User Experience Design Manager

Research & Innovation at Danone’s Global Research & Innovation Center

Are you a science-driven, hands-on professional with a passion for sensory perception and user experience? Do you want to play a crucial role in contributing to meaningful, specialised nutrition products that improve lives of patients, their caregivers and HCPs? Join our User Experience team at Danone’s Global Research & Innovation Center as a User Experience Design Manager!

As a User Experience Design Manager, you secure the future of product experiences through sensory science at Danone’s Global Research & Innovation Center Utrecht. You’ll be part of Danone’s User Experience (UX) community with 90+ passionate experts worldwide, who bring the consumer voice into every stage of product and packaging design. Our mission is to co-create product experiences that people love and adopt. We work in a fast-paced, multidisciplinary environment and partner with leading-edge scientists and agencies to build competitive advantage for Danone.

In this role, you’ll lead sensory studies from start to finish, working closely with external partners and internal teams. You’ll translate sensory insights into actionable recommendations that secure product performance, support category growth, and deliver superior user experiences—especially for vulnerable groups such as pregnant women, infants, children, and patients with chronic conditions.

You’ll influence product, packaging, and preparation design across global markets, working at the intersection of science, innovation, and consumer experience. You’ll help shape the sensory strategy for Specialised Nutrition and be part of a collaborative, purpose-driven team with real-world impact.

Main responsibilities include:

• Designing and managing sensory studies across product, packaging, and preparation touchpoints.
• Selecting or developing the most appropriate methods and test designs for trained panels and/or consumers.
• Collaborating with external partners to ensure study quality and execution.
• Monitoring panel performance and identifying opportunities for improvement.
• Analysing sensory data using tools like EyeQuestion, XLStat, or Senpaq, and interpreting results.
• Translating insights into actionable recommendations to improve product performance and deliver the intended sensory signature.
• Decision making based on qualitative and quantitative data, as well as risk scoring.
• Creating impactful reports and communicating results to diverse audiences through strong storytelling.
• Staying up to date with developments in the Specialized Nutrition market and introducing new sensory approaches through literature, conferences, and presentations.

Meet your future manager! You will report to Marleen Kleijn, Senior User Experience Design Manager Spec. Paeds.

About you

To be successful in this role, you need:

• A university of applied sciences or Master’s degree in Sensory Science, with strong statistical skills.
• At least 3 years of experience in sensory analysis, ideally in a sensory team within industry or academia.
• Knowledge of sensory methodologies and experience with software such as EyeQuestion, XLStat, or Senpaq.
• Strong interpretation skills of data, bringing data-driven recommendation to diverse audiences.
• Knowledge of decision making and risk scoring models.
• Strong interpersonal skills to build effective working relationships with UX colleagues, product developers, project teams, and sensory panellists.
• Excellent communication skills in English, both written and spoken.
• A pro-active, solution-oriented mindset and the ability to work under time pressure in a lab environment.

About Danone

At Danone we are committed to our mission “bringing health, through food to as many people as possible”. We are working together to make sure that our brands, like Nutricia and Nutrilon, create real benefits for people, communities and the planet. You will be part of one of the largest Certified B Corps™ in the world. Being B Corp means to be part of a select movement of companies verified to be meeting the highest standards of social and environmental criteria and using business as a force for good. One Planet. One Health.

Our state-of-the-art research and innovation center builds bridges between food and science and is global in reach, founded on over 125 years of experience in life & food science, technology and user experience and is at the forefront of pioneering advances in specialized nutrition.

We offer:

All Danoners receive a complete package of benefits. This includes a competitive salary and yearly bonus, a premium free pension, 30 days of annual leave (with the opportunity to purchase more) and you will receive a monthly health care allowance. In addition, you can get discount on your gym membership, and we offer initiatives focused on nutrition, physical, and mental health. We provide continuous learning opportunities through workshops, online courses and training sessions.

We put people at the center of everything we do. Bring your unique perspective, ambitions and ideas to the table – the impact you could make might surprise you.

Need more information? Please contact Camila Grosso, Talent Specialist via camila.grosso1@danone.com