Are you passionate about transforming better-for-you ingredients into delicious snacks and meals? We are assisting our client, an international food company, in recruiting a Food Technologist for their new Research & Development hub in Wageningen. This team is dedicated to enhancing their capabilities in taste and flavor while advancing their R&D roadmap focused on healthier, functional food solutions.

The Role

As a Food Technologist specializing in Taste and Flavor, you will conduct both lab and kitchen experiments to explore how flavor interacts within snack and meal matrices. Your insights will guide the development of plant-based, minimally processed, and nutritionally balanced products. The focus is on creating enjoyable snacks that are also good for you, utilizing the science of taste compounds and mouthfeel formation, including techniques to suppress or mask off-notes. You will collaborate with external partners such as universities, startups, and flavor houses to stay updated on new developments and address current taste challenges. This hands-on technical role requires close cooperation with marketing and production teams to launch scalable, high-quality products.

Responsibilities

• Innovate clean-label snacks and meals.
• Contribute to flavor component generation and masking solutions from concept to commercial launch.
• Optimize the taste of plant-based, high-protein, and functional snacks, including bars and convenient meal formats.
• Support the creation of formulations that balance strong taste and mouthfeel with clean-label requirements.
• Ensure sensory appeal is maintained throughout the development process.

Ingredient Functionality & Sourcing

• Collaborate with natural ingredients to develop label-friendly formulations.
• Work closely with flavor houses to assess new developments aligned with the R&D roadmap.

Consumer Insight & Market Trends

• Partner with the consumer insights team to align formulations with flavor and health expectations.
• Monitor emerging trends in plant-based, health-focused, and functional snacking.

Regulatory Compliance & Labelling

• Ensure formulations comply with clean-label claims, nutrition labeling, and relevant food regulations.

Requirements

• Master's or PhD in Food Science, Food Technology, Nutrition, or a related field.
• Minimum of 3 years of experience in food R&D, preferably in plant-based foods.
• Strong understanding of natural flavor component generation.
• Experience in optimizing flavor in plant-based products and masking off-notes.
• Familiarity with flavor houses and current flavor modulation technologies.
• Proficient in conducting sensory evaluations and analyzing data.
• Ability to collaborate cross-functionally with marketing and operations teams.

Preferred

• Experience in designing and developing plant-based food products, particularly in flavor compound generation and targeted taste enhancement.
• Background in clean-label product development.

Nice to Have

• Experience with functional snacks and meals, such as protein bars or superfood blends.
• Coordination experience with an internal sensory panel.

What We Offer

• Be part of a fast-growing international team.
• 25 vacation days per year (full-time).
• Hybrid working: 4 days on-site, 1 day from home.
• 1-year contract directly with our client.
• Opportunity to influence taste and flavor strategy within a growing R&D team.
• A multidisciplinary, international working environment.

If you are interested, please apply directly. We look forward to discussing this exciting opportunity with you!