Product Development Manager / Senior Food Technologist

About the role

The Product Development Manager / Senior Food Technologist leads the creation of new salty‑snack products, from concept to commercial launch. You will turn consumer insights into market‑ready formulations while ensuring sensory quality, cost efficiency and regulatory compliance.

Key responsibilities

• Lead formulation, bench development and pilot‑plant trials for chips, extruded snacks and baked products.
• Collaborate with Marketing to translate consumer trends into viable product concepts.
• Optimize formulations for cost, functionality and sensory performance.
• Develop flavor and seasoning systems with external suppliers.
• Own technical validation on production lines (extruders, fryers, dryers) and document SOPs.
• Work with Engineering on equipment commissioning and process set‑up.
• Coordinate sensory evaluations, shelf‑life studies and packaging validations.
• Partner with QA, Procurement, Operations and Finance to meet margin targets and scale‑up requirements.
• Drive continuous improvement by analysing process data and benchmarking against global competitors.

Required profile

• 10‑15 years of experience in savory snack manufacturing (extruded, pellet, potato‑based).
• Proven record of launching commercially successful snack products.
• Strong knowledge of formulation, processing and frying systems (pellet, batch, continuous).
• Experience managing pilot trials, scale‑up and industrial validation.
• Familiarity with Middle‑East market preferences is a plus.

Required skills

• Formulation development
• Extrusion and frying technology
• Pilot‑plant trial management
• Sensory evaluation
• Shelf‑life testing
• Seasoning system design
• Process parameter documentation (SOPs)