Development Specialist

Development Specialist

Are you motivated to create indulgent dairy experiences that tantalize the palates of consumers across Europe? Would you like to craft innovative dairy products that perfectly cater to the cravings of contemporary customers? We are on the hunt for a creative and motivated (Junior) Product Development Specialist to strengthen our Chilled Dairy Development Team.

By taking this role, you will be integral in the innovation and revitalization of our product portfolio. You will have the opportunity to bring your visions and creativity to life, not only for our cherished in-house brands, such as Campina, Optimel, Vifit, Mona, and NoyNoy but also for our high-profile private label collaborations.

In this role, you will forge synergistic relationships with various departments - Marketing, Supply Chain, QA, Procurement, and other R&D teams. We welcome you to join us, pushing the boundaries of what dairy can do and creating the next generations of tasty, nutritional, and healthy dairy products.

What we ask

• A Bachelor or Master degree, preferably in the area of food technology, food processing, dairy technology, physical-chemistry or alike;
• Relevant product development and/or analytical experience in a food company (1-2 years), ideally in dairy;
• Excellent communication skills (written and verbal) on all levels in English;
• The following key competences: analytical, digital proficient, hands on, quality and result driven, proactive, punctual, entrepreneurial, ability to engage others & challenge where necessary, decisive, well organized, team player;
• Willingness to travel to production locations in the Netherlands, or Germany and Belgium.

What we offer

• A good primary and secondary renumeration package and work life balance;
• A meaningful job, contributing to providing better nutrition for the world;
• Not just a job but a career, starting in a team that highly values your development and growth opportunities;
• Hybrid way of working (good balance of working from home vs from office);
• An international company with strong Dutch heritage.

Vacancy description

As a (junior) development specialist you will:

• Support and lead in the development and implementation of new product innovation while keeping in mind requirements like nutritional values, compliance to claims, shelf life stability, cost price and organoleptic properties;
• Initiate and organize product and application tests on various scales (lab, pilot, factory), including analysis and interpretation of results incorporated in well-written reports with the support from colleagues in the team;
• Present findings to relevant stakeholders and peers;
• Organize and perform renovation work (e.g. quality improvement, raw material contingency, new specifications, value engineering) on existing products and carry out recipe transfers between factories;
• Work together with various stakeholders across the company, including marketing, sales, supply chain, research, QA, technology & Procurement but also will have contact with external stakeholders such as suppliers.

Staying true to who you really are, that is your starting point at FrieslandCampina. Because it is precisely by embracing our differences that we can grow together. We want to create a working environment that allows all employees to bring their best and authentic selves. If who we are suits you, but you're not sure if you're the best fit for the role, we still encourage you to apply so we can help you find the role that fits you best.

Team Details

All employees at FrieslandCampina share a single passion: Nourishing by Nature. With our brands - over 30 - we reach millions of people in more than 100 countries. FrieslandCampina consists of a number of business groups and operating companies with offices all around the world. The Chilled Dairy development team is part of the Europe business group. The team is located in Wageningen (The Netherlands) and consists of in total 13 colleagues (the broader team consists of more than 40 colleagues) with very diverse and international backgrounds.

Within the Chilled Dairy development team, we are responsible for all fresh dairy products (excluding cheese, cream, butter and meat alternatives) for the European business-to-consumer market. Our main focus is on the development of healthy, nourishing, and indulgent products, such as (high protein) yoghurt, drinking yoghurt, Greek style yoghurt, quark, milks and desserts.

For thousands of people every day, we are more than just a dairy company. To our farmers, our employees, the communities we serve, the businesses we work with and the people to whom we bring happiness, FrieslandCampina means something more. For them it's not just about what we do, but who we are.

We value talented people from any background who want to contribute to something bigger than themselves. We encourage all of our employees to make decisions that benefit our entire company. At FrieslandCampina we own our own career and act accordingly. We trust you to make a difference in your job and influence the bigger picture. Working at FrieslandCampina means you are contributing to a better world.