AGRI-NEO – JOB DESCRIPTION
Associate Food Technologist
Member of: Sciences Team
Location: Toronto, Ontario
COMPANY
Agri-Neo’s mission is to help safely feed the world. Our vision to accomplish this is to set new food safety standards with our treatments for many foods. Our first product line is Neo-Pure, which leverages our proprietary technology of liquid formulas and systems that apply our solutions onto spices, seeds, herbs, and nuts in food processing facilities. These solutions control pathogens such as Salmonella and other quality indicator microorganisms (TPC, coliforms, etc.) to ensure the food is safe to eat and to prevent recalls. We have several customers throughout the globe (North America, Latin America, China, and Egypt), including large mainstream food processors that treat food continuously at high throughputs. We are scaling up our products at more mainstream customer sites to ensure that we set new food safety and food quality standards to help safely feed the world.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Associate Food Technologist role represents an exciting opportunity to join the science team in a dynamic organization that is capitalizing on the global need for increased productivity and sustainability in the food industry. We have an entrepreneurial and meritocratic work environment and believe this translates to an unparalleled professional development opportunity for the right individual, with multiple pathways to senior leadership positions.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Provide general lab support and plant trials including:
- Assist and eventually lead experiments including lab scale, pilot scale and large industrial scale trials.
- Assist and eventually travel to lead validations off-site (Client’s facilities).
- Weighing and processing of food samples.
- Media, reagent, and solution preparation (involves work with flammable and corrosive chemicals).
- Labeling and organizing materials for experiments.
- Maintaining cleanliness and organization of the lab.
- Keep accurate and up-to-date records.
- Provide support to other members in the department and other departments.
- Other responsibilities as assigned.
Follow basic lab practices including:
- Use of aseptic technique.
- Laboratory safety policies and procedures, SOPs, wearing PPE, etc.
QUALIFICATIONS
- College or University degree in microbiology, food science, or any related discipline.
- 0 – 2 years of experience relating to microbiology or food science.
- Candidates must be able to work full-time, Monday to Friday.
- Candidates must have a valid passport, a Canadian Permanent Residence (Canadian passport is a plus) to easily travel internationally to a wide variety of countries (USA, Latin America, China, Egypt, etc.).
- Willingness to travel up to 50% of the time.
- Work experience in a food manufacturing environment or a microbiology laboratory is a plus.
SKILLS
- Ability to work independently after receiving direction and as part of a team.
- Ability to work in a very fast-paced environment.
- Ability to make observations, form a viable hypothesis, do experimental work to confirm or pivot to a new hypothesis. Find scientific conclusions based on the results and communicate to the stakeholders. Positive attitude when results are not favourable and persevere to try new and different approaches.
- Strong ability to adapt and learn fast as new information becomes available to apply this information to move forward.
- Manual dexterity to perform laboratory tasks.
- Strong verbal and written communication skills with scientific and non-scientific audiences.
- Ability to lift up to 25 pounds on a regular basis and carry for short distances (safety measures, such as the two-person lift and tools such as dollies, trolleys and carts are provided).
- A strong work ethic and ability to take on varied tasks as required.
- Intermediate computer skills (Microsoft Office, Excel, etc.).
- Ability to delegate tasks.
- Willingness to develop into the role and grow with the organization.
- Good time management skills.
- Strong Health and Safety culture.
As part of our commitment to inclusivity, diversity, equity and accessibility, our goal is a workforce built on respect that reflects the communities we serve. We thank all applicants for their interest in Agri-Neo but only those selected for an interview will be contacted.
We are proud to be in compliance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), 2005 and the Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation. We are happy to honor accommodations at any part of the recruitment process and invite you to let us know how we can help.
