R&D Technical Services Intern - Temporary - 1st Shift

Summary: The R&D Technical Services Intern will support the Research & Development team in product testing, quality assurance, and product development initiatives. This position will assist in conducting shelf-life testing, maintaining product specifications, performing internal lab tests, and helping with product trials and culinary presentations.

The ideal candidate will be detail-oriented, organized, and adaptable, with strong analytical and communication skills. A flexible schedule may occasionally be required to support production run testing or other activities tied to plant operations.

Tasks & responsibilities :

1) Shelf-life testing

• External laboratories testing: Coordinate product testing at external laboratories – prepare documentation, provide and coordinate samples pick up, obtain & file lab reports
• Internal sensory shelf-life testing: Maintain testing calendar, schedule sensory evaluations, prepare and serve the samples, document results
• Prepare combined micro & sensory shelf-life results into a composite spreadsheet

2) Specifications

• Draft product specifications and maintain a specifications database
• Internal QA lab testing
• Submit testing requests to QA lab when lab resources are available
• Use the Fat analyzer in the lab to perform tests when lab resources are not available

4) Product development assistance

• Run small scale testing on the production floor
• Assist R&D Process manager in large scale testing
• Print test labels
• Retrieve samples from product trials for evaluation and further testing
• Culinary assistance
• Organize product evaluations
• Product presentation to customers
• Internal product presentations (e.g. Lunch & Learn)

Requirements:

• Education: High School degree or higher
• Work experience: 1-2 years minimum preferred
• Some culinary skills preferred
• Analytical skills, along with good math & computer skills (Word, Excel, Powerpoint)
• Good oral and written communication skills
• Good organizational skills
• Ability to easily adapt to changing priorities in a dynamic business environment
• High attention to detail, both in written documentation and verbal clarity
• Comfortable working in a plant environment as needed

Pay Range

The base pay range for this role is $20 - $35 USD/Hourly.

The listed salary range represents Kayem Foods’ good faith estimate for this position and represents the minimum and maximum for new hire pay ranges. Ranges are reviewed on a regular basis. An employee’s rate of pay within the range is determined by their qualifications, relevant experience, and demonstrated performance over time. In addition to those factors, we believe in the importance of pay equity and consider internal equity of our current team members as a part of any final offer. Hiring at the maximum of the range would not be typical to allow for future and continued wage growth. This position is eligible for our comprehensive benefits package and is eligible for an annual wage review. Kayem Foods complies with all federal, state, and local minimum wage laws.