Senior Product Designer - Fresh Sous Vide

Location: St. Louis, MO

Department: DESIGN, Platform & Process R&D

Reports to: CEO/Chief Science & Innovation Officer

About Deli Star: Who We Are

Deli Star is a next-generation food manufacturing company with a clear purpose: to nourish life through protein with integrity. We specialize in fresh, sous vide cooked proteins and patented food-safety technologies, serving some of the most trusted brands, and culinary teams across the United States. Our mission is ambitious: to build a world-class fresh sous vide system. We are working towards a future in which safe, nutritious, high-quality protein is fresh and accessible to more people.

Deli Star is not a typical food manufacturer. We combine the scientific rigor, quality standards and operational discipline required in food manufacturing with the energy, creativity and entrepreneurial mindset of a growth company. With a team of 150 employees and growing, we are large enough to make a meaningful impact while remaining small enough for talented people to influence how the company evolves.

We are proud of our strong customer partnerships, our rapid growth and our long-term commitment to building an innovative, technology-enabled manufacturing platform.

Our people-first culture is grounded in three core values: Trust, Resilience, and Creativity.

We believe the future belongs to companies that can combine quality, innovation and operational excellence at scale.

The Opportunity

Design the complete food product experience, from the protein itself to its packaging, preparation and presentation. Deli Star is building a world-class Fresh Sous Vide system to make safe, nutritious, high-quality protein fresh and accessible. Our patent-pending Fresh Sous Vide process opens new possibilities for proteins and fresh prepared foods.

Working directly with our CEO and Chief Science & Innovation Officer, you will create products for REVEL, our retail brand, and customer innovation programs. You will build physical prototypes, engineer packaging structures and film specifications, and refine the food with scientific support. Your creativity and technical judgment will help shape Deli Star's future products and business opportunities.

Our DESIGN Team

DESIGN brings Product and Process Design, Technical Services, Supply Chain and Technology together. You own the integrated product and package design, working closely with Supply Chain and the Director, Supply Chain Engineering on packaging, Commercialization on scale-up, and Manufacturing and Engineering (BUILD) on equipment.

Key Responsibilities

• Design the Food and Product Experience
• Create Fresh Sous Vide and post-pasteurized (SPP) protein products and fresh prepared foods, translating customer and consumer needs into clear design goals.
• Develop food concepts and bench prototypes with scientific direction and formulation support. Refine flavor, texture, appearance, nutrition, convenience and value through making, tasting and measurement.
• Design how the product is stored, opened, prepared and served, considering the food and package together.
• Use first-principles thinking to question assumptions and establish measurable quality targets, product specifications and technical intent.
• Engineer Packaging and Prove the Design
• Personally develop packaging structures and film requirements with material suppliers, including dimensions, barrier needs, thermal performance, seal design and opening features.
• Build and evaluate prototypes. Plan tests for package integrity, seal performance, durability and product protection through cooking, chilling, distribution and intended reheating.
• Assess food, film and process interactions, including moisture, purge, texture and presentation. Document results and refine the design.
• Partner with Food Safety & Quality on food-contact suitability, required evaluations and approvals. Maintain controlled packaging specifications and design records.
• Integrate Product Packaging and Equipment
• Work directly with BUILD engineers and equipment suppliers to define requirements for forming, filling, vacuum packaging, sealing and related processing equipment.
• Partner with the Director, Supply Chain Engineering and Purchasing on packaging suppliers, material availability, cost and qualification; define design requirements and evaluate alternatives.
• Provide formulations, drawings, film specifications, quality targets and technical intent to Commercialization. Participate in pilot and plant trials and assess performance against the design.
• Collaborate with Purchasing, Logistics, Technical Services, Technology and Manufacturing on material availability, data, cost and practical execution while preserving the intended experience.

Ownership and Collaboration

This role owns product and packaging design, prototypes and design specifications, with scientific and formulation support from the Chief Science & Innovation Officer and technical team. Supply Chain and its Director, Supply Chain Engineering partner on packaging sourcing, cost and readiness. Commercialization leads scale-up and transfer; BUILD owns equipment engineering and implementation. Sales and Product Management provide customer requirements. Food Safety & Quality retains required approvals.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Industrial Design, Mechanical Engineering, Packaging Science, Packaging Engineering, Food Science, Meat Science, Food Engineering or a related discipline.
• Demonstrated hands-on physical product design and packaging engineering capability, supported by examples of prototypes, testing and technical decisions.
• Ability to develop packaging structures, select and specify films, and evaluate seals, barrier properties and thermal performance for the intended application.
• Working understanding of how food properties, thermal processing and refrigerated storage affect product and package performance, with the ability to collaborate with food science specialists on formulation.
• Ability to plan experiments, analyze results and document clear specifications, drawings and design decisions.
• Ability to translate product and package requirements into equipment needs and work effectively with manufacturing engineers and suppliers.
• First-principles thinking, attention to the eating and preparation experience, and a passion for designing useful, thoughtfully made food products.
• Clear communication, openness to critique and the ability to lead design work across functions.

Preferred Experience

• Three or more years of relevant experience with sous vide, cooked proteins, vacuum packaging or refrigerated prepared foods.
• Flexible films, thermoforming, vacuum systems, sealing equipment and product-package interactions.
• Prepared meals or meal components, reheating performance, consumer handling and shelf-life evaluation.
• CAD or packaging design tools, experimental design, and translating prototypes into manufacturing specifications.

Application Materials

Please include a portfolio or two project examples showing what you personally designed, engineered, prototyped, tested and improved. Explain your contribution, material choices, manufacturing constraints and what you learned. Examples may come from food, packaging or other physical consumer products; protect confidential information.

What Success Looks Like

You create products people want to eat again, with packaging that protects the food and makes preparation intuitive. You can explain why the design works, prove it through testing, and help Commercialization and BUILD reproduce it consistently.

We value curiosity, thoughtful challenge, careful execution and continual improvement.