R&D Product Development Scientist - Dry Applications

Location: North Brabant, The Netherlands (4 days per week on-site, 1 day from home)

The Company

Our client is an established international manufacturer supplying specialty dry ingredients and functional additives to food producers around the world. They have a strong innovation culture and a well resourced R&D function, and they're known for combining raw material expertise with advanced processing technology to solve technical challenges for their customers. As part of continued investment in their innovation pipeline, they're adding a hands on scientist to their product development team in the Netherlands.

What You'll Be Doing

This role sits at the centre of a global R&D function and covers both the products and the processes used to make them. You'll own development projects from early concept through scale up to full scale manufacturing and commercialisation. You'll work cross functionally with process engineers, regulatory colleagues and external partners, and report into the regional Head of Product and Process Sciences.

Day to day, this looks like:

• Leading product and process development projects end to end, from concept through scale up to launch
• Designing and running lab experiments, using Design of Experiments (DoE) and analytical tools such as NIR and colorimetry to assess performance
• Taking the lead on pilot scale spray drying and other dry processing work (blending, drying), using your understanding of glass transition and drying behaviour to get product stability right
• Scaling products and processes from lab bench to pilot and full plant scale, working closely with Process Engineering to manage risk at each step
• Supporting manufacturing sites as new or improved products and processes are implemented, and acting as the technical go to when questions come up about how a product and its process interact
• Finding and implementing improvements to laboratory, pilot plant and manufacturing processes
• Getting to the root cause of technical issues in trials, scale up and production, rather than working around the symptoms
• Bringing raw material knowledge, particularly around yeast based ingredients, to build functional base formulations
• Tapping into external expertise from suppliers, universities and research partners to bring outside thinking into internal development work
• Building trial plans and risk assessments to keep projects on track and de risked
• Working alongside Regulatory Affairs to keep every development project compliant from day one
• Analysing experimental data and drawing clear technical conclusions to guide next steps
• Writing up and presenting findings so project teams and stakeholders can make informed decisions
• Building strong working relationships with commercial, procurement and operations colleagues

What You'll Bring

Essential

• A BSc or MSc in Food Science, Food Technology, Chemical Engineering or a related discipline
• 2+ years of hands on product and/or process development experience in food or a related industry
• Hands on experience with food processing and process development, including scale up from laboratory or bench scale to pilot and/or plant scale
• Experience designing and running laboratory experiments, and interpreting the data to reach sound technical conclusions
• Familiarity with food ingredients, formulations and their functional properties
• Strong scientific thinking. DoE and statistical analysis experience is valuable, and advanced statistical skills can be developed in the role
• Fluent English
• A full driving licence and your own car for commuting to site

Strongly preferred

• Spray drying experience, including an understanding of concepts like glass transition. Experience in other dry processing technologies will also be considered where it comes with relevant hands on scale up experience.
• A basic understanding of Dutch (a willingness to learn will also be considered)

Candidates from human food, ingredients and related sectors are all welcome to apply.

The Kind of Person We're Looking For

A few qualities are critical in this role:

• Owner mindset. You take accountability, move with urgency, show initiative and follow through to results without needing to be chased.
• Problem solver. You think in root causes, not symptoms, and you're always looking for continuous improvement.
• Team player. You bring humility, hunger and emotional intelligence, and you build trust easily across functions.
• Curious learner. You pick up new technical areas quickly and are genuinely curious about how things work.

You'll also enjoy real hands on lab and pilot plant work rather than sitting purely at a desk. You'll be data driven, open to feedback, and comfortable juggling multiple projects.

Why Join

• End to end ownership of projects from development through scale up and commercialisation
• Hands on science: turning lab ideas into robust products at pilot and manufacturing scale
• Work with a global network of technical experts, partners and manufacturing teams
• A motivated, collaborative team with high ownership and real cross functional involvement
• A clear career path from Scientist to Senior Scientist, then Principal Scientist or Technical Lead, and on to Manager or Global Subject Matter Expert
• Strong training and development support, and a competitive package