Senior Dairy Processing Engineer

fairlife, LLC is a Chicago-based nutrition company that creates great-tasting, nutrition-rich and dairy products to nourish consumers.

With over $3B in annual retail sales, fairlife’s portfolio of delicious, lactose-free, real dairy products includes: fairlife® ultra-filtered milk ; Core Power® High Protein Shakes, a sports nutrition drink to support post-workout recovery; fairlife® nutrition plan™ , a nutrition shake to support the journey to better health.

A wholly owned subsidiary of The Coca-Cola company, fairlife, LLC has been recognized by both Fast Company and Nielsen for its industry leading innovation.

To learn more about fairlife and its complete line of products, please visit fairlife.com .

job purpose :

The Sr. Dairy Processing Engineer will come in with deep technical expertise in fluid milk membrane separations (especially ultrafiltration), thermal processing (HTST/HHST/UHT), and end-to-end milk unit operations—from raw milk receiving through packaging. This role is a hands-on technical authority who will be integral to process technology innovation as well as troubleshooting manufacturing issues, optimizing process capabilities and product quality, supporting pilot-to-plant scale-up, and serving as a trusted partner to Operations, Manufacturing, and Quality.

responsibilities:

Manufacturing technical leadership, Operational Support and Troubleshooting

• Serve as a go-to technical expert for fluid milk separation, standardization, homogenization, pasteurization systems (HTST/HHST/UHT), and packaging performance.
• Diagnose and resolve process and product issues.
• Partner with Operations/Manufacturing/Quality to drive safe, compliant, and reliable production and troubleshoot process deviations, and identify root causes for quality issues.

Process design, scale-up, and optimization

• Define critical process parameters, key performance indicators, and control plans.
• Design, coordinate, and execute pilot and commercial-scale plant trials.
• Own process capability improvements and provide technical input to capital projects and equipment selection.
• Provide subject-matter expertise on OEM platforms and engineering approaches.

Technical Advocacy

• Proactively identify opportunities for process optimization that improve efficiency, sustainability, yield or product shelf-life.
• Lead initiatives and manage stakeholders across Engineering, Quality, and Supply Chain.

Milk chemistry, physical chemistry, and product quality

• Apply deep knowledge of milk composition and how processing impacts chemistry, physical properties, and functional performance of milk and its components.
• Partner with Product Development and Operations on formulation/processing choices for fluid dairy products, including shakes and other forms (sensory, taste, texture, stability, shelf-life).

Analytics & data-driven decision making

• Define plans and execute and interpret analytical testing results tied to processing and shelf-life: milk composition chemistry, rheology, chromatographic/volatile profiling and other relevant analytical methods.
• Establish and improve SOPs, troubleshooting playbooks, and process data reviews

People leadership

• Individual contributor to start. Will build and develop a team of 1–4 (e.g., process engineers, dairy scientists, technicians).
• Build strong cross-functional relationships and communicate clearly from plant floor to leadership level.

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