Computational Food Scientist

DEUS EX MACHINA is a cutting-edge AI company specializing in computational methods for the life sciences, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Digital Twins, and Bioinformatics. We leverage Generative AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) to accelerate the analysis of biological, clinical, agronomical, and marketing data, driving innovation in life sciences, food, nutrition, and health.

Our platforms combine Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, knowledge graphs, food science, nutrition science, chemistry, and predictive modeling to enable better product development decisions earlier in the innovation process. Key products include FIOS (Food Innovation Operating System) and LEAP (Scientific Intelligence Platform).

At the heart of our success are our people—strategic thinkers, scientists, engineers, and innovators—who collaborate with global organizations to deliver impactful, scientifically grounded AI solutions.

Role Description

We are seeking a Computational Food Scientist to join our interdisciplinary team to help our clients make better food products, reduce costs, and bring products to market faster. In this role, you will combine experience in food science, food chemistry, and applied computational modeling (machine learning, AI, computational fluid dynamics) to build predictive workflows and software features for food and ingredient innovation. This is a hybrid role between food science and computational product development. The position targets mid-level candidates, but we will consider outstanding candidates at any level.

Responsibilities

• Be responsible for the development of practical predictive models connecting formulation, chemistry, and processing conditions with product attributes such as flavor, texture, viscosity, shelf-life, feasibility, and regulatory positioning.
• Contribute domain expertise across food product development workflows, including concept development, formulation, reformulation, pilot trials, scale-up, product validation, commercialization, and consumer acceptance to build software features, dashboards, data structures, and model-backed recommendations.
• Support Agentic AI and digital-twin modeling by creating agents, and applying statistical modeling approaches to food systems, including regression, classification, multivariate analysis, design of experiments, response surface methods, and machine learning.
• Quality control our SaaS Food Development products and provide feedback on how to improve.
• Participate in projects with clients in the food, beverage, ingredient, supplement, and CPG industry, analyzing proprietary data and generating consulting reports to make recommendations and decision-making.
• Write technical documentation pertaining to methods, data structures, workflows, assumptions, model behavior, validation results, and best practices to support transparency, reproducibility, and enterprise adoption.

Basic qualifications

• MSc in Food Science, Food Chemistry, Food Engineering, Nutrition, Chemical Engineering, Data Science, Computational Biology, Computational Chemistry, Applied Statistics, or a related scientific field.
• At least 2 years of industry or applied research experience in food, beverage, ingredients, nutrition, nutraceuticals, CPG, or related domains.
• Strong knowledge of food chemistry, ingredient functionality, formulation, product development, or food processing.
• Familiarity with statistics, design of experiments, data analysis, machine learning, optimization, or predictive modeling.
• Experience building or applying models to food product development data, such as product briefs, ingredient specifications, nutrition panels, sensory results, shelf-life studies, pilot trials, or manufacturing data.
• Proficiency in Python, R, or another analytical programming language.
• Familiarity with Linux environments, shell scripting, and High-Performance Computing infrastructures.
• Familiarity with code version control and development in a team environment.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills in English.
• Able to collaborate in cross-functional teams of scientists, engineers, product managers, and customer stakeholders.

Preferred qualifications

• PhD in Food Science, Food Chemistry, Food Engineering, Nutrition, Chemical Engineering, Applied Statistics, Computational Science, or a closely related field.
• Knowledge and applied experience of building and deploying AI agents.
• At least 4 years of industry experience in food and beverage, CPG, ingredients, nutraceuticals, supplements, product development, or applied food science.
• Strong understanding of ingredient systems such as proteins, starches, fibers, fats and oils, sweeteners, emulsifiers, or prebiotics, across diverse product categories such as snacks, bakery, confectionery, dairy, pet nutrition, or dietary supplements.
• Experience developing or reformulating food, beverage, supplement, or ingredient products from concept through launch.
• Familiarity with regulatory and label considerations such as allergens, GRAS status, clean-label requirements, nutrient profile models, or structure/function claims.
• Experience with formulation optimization, response surface modeling, design of experiments, mixture design, multi-objective optimization, or trade-off analysis.
• Experience modeling product attributes such as texture, viscosity, water activity, nutrient retention, flavor stability, sensory liking, shelf-life, or regulatory feasibility.
• Exposure to mechanistic modeling, process modeling and digital twins, such as for extrusion, baking, drying, fermentation, mixing, hydration, or packaging interactions.
• Experience applying Agile project management strategies to manage multiple priorities effectively, and adaptable in fast-moving environments.

What it’s like to work with us

DEUS EX MACHINA provides the resources, advanced tools, and multidisciplinary environment needed to deliver best-in-class systems for food and nutrition innovation. You will work with a team that values scientific rigor, practical impact, trust, autonomy, and collaboration.

What to expect working at DEUS EX MACHINA:

• Competitive compensation packages based on qualifications.
• Flexible work schedule.
• Professional and personal development opportunities.
• A multidisciplinary team spanning food science, nutrition, AI, data science, software engineering, product development, and applied modeling.
• Opportunities to work with global food, nutrition, ingredient, supplement, and CPG teams on real product development challenges.
• Room to experiment, learn, and build systems that make food innovation faster, more predictive, and more scientifically grounded.
• A culture that values clear thinking, curiosity, customer impact, and ownership.

If this sounds like the challenge you are looking for, we would love to hear from you. Apply with your latest CV in English and let’s build something meaningful together.