Kerry, the world’s leading taste and nutrition company for the food, beverage, and pharmaceutical industries, is hiring a hands-on and creative R&D Technologist to join its growing savoury snack team at the Kerry R&D Centre in Dubai. This exciting role focuses on developing and optimising savoury snack seasonings and noodle flavour systems — from initial bench concept through customer trials to commercial scale-up — partnering closely with sales, marketing, and operations to deliver winning taste solutions across the GCC and wider Middle East market.
About Kerry — World’s Leading Taste & Nutrition Company
Company: Kerry — World’s leading taste and nutrition company serving food, beverage, and pharmaceutical industries globally
R&D Centre: Dubai — dedicated innovation hub for GCC and Middle East taste solutions and customer partnerships
Products: Savoury snack seasonings — extruded snacks, potato chips, nuts, crackers, puffed snacks, and noodle flavour systems
Markets: GCC and wider Middle East — deep regional consumer taste expertise and cultural nuance
Mission: Creating a world of sustainable nutrition — partnering with customers to build healthier, tastier products
Why Join Kerry as R&D Technologist in Dubai?
World-Leading Platform: Access Kerry’s full Taste Solutions technology portfolio and global ingredient expertise from Dubai’s R&D Centre
Creative Innovation: Develop culturally relevant snack seasonings and noodle flavour systems that win in the GCC and Middle East consumer market
Commercial Exposure: Partner directly with customers from bench trial through commercial scale-up — genuine customer-facing innovation
Career Growth: Join a global career in food science and flavour innovation with one of the world’s most respected ingredient companies
Position Overview
The R&D Technologist at Kerry Dubai R&D Centre is a hands-on, customer-facing innovation role focused on developing and optimising savoury snack seasonings and noodle flavour systems for the GCC and Middle East market. Responsibilities span the full NPD lifecycle — translating customer briefs and trend insights into compelling seasoning concepts, conducting bench-scale trials and sensory evaluations, maintaining raw material libraries and formulation databases, providing technical support during customer plant trials and commercialisation, and driving NPD from concept through to factory scale-up. The ideal candidate brings passion for flavour, cultural understanding of the regional snack and noodle landscape, and the technical skills to develop cost-competitive, commercially viable seasoning solutions.
Why This Role Matters: As R&D Technologist at Kerry Dubai, your flavour expertise and creative innovation directly shape the snack and noodle products consumed by millions of people across the GCC and wider Middle East every day. The seasoning concepts you develop in Kerry’s Dubai R&D Centre — informed by regional taste culture and Kerry’s world-class technology platform — will win customer briefs, grow market share, and ultimately land on the shelves of supermarkets and in the hands of consumers across the region. This is genuinely impactful, globally connected food science innovation.
Key Responsibilities
Snack Seasoning & Noodle Flavour Development
- Develop cost-competitive snack seasonings leveraging flavour expertise alongside Kerry’s Taste Solutions capabilities — meeting both business performance and customer taste requirements
- Design and develop seasoning systems and taste solutions for extruded snacks, potato chips, nuts, crackers, puffed snacks, and noodle flavour applications across the GCC and Middle East
- Conduct bench-scale trials, sensory evaluations, and iterative optimisation — delivering products that meet taste, texture, colour, cost targets, and applicable regulatory requirements
- Translate customer briefs and regional market trend insights into compelling, commercially viable and culturally relevant seasoning concepts for the Middle East consumer
NPD Lifecycle Management — Concept to Commercial Scale-Up
- Drive new product development (NPD) from initial bench concept through customer trials all the way to commercial factory scale-up — with full technical ownership throughout
- Collaborate closely with operations and manufacturing teams during scale-up — applying technical expertise to ensure efficient, consistent, and scalable production of seasoning systems
- Provide technical support during customer plant trials and commercialisation activities — ensuring successful technology transfer from R&D lab to production environment
- Apply a comprehensive understanding of the full Kerry Technology portfolio within snack seasoning development — leveraging global expertise for regional market advantage
Formulation Management, Records & Raw Materials
- Maintain and manage the raw material library — ensuring all ingredients are accurately catalogued, specifications are up to date, and stock is available for ongoing development work
- Maintain accurate R&D records, formulation databases, and trial documentation in line with Kerry’s internal systems and documentation standards
- Maintain strong commercial awareness — developing cost-effective formulations that deliver clear customer value while leading cost optimisation initiatives across the seasoning portfolio
- Contribute to collection and portfolio development in close partnership with cross-functional teams including sales, marketing, operations, and regional commercial leadership
Customer Relationships & Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Build and maintain strong customer relationships — delivering customer-centric seasoning solutions and proactively managing innovation opportunities to drive sustainable business growth across the GCC
- Partner closely with sales, marketing, and operations teams — ensuring development priorities align with commercial objectives and regional customer requirements
- Articulate and document flavour profiles clearly during sensory evaluations and customer presentations — communicating technical insights in a compelling and accessible way
- Manage multiple customer briefs simultaneously — applying strong project management and communication skills to deliver across a fast-paced, customer-facing innovation pipeline
Qualifications & Requirements
Educational Requirements
- B.Tech or M.Sc. in Food Science, Food Technology, Flavour Technology, or equivalent qualifications in a directly related discipline
Experience Requirements
- 2 to 4 years of hands-on experience in snack seasoning formulation, noodle flavour development, or savoury flavour applications — within an ingredient supplier, flavour house, or snack/noodle manufacturer
- Solid practical understanding of dry seasoning systems — spice blending, flavour release mechanisms, coating adhesion, and Maillard and process flavour interactions
- Proficiency in sensory evaluation with the ability to articulate and document flavour profiles clearly and accurately
Essential Skills
- Strong project management and communication skills — with the ability to manage multiple customer briefs and development projects simultaneously in a fast-paced innovation environment
- Proficiency in Arabic — written and spoken — is a significant advantage given the regional GCC and Middle East customer base served from the Dubai R&D Centre
- Cultural understanding of regional snack and noodle consumer tastes, preferences, and trends across the GCC and wider Middle East markets
- Strong commercial awareness and cost optimisation mindset — able to develop formulations that deliver compelling customer value within defined cost parameters
Who Should Apply?
- Poultry Plant QA Technicians: With 2+ years of quality assurance experience in a poultry or meat processing plant environment — seeking a prestigious QA role with MENA’s #1 FMCG brand in Hail, Saudi Arabia
- ISO 22000 Quality Professionals: With food safety management system experience and APD or meat processing quality standards knowledge looking to advance their QA career at the world’s largest dairy and protein company
- Supervisory-Level QA Technicians: With experience leading quality activities, conducting awareness programs independently, and communicating with multinational workforces in food or meat manufacturing environments
- Food Science Graduates with QA Experience: Holding a Bachelor’s in Food Science or a related field with 2+ years of hands-on quality assurance experience in poultry, meat, or FMCG food manufacturing in the GCC
- Meat Processing Quality Specialists: With strong English communication skills, quality audit experience, and a passion for food safety excellence — ready to contribute to Almarai’s “Quality you can trust” promise from Hail
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