R&D Manager
Do you have the appetite to Grow Your Magic?
Consumers everywhere are increasingly conscious of the quality of the food they eat. Puratos develops, produces and distributes a unique range of ingredients for bakers, pastry-chefs and chocolatiers who demand the very highest quality.
Founded in Belgium in 1919, Puratos is growing rapidly with over 9000 employees in 75 countries, with a consolidated turnover of over €2 billion in 2019. Our passion for innovation, pioneering spirit and core values continue to propel our global ambitions. This, coupled with our commitment to our communities, is what makes working at Puratos so magical.
Position Overview
Based at our offices in Abidjan, in order to further strengthen our global R&D team, we are currently seeking an:
R&D Manager
(Abidjan, Ivory Coast)
Reporting directly to the General Manager of Puratos Ivory Coast and functionally to the Regional R&D Manager, being member of the management team, the successful candidate for this key function will define and implement the R&D strategy in the company, taking into account the Puratos Ivory Coast strategy. The R&D manager will define the technical needs for Ivory Coast / West Africa, coach and develop the local R&D team and supervise the innovation center as well as the technical advisors team. On top, this role will promote innovation in the company, new product development based on customer and consumer needs, will ensure the proper quality and localization of raw material and follow the Puratos R&D procedures, while giving a strong support to operations during line startups when required.
Key Accountabilities
- Develop his/her competencies to become strong R&D (Powder products and Chocolate)
- Drive developments of new bakery, patisserie and chocolate products and concepts for all customer segments
- Provide proactive technical support to business development departments (Sales, Marketing and Technical Advisor):
- Training of sales people and demonstrators
- Customer visits
- Presentations to customers…
- Assure high level technical support and good commercial contacts with key accounts
- Provide R&D support to production (for technical & quality issues, obsolete stocks, SKU management…)
- Manage the Technical Advisors Team & the Innovation Center
- Will develop the R&D team depending on the business evolution
- Interact with regional team and HQ in order to keep local team informed and trained on latest Group Innovations/technologies and actively promote the implementation of these innovation in the country.
- Ensure that all technical data linked to products (data sheet, declaration, formulas…) are always correct & comply with food legislation
- Ensure confidentiality of formulas and protection of know-how respecting the Group golden rules of Know-how protection
- Operation support – Select the right raw materials, define the process to produce and define the CQ for raw materials and finish products.
Profile
- Food technologist/engineer (University degree in food science or related disciplines) with at least 5 years’ experience in Food related R&D position, preferably from the bakery, patisserie or chocolate field.
- Is analytical, team-player with very good communication/commercial/verbal skills.
- Has a strong knowledge and/or interest for food ingredients and applications.
- Is willing to travel in Ivory Coast, west Africa and to Belgium (30% of time);
- Is fluent in English.
- Ideally, with experience leading teams, providing coaching, developing talent, and building a high-performance team
- Culture awareness and experience of diversity
- Analytical and quality oriented
- Business Driven
- Open minded and flexible in daily tasks
- Pro-active person, taking initiatives
- Team player with good sense of humor
Required Competencies
- Finds and implements creative and innovative solutions for business challenges
- Develops and shares strategic business and market insights and translates these into solutions for the business
- Promotes our company culture within the wider organization. Facilitates the understanding of the organizational structure and proactively connects key stakeholders
Offer
Puratos provides a dynamic, entrepreneurial environment that encourages our people to take initiatives and bring ideas that will contribute to the success of the company. Of course Puratos offers a competitive package (salary, group insurance, healthcare, training…) but additionally, offers you a position that you can further develop and shape.