Associate Scientist

We are seeking an independent and driven Associate Scientist to join our R&D team as a Method Developer & Project Owner. This role marks a pivotal career step on our team, transitioning from executing assigned tasks to fully owning experiments and scientific decision-making. Operating with project-level ownership, you will be responsible for driving specific workstreams end-to-end, developing comprehensive research plans, and validating underlying physical and chemical mechanisms.

About fairlife

• 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:
• , 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

Responsibilities

• fairlife® ultra-filtered milk
• Core Power®
• High Protein Shakes, a sports nutrition drink to support post-workout recovery;
• fairlife® nutrition plan™
• This is a hands-on opportunity centered on benchtop lab work with pilot plant support as needed, where you will apply scientific judgment to translate raw data into actionable, contextualized business insights.

Experimental Ownership & Method Innovation

• Design, set up, and execute scientific experiments, ensuring all work aligns with broader project goals and strict scientific rigor.
• Innovate within the laboratory environment by adapting analytical methods, optimizing existing testing protocols, and validating new analytical approaches.
• Continually improve laboratory practices by writing, establishing, and implementing new Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

Root Cause Analysis & Technical Troubleshooting

• Actively engage in cross-functional root cause analysis to investigate and resolve complex technical and product quality issues.
• Apply independent scientific judgment to troubleshoot analytical and process deviations, contributing insights that go beyond simple task execution.
• Translate and report complex scientific data into clear, actionable insights for an expanded group of cross-functional stakeholders, including QA, Supply Chain, Plant Operations, Marketing, and Consumer Insights.
• Communicate technical findings with clear business context and impact, focusing on the "why" behind the results rather than just reporting raw data.

Knowledge Transfer & People Leadership

• Operate with a high degree of day-to-day autonomy to lead seamless technical knowledge transfers across R&D and manufacturing networks.
• Provide active peer-to-peer coaching, technical guidance, and mentorship to junior technicians within both the R&D and Quality departments.

Requirements

• Master's degree in Food Science or Dairy Science, or a closely related scientific field.
• Experience: 1-3 years of laboratory experience within food, beverage, or fluid dairy R&D/manufacturing environments.
• Proven experience in method development, protocol optimization, and authoring technical SOPs.
• Hands-on proficiency with analytical laboratory instrumentation (such as rheology, physical chemistry testing, or compositional analysis).
• Demonstrated ability to apply independent scientific judgment to move projects from data collection to mechanistic understanding.
• Strong communication and collaborative skills, with a track record of sharing data clearly with cross-functional partners like plant operations and quality teams.

Preferred

• Direct experience supporting pilot plant operations or commercial scale-up trials.
• Strong foundational knowledge of dairy, physical chemistry, protein stability, or fluid milk matrix interactions.
• Experience training plant floor operators or QA technicians on newly implemented laboratory methods.

Benefits

• At fairlife, we believe in better — and that includes how we support our people. We offer a comprehensive suite of benefits and wellbeing resources designed to support you physically, emotionally, socially, and financially, both in and out of work.
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, effective day one!
• Supplemental health plans (hospital indemnity, accident, and critical illness insurance)
• Paid Time Off to recharge and support work-life balance
• Paid parental leave & adoption assistance (up to $10,000)
• Parental support & family care benefits, including childcare resources and lactation support
• 401(k) to support retirement planning with up to 9% in employer match
• Wellness reimbursement (up to $500 for qualified wellbeing expenses)
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for emotional wellbeing and work-life support

how

fairlife