Operating Procedures
• Request, review, edit and file Manufactures Declarations (MDF) for all products
• Create and maintain database of product stability certificates
• Maintain annual testing requirements for claims substantiation purposes

Process Development

• Develop and standardize analytical methods including methods used for analysis of FDA and EPA products
• Participate as part of a team with members from R&D, Regulatory, Production and Quality Assurance to investigate and provide corrective action on manufacturing issues, providing technical expertise when needed

Testing and Analysis

• Support product development and testing services, including independent formulation and testing development as needed
• Participate in the reformulation of products by mixing lab standard batches for a wide range of companion animal products
• Prepare mock-up samples in response to marketing and sales needs
• Perform and monitor storage stability studies
• Participate in the investigation of consumer complaints to include the analysis of consumer complaint samples, investigating the root cause of the issue and cooperating with Regulatory, Quality Assurance and Production in corrective actions
• Participate as part of a team with Production and Quality Assurance to assist in the scaling from laboratory prototypes to manufacturing

• 4-year college degree with preference given to those with Chemistry, Biology, Food Sciences or related science background
• 2 years of experience required in a laboratory settings, R&D laboratory or Quality Assurance laboratory given preference

• High level of organizational skills
• Knowledge of laboratory operations, equipment, and safety requirements
• Possess basic critical thinking and analytical skills
• Ability to work independently with little supervision
• Ability to think creatively and overcome obstacles
• Demonstrate strong multi-tasking skills
• PC skills (Spreadsheet, word processing, presentations)
• Good communication skills, both written and oral
• Ability to work well in a team environment
• Ability to communicate effectively with all levels within the organization

• 40-50% office environment
• 30-40% lab environment
• 5% travel

The above information on this description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this job/classification. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required of employees assigned to this job.

Spectrum Brands is an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer.

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