Job Description
Job Description
Our Client
A leading food and commodities manufacturing organization in the region is looking for an experienced R&D Manager to lead product development, formulation, standardization, process optimisation, and innovation across its core food product portfolio.
Role Overview
You will lead the technical development and R&D agenda across cereal-based and value-added food products, taking projects from raw material evaluation and formulation through pilot trials, process optimisation, and commercial scale-up.
The role will focus on strengthening product consistency, developing new products, improving existing formulations, optimising manufacturing processes, and supporting the organization’s broader innovation and growth strategy.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead R&D activities across cereal-based and value-added food products, from concept development and formulation through pilot trials and commercial scale-up.
- Develop, standardize, and optimise product formulations and specifications across multiple product grades, applications, and customer requirements.
- Evaluate raw material characteristics and processing performance to improve product consistency, functionality, quality, and manufacturing efficiency.
- Lead new product development and product renovation initiatives aligned with market requirements, customer needs, and the organization’s innovation strategy.
- Conduct sensory, physicochemical, shelf-life, and performance testing while establishing appropriate technical and quality benchmarks.
- Partner with Production, Quality, and Procurement teams to troubleshoot formulation and manufacturing issues and optimise process parameters.
- Maintain technical documentation covering formulations, specifications, standard operating procedures, testing protocols, and product standards.
- Support innovation roadmaps, feasibility studies, cost optimisation, and continuous improvement initiatives while monitoring developments in food processing and product technology.
Must-Have
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Food Science, Food Technology, Cereal Science, or a related discipline.
- 8–10+ years of R&D or technical experience within food manufacturing, cereal-based products, grain processing, bakery ingredients, pasta, or a closely related processing environment.
- At least 3–5 years of managerial or technical leadership experience, with responsibility for R&D, product development, or technical teams.
- Strong hands-on understanding of cereal science, raw material functionality, formulation, product standardization, and manufacturing processes.
- Proven experience delivering new product development, formulation improvement, product renovation, and commercial scale-up within an industrial manufacturing environment.
- Experience working closely with manufacturing equipment and Production, Quality, Procurement, and Commercial teams to resolve technical and process challenges.
- Strong exposure to pilot trials, sensory and product testing, process optimisation, technical documentation, and cost improvement initiatives.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving capability with a practical lab-to-production-line approach.
- Fluent English communication skills, Arabic language capability would be an advantage.
Next Steps
Upload your resume via our ATS platform and ensure all form details are complete. Shortlisted candidates will be contacted within 5–7 working days for a more detailed discussion about the role. Please note, due to high application volumes, we will only respond to shortlisted profiles.