R&D Scientist

The Irca Group is an International Leader in high quality finished and semi-finished ingredients for the bakery, pastry, and ice cream markets. With a solid history of over 100 years in the industry, the Group has its headquarters in Italy (Gallarate) and a strong global footprint with 23 production sites and over 2000 employees in Europe, the United States and Vietnam.

Our core product categories include chocolate, compounds, chocolate decorations, sprinkles, creams, pastry mixes, gelato ingredients, nuts and candied fruit. The most recent acquisition of Kerry Sweet complements our existing categories with the addition of sweet particulates, chocolate confections, inclusions, variegates and frozen fruit purees.

Through its 8 key brands (IRCA, Dobla®, in2food, Via Degli Orsini, JoyGelato, RaviFruit, Cesarin and Anastasi®) the IRCA Group offers an unparalleled "one-stop shop" approach for delivering quality solutions to all ingredients needs, through a broad range of innovative products. We offer every day and seasonal solutions to 3 macro channels: Gourmet, Food Manufacturing and Consumer Product (Retail). “Extraordinary made simple”

Under the direction of the R&D Manager, the R&D Scientist is responsible for the development, optimization, and evaluation of formulations for variegates, sauces, caramels, and confectionery products. This role conducts daily laboratory and pilot plant activities, supports scale-up and manufacturing trials, and collaborates with cross-functional teams to successfully commercialize new and existing products.

The R&D Scientist will prepare formulations, execute experiments, analyze results, and document findings while ensuring products meet quality, regulatory, customer, and manufacturing requirements. The ideal candidate is scientifically curious, highly organized, adaptable to changing business priorities, and demonstrates exceptional attention to detail in a fast-paced product development environment.

The ideal candidate is a technically strong, collaborative scientist with experience in bakery, confectionery, chocolate, fillings, inclusions, or related food categories who thrives in a fast-paced innovation environment.

This position is based onsite in Affton, Missouri, and requires occasional domestic travel. The role is primarily first shift, with occasional evenings and weekends required to support plant trials, pilot production, customer visits, and business travel.