Do you want to make a difference in the lives of people and their pets? What about having the opportunity to connect with others across the world, full of stimulating discussions, and making impactful contributions? If this is how you see your career, Hill’s is the place to be!

Hill’s Pet Nutrition is a $2.3 Billion, global division of Colgate-Palmolive Company and the maker of Prescription Diet, Science Diet, and Healthy Advantage brand pet food. Our mission is to help enrich and lengthen the special relationships between people and their pets by providing the best leading-edge pet nutrition technology, products, and expertise to pet owners, veterinary professionals and other key pet professionals worldwide. Our company is a globally recognized Best Place to Work.

Product Design is responsible for identifying technologies that enhance pet and pet parent liking of pet foods and supporting the implementation of those technologies across our premium wellness and therapeutic product portfolios. Our Associate Scientist position will be responsible for conducting research that provides data to help understand pet preferences and drivers of liking as well as pet parent preferences and perceptions of pet food product design attributes. This will involve innovative method development, executing pet and consumer studies, statistical analysis of results, interpreting data and preparing final reports. This role will partner with the Product Design Analytical team and work closely with Product Development as well as cross functional business colleagues to ensure successful execution. 

What you will do

• Assist in executing sensory studies to provide product guidance to drive business results:
  1) Partner with Scientists and Engineers and learn to understand study requirements, identify best methods for analysis, and advise on sensory test protocols 
  2) Prepare samples, set up tests and conduct analyses 
  3) Assist with data analysis and interpretation 
• Assist in conducting research studies to understand product attributes that contribute to performance of products throughout their life cycle
• Project management for internal and external studies to ensure successful execution
• Assist with summarizing data and preparing final reports
• Responsible for lab maintenance including maintaining files, lab cleanliness, and inventory of supplies 
• Complete ongoing quality, safety and related trainings 

This is not an exhaustive list of duties or functions.

Required Qualifications 

• Bacherlor's Degree in Food Science or related field
   

Preferred Qualifications 

• Master's Dgree in Food Science, Statistics or related field
• A minimum of 3 years of experience working in the field
• Demonstrated understanding of use of sensory methods (i.e. trained panels, consumer panels) in project execution 
• Demonstrated understanding of food product performance research and understanding of food science principles 
• Must be able to work independently with minimal supervision and manage multiple projects
• Demonstrated ability to design and run scientific experiments

Expected Areas of Skills:

• Effective communication skills (written and oral)
• Effective interpersonal and team skills; ability to communicate and work in a cross-functional environment
• Demonstrated analytical, problem-solving and conceptual skills
• Proven ability to meet scheduled deadlines
• Efficient at using Google/ Microsoft productive apps and statistical software
   

We are a results oriented company with a caring culture and work life balance.  Do not miss the chance to join our outstanding team!