Sr. Food Science & Data Analytics Specialist

Job Description

The Senior Food Science & Data Analytics Specialist serves as the technical and analytical lead for the Research & Development department, leading data management, reporting, and insights. This role requires a curious, results-driven, and self-starting individual who can combine a strong food science background with analytical thinking to identify meaningful trends, investigate what is driving the data, and translate findings into clear, actionable recommendations.

This position is responsible for transforming complex information into actionable business intelligence that supports product trends, sensory evaluation, risk management, regulatory compliance, supplier performance, product quality, and operational excellence. The successful candidate will go beyond reporting what the data shows by determining what is important, identifying risks and opportunities, asking the right follow-up questions, and recommending specific actions and improvements based on their findings.

The role partners across R&D (FSQR & Product Development), Supply Chain, Operations, International, Distribution, IT, and supplier partners to develop data-driven solutions that improve decision making and strengthen food safety and quality performance throughout the Dairy Queen system.

This position combines expertise in food science with data analytics , serving as a subject matter expert for data analytics, regulatory intelligence, emerging risk identification, and continuous improvement initiatives. This role offers the opportunity to build and shape a growing R&D analytics capability, with broad exposure across Food Safety, Quality, Regulatory, and Product Development. The individual will have the opportunity to expand their technical and business expertise, influence how data is used across R&D, and grow their impact as the capability evolves. Success in this role means leveraging food science expertise and data analytics to uncover meaningful insights and translate them into actions that drive results and continuous improvement.

Accountabilities:

R&D Data Strategy, Governance, Reporting & Executive Insights

• Establish and lead a new R&D data analytics capability that enables Food Safety, Quality, Regulatory, and Product Development teams to use data to identify risks and opportunities, solve problems, improve products, and support business decisions.

• Build and maintain dashboards, scorecards, recurring reports, and executive summaries across R&D data, including project performance, supplier and product performance, quality trends, emerging issues, and key risk indicators.

• Translate complex datasets into clear insights, recommendations, presentations, and business cases that drive action and inform R&D leadership and cross-functional decision making.

• Establish data governance and reporting practices that improve data quality, consistency, accessibility, and effective use of analytics across R&D.

• Build R&D capability through technical guidance, training, and adoption of data and analytics tools.

FSQR Data Analytics & Insights

• Analyze food safety, quality, supplier, audit, complaint, regulatory, operational, cold chain, and laboratory testing data to identify trends, risks, and improvement opportunities.

• Develop predictive and risk-based analytics that enable proactive identification and management of food safety, supplier quality, product performance, and compliance concerns.

• Support regulatory and traceability initiatives, including FSMA 204 data management, compliance reporting, and restaurant support through established data management tools.

Product Development & Innovation Analytics

• Analyze sensory evaluation, product benchmark, consumer insight, market performance, and competitive data to improve product success criteria and inform innovation strategy.

• Build and leverage consolidated, searchable product profiles across current and historical products, LTOs, formulations, product attributes, launch details, market performance, and key learnings to identify sensory white spaces, competitive and regional trends, product similarities, benchmarking opportunities, and process improvements that accelerate concept development and product matching.

The US national base salary range for this position is $74,968 - $89,962. The base salary range displayed reflects the targeted hiring range for positions across all US locations. Individual pay is determined by job-related skills, work location and relevant education or experience

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Nutrition, Quality Assurance , or equivalent related experience in lieu of a degree. Coursework, experience, or demonstrated interest in data analytics or statistics.

• 3- 5 years of progressive responsibility experience in food safety, quality assurance, regulatory affairs, data analytics, or related disciplines.

• Experience working within restaurants/food service, food manufacturing, franchising, or supply chain environments preferred.

• Demonstrated experience leading complex projects and cross-functional initiatives from analysis through implementation.

• Proficiency with data visualization and business tools such as Power BI, Domo, Tableau, or similar platforms, along with strong Microsoft Office Skills.

• Experience with SQL, databases, data modeling, reporting automation, and data governance/validation practices

• Knowledge of AI-enabled productivity and analytics tools, including Microsoft Copilot, with the ability to identify opportunities to improve efficiency and analytical capabilities

• Experience with food safety, quality, audit, complaint, regulatory, or workflow management systems.

• Strong understanding of food science principals and current industry and technical issues, with the ability to apply technical knowledge to root cause analysis, problem-solving, and risk identification.

• Demonstrated ability to organize and analyze complex data, identify meaningful trends and conclusions, and apply statistical concepts to translate findings into actional recommendations.

• Strong written, verbal, and presentation skills, with the ability to translate complex technical and analytical information into clear, easy to understand insights for a variety of audiences.

• Ability to influence through logic, data, and technical credibility, build effective relationships with internal and external partners, and deliver constructive feedback when needed.

• Self-starter with strong initiative, accountability, attention to detail, and the ability to manage multiple priorities and drive work through completion in a fast-paced changing environment.

• Ability to work occasionally during evenings and weekends as needed to meet project deadlines and travel up to 20%.

Additional Information

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

Benefits

Benefit eligible employees may receive a comprehensive benefits package that includes medical and dental coverage, 401K match, paid time off (including volunteer time as well as parental leave) and so much more! To learn more about our great benefit offerings, Click Here .

Work Environment

Most positions located out of our global headquarters in Bloomington, MN will work a hybrid work schedule where you will work 3 collaboration days a week. Additional in office time may be required to support team/project needs.

Inclusion & Belonging

We are committed to creating a culture of inclusion and belonging for all who touch DQ. We believe in and commit to fostering a community where employees bring their authentic selves to work, and where we recruit, engage, and retain employees, franchise owners, and suppliers based on qualifications and merit. We strive to maintain an environment where everyone feels welcome.

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