About Flora Food Group
We offer consumers a compelling choice in four growing categories: butters and spreads, creams, liquids and cheeses. We hold leadership positions in many of the 100 countries we operate in, with iconic brands including Flora, Becel+ProActiv, Blue Band, Country Crock, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter, Rama, and Violife, together with our local brands and Professional business.
Global branded food champion Flora Food Group, offers the next generation of delicious, natural, nutritious food. Our products are more affordable and more sustainable than their dairy equivalents.
About the position
If you’re passionate about R&D and want to make an impact in Emerging Markets, join us and take a front seat in our R&D team based in Wageningen, Netherlands. With your knowledge and drive to create new technologies, you will lead the technology pipeline for spreads, delivering the best products for retail and foodservice across diverse global markets.
We are looking for someone who will define and lead the technology of the future for spreads in Emerging Markets, creating our best-ever products. In this role, you will drive business growth through your R&D expertise and product knowledge, while delivering fast-track projects that make a real impact. You will thrive in an international, cross-functional environment where innovation and collaboration are at the heart of everything we do.
You will:
- Own the technical lead for innovation, renovation, and cost-saving projects in Emerging Markets, with responsibility to deliver On Time In Full, meeting quality and cost targets.
- Define culinary requirements with chefs and validate against those standards.
- Set up relevant parts of product and technical specifications for sourcing and supply chain, ensuring compliance with quality, consumer safety, and regulatory requirements.
- Develop product benefits and claims for relevant projects, including substantiation in collaboration with the commercialization team.
Location: Wageningen, Netherlands Hybrid
So what does it take to be successful in this role?
You are a strategic and hands-on R&D leader with a proven track record of delivering innovation in food retail or foodservice environments. You design global technology roadmaps for spreads to stay ahead of competition and meet customer needs, while bringing deep expertise in product and process design to create consumer-preferred solutions. You lead and inspire a team of R&D professionals, driving complex projects from concept to factory implementation, and work seamlessly with international, cross-functional teams to land new technologies in supply chain and markets. You build strong external networks to leverage cutting-edge technologies and integrate them into our products. With at least 7–10 years of experience in international product development and processing, you combine strategic thinking with a proactive, can-do attitude and the ability to manage multiple projects. You hold a Master’s degree (or equivalent experience) in Food Science, Chemical Engineering, or a related field, and ideally have knowledge of dairy and/or plant-based food science, fat-based and emulsion technology. You understand market trends, communicate effectively across cultures, and are ready to travel globally when needed. Fluency in English is essential.
