R&D Director (Food & Beverage Innovation)

• Prominent Asian food & beverage organization
• Global R&D Director position located in Singapore

About Our Client

We are collaborating with a prominent Asian food & beverage organization to recruit an R&D Director based in Singapore.

Job Description

• Oversee the comprehensive R&D and product innovation strategy across key food and beverage categories, pinpointing opportunities that can drive sustainable commercial growth.
• Establish and manage the new product development pipeline, encompassing consumer insights, concept development, formulation, pilot trials, scaling up, and commercial launch.
• Convert market trends, consumer behaviors, and competitive insights into distinct product concepts with evident commercial viability.
• Work closely with Marketing and Commercial teams to assess product propositions, pricing strategies, positioning, and market potential prior to allocating substantial R&D resources.
• Facilitate product formulation and reformulation, ensuring a balance between taste, quality, nutrition, shelf life, manufacturing feasibility, ingredient costs, and target margins.
• Collaborate with manufacturing and supply chain teams to guarantee that new concepts can be successfully industrialized and consistently produced at a commercial scale.
• Create a structured stage-gate innovation process with defined success metrics including consumer acceptance, technical feasibility, cost analysis, margin, and revenue potential.
• Examine the current product portfolio and identify opportunities for renovation, cost optimization, premiumization, localization, or rationalization.
• Recognize emerging food technologies, ingredients, and processing capabilities that can provide competitive edges or open new product categories.
• Cultivate relationships with external ingredient suppliers, technology partners, universities, and research institutions to expedite innovation.
• Lead, mentor, and develop the R&D team, fostering a culture that prioritizes consumer focus, commercial accountability, and swift product market entry.
• Present innovation strategies, business cases, and product recommendations to senior leadership, clearly correlating technical decisions with commercial results.

The Successful Applicant

• A degree or postgraduate qualification in Food Science, Food Technology, Nutrition, Chemical Engineering, or a related field.
• A minimum of 15 years of experience in food & beverage products R&D, with substantial leadership experience.
• A proven history of launching new products that have attained significant commercial success in the marketplace.
• Experience managing the complete innovation lifecycle from concept development to formulation, scaling, manufacturing, and commercial launch.
• A strong comprehension of consumer-driven innovation as opposed to solely laboratory-led product development.
• Commercially astute with the capability to assess market size, consumer demand, product positioning, cost, margins, and revenue potential alongside technical feasibility.
• Relevant experience in categories such as beverages, ready-to-drink products, instant foods, noodles, snacks, sauces, convenience foods, or other mass-market F&B products.
• Experience collaborating closely with Marketing, Sales, Consumer Insights, Manufacturing, and Supply Chain teams.
• A robust understanding of ingredient functionality, formulation, sensory evaluation, shelf-life optimization, and food manufacturing processes.
• A proven ability to challenge conventional product development paradigms and make definitive decisions on which innovation projects to accelerate, modify, or discontinue.
• Strong leadership and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence both senior business leaders and technical teams.

What's on Offer

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  Experience overseeing the entire innovation lifecycle from concept development through formulation, scaling, manufacturing, and commercial launch.
• Leading the Regional R&D team in Singapore.

Contact

Hazel Choi (Lic No: R24122391 /EA no: 18S9099)

Quote job ref

JN-102026-7119696

Phone number

+65 6533 2777

Michael Page International Pte Ltd | Registration No. 199804751N