RD&A Senior Scientist (Savoury Snacks)

About Kerry

Kerry is the world's leading taste and nutrition company for the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries. Every day we partner with customers to create healthier, tastier and more sustainable products that are consumed by billions of people across the world. Our vision is to be our customers' most valued partner, creating a world of sustainable nutrition. A career with Kerry offers you an opportunity to shape the future of food while providing you opportunities to explore and grow in a truly global environment.

About the Role:

The position will support the Kerry business - R&D, Regulatory, Marketing, Commercial, Operations and Quality teams. The individual will help evaluate the totality of the existing scientific evidence and translate into product positioning and messaging, within the context of existing regulations.

Key Responsibilities:

• Product development of commercially viable seasoning solutions from brief to launch based on robust formulation, application and processes.
• Demonstrate robust technical understanding a variety of flavours and key savoury raw materials (spices, herbs, vegetable powders, yeast etc.), snack seasoning bases and seasoning functionality
• Develop cost effective solutions meeting relevant local regulatory requirements
• Demonstrate clear knowledge of seasoning application on different formats and becomes recognised as a solutions partner by our customers. Interact and troubleshoot with customers on application concerns
• Work with customers and suppliers to develop innovative solutions and resolve technical problems leading to the formation of strong technical relationships
• Work closely with Operations, Sales, Marketing and Regulatory teams to develop integrated, innovative and market relevant solutions
• Support innovation for new product development and identify new business opportunities to meet customer and consumer needs in Middle East market
• Has a good understanding of operational systems to fulfill R, D&A responsibility in product scale ups and commercializations
• Develops food system formulations and related applications stability performance through demonstrated understanding of food formulation, chemical interactions, sensory testing and identify suitable methods for analysis
• Identify and evaluate technologies and ingredients for new product development, improvements of existing products; leverage existing technologies to identify and promote innovation opportunities 
• Keeps up to date on best practice and competitor benchmarking on product development to ensure Kerry's leadership position

Qualifications and Skills:

• Minimum Bachelors/Masters Degree in Food Science/Technology, Chemistry or a related Applied Science
• Minimum of 5 years' experience working in applications / development technologist / scientist roles in the Food industry 
• Prior experience of developing a variety of product within Savoury Snacks (non-negotiable), raw material knowledge and ingredient functionality as well as sensory evaluation skills
• Technical and functional excellence in laboratory, pilot plant and factory environment
• Demonstrate a strong initiative and a hands-on approach, ability to prioritise
• Demonstrate personal accountability, collaborative approach, Open minded, self-starter and ownership of actions to completion
• Excellent ability to communicate effectively 
• Innovation and creativity
• Customer engagement
• Experience dealing with markets in Middle East is highly desirable