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Protect yourself against recruitment fraud. We are aware that unauthorized individuals may have posed as Cargill recruiters, made contact about job opportunities, and extended job offers via text message, instant message or chat rooms. To ensure a job posting is legitimate, it must be listed on the Cargill.com/Careers website. Learn how to protect yourself from recruitment fraud.

Innovation Lead-Pet

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Job ID 312501 Date posted 08/20/2025 Location : Olathe, Kansas Category  RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT Job Status  Salaried Full Time

Cargill’s size and scale allows us to make a positive impact in the world. Our purpose is to nourish the world in a safe, responsible and sustainable way.
Cargill is a family company providing food, ingredients, agricultural solutions and industrial products that are vital for living. We connect farmers with markets so they can prosper. We connect customers with ingredients so they can make meals people love. And we connect families with daily essentials — from eggs to edible oils, salt to skincare, feed to alternative fuel. Our 160,000 colleagues, operating in 70 countries, make essential products that touch billions of lives each day. Join us and reach your higher purpose at Cargill. 
This position is in Cargill’s animal nutrition and health business, where we improve animal lives through better nutrition. Our team researches, innovates and creates solutions that deliver healthy results for our customers.

Job Purpose and Impact

The Innovation Lead-Pet will champion the product innovation pipeline and commercialization of customer solutions with technical, marketing and commercial leaders. In this role, you will execute business innovation growth projects. You will drive process improvements and the tools and metrics used to support them to execute business innovation strategies.

Key Accountabilities

  • Partner and work with category marketing lead for pet and commercial technical team to identify key areas of opportunity.
  • Understand new trends, forms, shapes in the pet food industry.
  • Scope new capabilities (manufacturing, new forms within dry kibble space) for Cargill to own. 
  • Lead strategy for determination of desirability, feasibility and give input to viability of innovation pipeline.
  • Collaborate and develop innovation pipelines for pet, including research and development needs. 
  • Oversee R&D projects – internally and externally to Cargill- that develop and test prototypes.
  • Review scientific literature on the safety of new ingredients and packaging in the context of its intended use, collaborate with cross-functional partners, provide safety and compliance evaluations and recommendations.
  • Independently handle complex issues with minimal supervision, while escalating only the most complex issues to appropriate staff.
  • Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

  • Master's degree or PhD in animal nutrition, food science, food chemistry, nutrition or equivalent experience
  • Proven experience in manufacturing of different forms of pet food
  • Proven experience with raw material assessment and qualification

Position Information

Relocation assistance will not be provided for this position.
Location: Remote 

Equal Opportunity Employer, including Disability/Vet.

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At Cargill, everyone matters and everyone counts. Cargill is committed to creating and sustaining an inclusive and diverse work environment where all employees are treated with dignity and respect. As such and in alignment with our Guiding Principles, Cargill’s long-standing equal employment opportunity policy prohibits discrimination and harassment against any employee or applicant based on race, ethnicity, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, pregnancy, genetic information, marital status, family status, citizenship status, veteran status, military status, union affiliation, or any other status protected by law.

Cargill also complies with all applicable national and local laws and regulations pertaining to non-discrimination and employment.

Notice to Recruiters and Staffing Agencies: Cargill, Inc. and subsidiaries (“Cargill”) have an internal recruiting department. Please review this notice.

US Employment Resources: Equal Opportunity Employer, including Disability/Vet.

How to request a reasonable accommodation | Read about Federal equal employment opportunity laws (PDF) and the supplement (PDF) | Pay Transparency (PDF).

Cargill is a E-Verify Employer, see here for E-Verify participation information.

Canada Employment Resources: Cargill is an equal opportunity employer and committed to providing accommodation to our job applicants with disabilities. How to request a reasonable accommodation.

Protect yourself against recruitment fraud. We are aware that unauthorized individuals may have posed as Cargill recruiters, made contact about job opportunities, and extended job offers via text message, instant message or chat rooms. To ensure a job posting is legitimate, it must be listed on the Cargill.com/Careers website. Learn how to protect yourself from recruitment fraud.

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