Department: Dairy Foods R&D
Reports To: Director, Enterprise Technology / Dairy Foods R&D Leadership
Location: Arden Hills, MN (Hybrid)
Assignment Duration: As needed

Position Summary: The On-Call R&D resource provides flexible leadership and technical support across the Dairy Foods R&D organization, stepping in where needed to maintain continuity on critical projects, capital initiatives, and manufacturing support activities. This role flexes across functional areas—including process technology, product development, and other R&D disciplines, to fill gaps created by employee leaves of absence or shifting business priorities. The individual may travel to manufacturing plants to provide on-the-ground technical support and serves as a key point of contact for cross-functional collaboration with Operations, Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, and Marketing teams, ensuring critical business, innovation, and project work continues without disruption.

Key Responsibilities 

Team Leadership & Resource Management

• Provide day-to-day leadership and prioritization for the Process Technology team.
• Coordinate workload, project assignments, and technical support activities.
• Facilitate team meetings, project reviews, and leadership communications.
• Ensure timely escalation of risks, resource constraints, and business impacts.
• Support employee development and coaching as needed during the interim coverage period.

Technical Leadership

• Provide technical oversight for dairy process technologies
• Review and approve technical recommendations and process designs.
• Ensure application of sound engineering and dairy science principles.

Innovation & Commercialization

• Support commercialization of new products, ingredients, and processing technologies.
• Partner with R&D teams to manage pilot, scale-up, and plant implementation activities.
• Ensure successful transfer of technology from development to production.
• Drive execution of strategic innovation programs and technical workstreams.

Manufacturing Support

• Provide technical consultation to manufacturing facilities.
• Support process troubleshooting, yield improvement, and quality enhancement initiatives.
• Lead or participate in cross-functional problem-solving teams.
• Ensure critical manufacturing issues receive prompt technical guidance.

Other responsibilities within the Dairy Foods R&D organization may be requested depending on candidate skill set and organizational requirements.

Qualifications Needed:

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Food Science, Dairy Science, or related technical field.
• 15+ years of dairy manufacturing, process engineering, or product development experience.
• Demonstrated knowledge of dairy unit operations and processing technologies.
• Strong project management and cross-functional leadership skills.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management capabilities.
• Prior people and technical leadership experience.

The compensation for this role is $80/hr. - $110/hr.  In most cases, candidates offered employment can expect to be hired at a pay rate near the middle of our salary ranges.

About Land O'Lakes, Inc.

Join us and be part of a Fortune 250, farmer- and member-owned cooperative that is reimagining the business of food. We have been named a Top Workplace by Indeed and LinkedIn, and to the TIME 100 Most Influential Companies list.

Benefits for most full-time roles include medical, dental, vision, PTO, life & disability insurance, education assistance, a 401k and a variety of well-being resources. Most part-time employees are eligible for prorated PTO, holiday pay, employee development programs, prorated education assistance, and a 401(k).

Land O'Lakes, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE) M/F/Vets/Disabled. The company maintains a drug-free workforce, including post-employment substance abuse testing pursuant to a Drug and Alcohol Policy.

Neither Land O’Lakes, nor its search firms, will ever contact you and ask for confidential information over the phone or in email. If you receive a call or email like this, please do not provide the information being requested. 

Land O'Lakes does not use Automated Decision-Making Technology, as defined by California law, to substantially replace human decision-making or make significant decisions about applications for employment or contracting opportunities.