- Location
- Mueang Samut Prakan
- Salary
- Competitive
Position Overview
Our client is an international food ingredients and coatings business with a well-established operation in Thailand, serving protein processors, food manufacturers, and leading Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) brands. The business is focused on innovation and continued growth, with a strategic emphasis on nutrition and sustainability, and works closely with its global headquarters on new product direction.
The R&D Manager is a hands-on technical leader for the Ingredients & Coatings segment, positioned as a Segment Lead. Leading a team of 4–5 R&D specialists, the role combines personal ownership of larger customer accounts and laboratory prototyping with coaching and developing the team. It manages the full New Product Development cycle — from customer brief through formulation, scale-up, and commercialization — acts as the primary technical contact for assigned customers, and serves as a bridge to the global organization on innovation-led projects.
Responsibilities
Lead, coach, and mentor a team of 4–5 R&D specialists, allocating projects across the team while remaining personally hands-on in the laboratory and at the bench.
Manage the end-to-end New Product Development (NPD) process — from customer brief through formulation, prototyping, scale-up, factory trials, and production support during commercialization.
Take direct ownership of larger and key customer accounts, delegating smaller accounts to R&D supervisors within the team.
Work closely with protein processors and food manufacturers to understand their production lines, machinery, and processes, advising which process or product set-up is most suitable.
Support QSR customers (such as KFC, McDonald’s, and Burger King), understanding SKU and format requirements (for example, frozen versus retail formats) and how products are prepared in factories or at restaurant locations.
Source and evaluate new raw materials and ingredients; develop prototypes and prepare samples for customer evaluation.
Conduct product tastings with customers, gather feedback, and iterate to improve products.
Lead cost-reduction and reformulation projects on existing products as internal initiatives.
Receive and manage briefs from the Business Development (BD) team, providing technical support for new customer opportunities and product briefs.
Proactively generate and present new product concepts and innovation ideas to customers, with a focus on nutrition and sustainability, and participate in brainstorming sessions for innovation within the segment.
Act as a technical bridge to the global headquarters, delivering assigned global projects and attending monthly global meetings.
Communicate project status, risks, and timelines, and negotiate priorities and resource allocation with the Sales and BD teams across personal and team workloads.
Ensure compliance with company policies, procedures, and quality standards, working through internal systems and CRM.
Requirements
Bachelor’s degree or higher in Food Science, Food Technology, or a related field.
3–5 years of working experience in a relevant field, such as food product development, formulation, or application.
Strong experience in food product development and application, with hands-on laboratory and formulation expertise.
Background in food ingredients — such as dry ingredient manufacturing, functional ingredients, or health and nutrition ingredients — ideally with experience in ingredients and coating technologies. Experience in food innovation and application development is also welcome.
Proven experience managing projects from concept through commercialization, including scale-up and factory trials.
Customer-facing technical support experience, ideally with protein processors, food manufacturers, and/or QSR customers.
Team leadership, people management, and coaching experience.
Proactive, innovative, and open-minded, with the ability to drive nutrition and product innovation initiatives.
Strong communication and prioritisation skills, able to manage multiple projects and stakeholders across Sales, BD, and customers.
Comfortable remaining hands-on, with a significant proportion of time spent in the laboratory and at the bench.
Excellent command of English; Thai language ability is an advantage given the Thailand base and global collaboration.
