COMPANY OVERVIEW:

Balchem Corporation develops, manufactures and markets specialty ingredients that improve and enhance the health and well-being of life on the planet, providing state-of-the-art solutions and the finest quality products for a range of industries worldwide. Our corporate headquarters is located in Montvale, New Jersey, and we have a broad network of sales offices, manufacturing sites, and R&D centers, primarily located in the US and Europe. Founded in 1967, Balchem is a publicly traded company (NASDAQ – “BCPC”) with annual revenues over $900 million and a market cap exceeding $4.0 billion. The company consists of three business segments: Human Nutrition & Health; Animal Nutrition & Health; and Specialty Products. Balchem employs over 1,400 people worldwide who are engaged in diverse activities, committed to developing the company into global market leadership positions. To learn more about our dynamic, stable and growing company, visit www.balchem.com

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Development Scientist is a member of the R&D Group based in Ogden, UT. The position reports to the R&D Development Manager for Balchem’s Minerals and Nutrients business. The Development Scientist will participate in a wide variety of projects, with an emphasis on developing products and supporting processes used to manufacture spray dried, agglomerated, and blended materials for the food, nutraceutical, personal care, and pharmaceutical markets. In this role, the candidate will be working on the interface between R&D and several other departments or groups, including: manufacturing, supply chain, quality, sales, analytical labs, and other R&D groups, and will develop the scientific data on the lab, pilot plant, and commercial scales to allow for transition into manufacturing. The candidate will work closely with the manufacturing plant and will attend and be responsible for the execution of plant trials. The working environment will include office, laboratory, pilot production, and powder manufacturing environments, and may additionally require occasional business travel.

The Development Scientist will be called on to act both as a team member on new product development and support projects; and will also be a Project Manager/Technical Project Leader. This role is both strategic and tactical in nature; and is for someone who enjoys solving a diverse array of challenges and accepts new responsibilities for career growth. The candidate will participate in new process and product developments, process and product improvements, conducting lab scale and bench top experiments, commercialization studies for new products, conducting product characterization studies, qualifying new raw materials, applications and performing analytical work. The Development Scientist will also support technical research and customer support on existing and new product lines.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

• Responsible for working safely in all situations, follows and enforces all safety policies, demonstrates safe behaviors including use of safety equipment (PPE) and equipment safeguards, and champions the Balchem safety program in Ogden.
• Develop processes and protocols for the manufacture of products in a variety of matrices utilizing spray drying, high-shear blenders, fluid beds, and other equipment.
• Act as either a Project Manager/Technical Project Leader, or a team member, for research projects to design, develop and improve new and existing product portfolio.
• Work closely with Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain, and other functional business partners to develop and test product development solutions for new product launches and to troubleshoot issues with existing products and processes.
• Oversee and execute hands-on bench, pilot, and commercial scale trials to ready the operation for full scale production.
• Develop experimental designs, run technical experiments, make detailed observations, analyze data, record and interpret results, and effectively report information written and orally.
• Maintain laboratory instruments and equipment and execute performance verifications
• Troubleshoot production problems relating to raw materials, equipment, and/ or processing conditions and documents findings.
• Conduct research on existing products to improve formulations, evaluate current processing methods, and enhance product and process quality.
• Maintain documentation of all aspects of project work, and other activities sufficiently to enable filing of patents where appropriate and to provide a record for future reference.
• Assist with contract manufacturing and technology transfers when necessary.
• Assist with customer complaint resolution and out of specification investigations as required.
• Understand regulatory requirements and work to ensure compliance.
• Be able to travel up to 10% of the time.
• Be available at non-traditional hours for scale up trials, as needed
• Performs other duties as assigned.

REQUIREMENTS:

• BS degree in Chemistry or closely related field required.
• 2-4 years industrial experience in process or product development and commercialization.
• 2-4 years of bench top laboratory and pilot plant experience preferred.
• Excellent communication, influencing, leadership, and problem-solving skills
• Highly self-motivated individual, comfortable working individually and with a team, and able to manage multiple tasks and projects efficiently within the context of a fast-paced, busy environment.
• Ability to apply prior learning or scientific principles to new situations
• Ability to exhibit a collaborative mindset and apply innovative solutions are a must
• Must be computer literate and proficient with word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation applications, and be able to easily learn new applications.
• Experience with Minitab, Microsoft Dynamics 365, and Six Sigma is a plus.
• Knowledge of food, dietary supplement, and pharmaceutical cCMPs preferred

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Balchem is committed to a workplace culture that values and promotes diversity, inclusion, equal employment opportunities, and a work environment free of harassment and hostility.