RD&A Senior Scientist , Beverages- West Africa at Kerry Group Plc

About the role

• The Senior Scientist, Beverages for West Africa will work very closely with Sales, Business Development, Marketing, Application teams, and other key stakeholders to provide the best technical support to our customers.
• They will need to push existing portfolio, drive the development of new portfolio initiatives, and support sales and marketing effort to win with key customers.
• They will be required to build strong customer intimacy.
• As a senior member of a RD&A team, they shall mentor and provide an adequate level supervision to Application technologists by providing technical leadership and mentoring.

Key responsibilities

• Lead the development of new end use market products, recipes and processes in line with industry standards and best practices, within the regulatory requirements.
• Continuously research and develop cost-effective recipes, and processes to replace or improve existing ones to increase efficiency and value.
• Establish protocols for use and proper management of laboratory equipment, through scheduled calibration and routine maintenance.
• Upload record, and documentation into appropriate databases.
• Keep record of daily laboratory and process work, for traceability and team sharing.
• Oversee sensory tasting and application ingredient screening.
• Build a support network with peers in the same category and other supporting stakeholders within Kerry to emulate and leverage on the successes of other affiliates
• Build and manage a standard local beverage tonalities & ingredient collection
• Build strong customer relationships and provide technical support.
• Visit customers, participate, and advise in plant trial and troubleshooting.
• Prepare and lead internal and customer product training
• Constant learning to keep abreast of developments within Kerry and/or the food industry.

Qualifications and skills

• Completed Degree in Food Technology, Food Science or equivalent.
• Minimum 5 – 8 years of related experience in a similar position within the Food and Beverage industry.
• Strong knowledge of the alcoholic and soft drink industry the ability to work on process lines and knowledge of beverage process parameters.
• Knowledge of West African palettes and the ability to interpret West African beverage taste and preferences
• Ability to work with multiple projects in a methodical manner, within short deadlines
• Experience in building of Customer-Supplier relationships
• Knowledge of raw material and ingredient functionality
• Knowledge of Microsoft Project is a plus