Product Developer - GBfoods Africa

At GBfoods we offer culinary solutions in several countries of Europe and Africa with prestigious leading local brands, including Jumbo, Gallina Blanca, Erasco, Gino, Liebig, Star, Bama, D&L, Grand’Italia and Blå Band, among others.

Our Purpose “Celebrating local flavours” is to empower and take care of each of the local communities we belong to and to bring out their authentic flavours. Some of our local brands have been in consumers’ kitchens for over a century and have positioned themselves as authentically loved brands, as well as deeply rooted parts of the local culture.

Today, with a turnover of around 1,2 billion euros and a team of around 3,000 people, we are the preferred choice of millions of consumers.

Role & Responsibilities:

We are in search of a Product Developer to join our African Technical team to work in the Herbs, Spices and Taste Enhancers categories and will have responsibility for the Coordination of all Pilot Plant Product Development activities including line trials & report making.

The incumbent will also be responsible for Project management for product developments within GBfoods and for their technical implementation and managing of Technical (R&D) related Projects tasks in support of the Technical Project Leader and Development Project Managers.

The main responsibilities will be:

• Planning and organization of the project in alignment with the correspondent project’s team members
• Compliance of the project’s KPIs (tracking & reporting)
• Preparing prototype for the new product, shelflife study, lab trials and formulation twicking as per guidelines.
• Development of costeffective recipe in view of market or business demand.
• Support upscaling from pilot scale and transfer to industrialisation
• Management of resources allocated to the project, ensuring full efficiency in projects’ execution
• Proposing a technical solution fitting the established KPIs
• Ensuring technical execution of the product development, being responsible of involving all necessary technical counterparts
• Developing products targeting the project’s needs, planning and leading the execution from laboratory to industrial upscaling.
• Establishing an efficient network in the factory, in alignment with the correspondent factory partner
• Providing the necessary technical inputs (e.g. recipe, inspection plan), and generates the defined technical outputs (such as AW’s, technical sheets), ensuring their availability
• Apply learnings in an effective way
• Apply critical thinking
• Follow prescribed procedures and company policies and values
• Attend the daytoday problems concerning factories/consumer
• Category product support for renovation and innovation

What can you expect from us?

Being part of a multinational company where you will be able to contribute to growth and development of a business while being developed and equipped for success.

What do we expect from you?

We are looking for someone who is committed, has the requisite professional experience to deliver on the role and is ready to explore the opportunities and challenges that the role brings.

Requirements:

• Graduate degree in Food Science, Food Process or Agricultural Engineering
• 2 5 years experience in R&D and laboratory applications environment, ingredient selection, standardization and formulation management and product development projects preferably in dry convenience foods or dry ingredients sector
• Experience in managing multisite and or multi-company projects
• Knowledge and understanding of regulatory and QA/QC requirements
• Availability to travel up to 20% internationally
• PC skills: Knowledge of SAP and standard MS Office and project management software.
• Languages: Excellent knowledge of English is required; knowledge of other European languages is a plus.
• Demonstrates understanding of how to achieve results under tight timelines, plans ahead monitors results and adapts plans, solutions and results-oriented
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced and changing environment
• Ability to work independently, yet collaboratively, in cross-functional project teams and to contribute to multiple projects
• Ability to build excellent relationships with internal stakeholders within different departments as Marketing, Operations, QA and Procurement team and external collaborators as required, teamplayer
• Outstanding written and verbal communication and presentation skills
• Ability to work in office environment as well as in pilot plants and production.