Plant Technologist NL

Careers at Beyond Meat

Beyond Meat is a plant protein company offering a portfolio of plant-based products made from simple ingredients without GMOs, added hormones or antibiotics, and with 0mg of cholesterol per serving. Its core products are designed to have the same taste and texture as animal-based meat while being better for people and the planet.

Job Description

The Plant Technologist strives for maximum production performance and is committed to improving food safety, quality, and efficiency at the Enschede plant and supporting co-manufacturers. Effective collaboration with colleagues across departments is essential.

As Plant Technologist, you are jointly responsible for validating and optimizing production processes in the factories where Beyond Meat manufactures semi-finished and finished products. You identify opportunities for performance and cost improvements and report directly to the Plant & EHS Manager. You lead and support related cost-saving projects.

Daily activities include troubleshooting, analyzing performance data, identifying trends and causes of downtime, and finding relationships between discrepancies. You support data-driven problem solving, Root Cause Analyses (RCAs), SOP development, and periodic reporting to track progress.

You work closely with the Process Technologist and departments such as Production, Quality, Innovation, R&D, and Engineering to optimize processes and improve efficiency and yield. Ideally, you have strong technical insight and experience with extrusion and packaging processes.

Tasks & Responsibilities

• Manage machine recipes, production checks, and OCAPs.
• Identify and realize savings opportunities, including waste reduction, output increases, process simplification, action matrices, and knowledge sharing.
• Monitor internal processes and implement technological developments to continuously optimize operations.
• Automate quality-control tasks, identify relationships between discrepancies, and provide performance insights.
• Set up, lead, and execute cross-functional Kaizen projects and implement resulting actions.
• Perform problem-solving analyses and develop tools to support production.
• Act as a sparring partner for Production, QA, R&D, Engineering, and Automation teams.
• Promote an open culture where feedback and ideas are encouraged and freely exchanged.
• Contribute actively to a safety-first culture by reporting, preventing, and resolving unsafe situations.
• Prepare reports on incidents, trials, and disruptions.

Job Requirements

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Food Technology or equivalent.

Knowledge & Experience

• Minimum 5 years of relevant experience in a similar role within the food industry.
• Knowledge of production processes.
• Knowledge of HACCP.
• Familiarity with continuous-improvement methodologies such as Lean Six Sigma.
• Knowledge of project management.
• Experience in a coaching role is an advantage.

Skills

• Practical, proactive, results-oriented, and strong problem-solving skills.
• Proven ability to communicate and present at all levels of the organization.
• Skilled in processing data and analyzing trends.
• Able to work independently and as part of a team.
• Good command of Dutch and English.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office applications such as Word and Excel.

Other

• Social, reliable, and punctual, with a strong sense of responsibility toward the company, colleagues, and work.
• Positive attitude.
• Flexible regarding activities that may occur outside standard working hours.

Work Environment

Office, production environment, warehouse of the Beyond Meat factory in Enschede, and external Beyond Meat production locations in the Netherlands and Germany.