Food Product Development Data Specialist

Food Product Development Data Specialist

Start date: ASAP
Contract type: External contract
Duration: 8 months

Role purpose

We are looking for a Right by Design Technical Data Specialist to support our Right by Design program within R&I/Product Development for an 8-month external assignment.

Right by Design focuses on improving the predictability of product design by using data, technical understanding, and structured evidence generation. This temporary support role will help collect, coordinate, and structure technical data related to process losses, shelf-life losses, product performance, and root cause analysis.

The role is an important support function for building a stronger data foundation behind recipe design decisions. The specialist will coordinate sample collection, sample shipment, analytical testing follow-up, and data consolidation for large-scale sample analysis projects.

This is not a purely administrative role. It requires a solid food technology background, experience with analytical testing and sample handling, and a basic understanding of how recipe calculations and product design assumptions are built.

Key responsibilities

Technical data collection and coordination

• Collect, organize, and structure data related to process losses, shelf-life losses, analytical results, and product performance.
• Support the comparison between calculated recipe values, analytical results after production, and end-of-shelf-life values.
• Maintain structured trackers for samples, analytical results, open actions, missing data, and project progress.
• Ensure that technical data is traceable, complete, and usable for further interpretation by product development and Right by Design experts.

Sample collection, shipment, and analysis follow-up

• Coordinate sample collection from production sites, trials, shelf-life studies, and targeted investigations.
• Support the preparation of sampling plans, sample shipment overviews, and laboratory testing matrices.
• Ensure correct sample identification, documentation, traceability, and shipment requirements.
• Coordinate with internal and external laboratories on testing scope, timelines, sample receipt, and reporting.
• Follow up on missing results, delayed analyses, unclear reports, or sample-related issues.

Support root cause analysis

• Gather relevant recipe, ingredient, process, sampling, and analytical data to support technical investigations.
• Help determine whether deviations may be linked to recipe assumptions, raw material variation, process conditions, sampling issues, analytical variability, or shelf-life degradation.
• Support the preparation of clear technical summaries for project leads and subject matter experts.
• Coordinate additional sampling or analysis where required.

Support large sample analysis projects

• Support the execution of large-scale analytical data generation projects across multiple products, batches, nutrients, and production sites.
• Track sample and analysis status across complex project scopes.
• Perform first-level data quality checks before results are used for further technical or statistical interpretation.
• Help convert analytical outputs into structured datasets that can support future process loss, shelf-life loss, and recipe predictability models.

Support recipe design predictability

• Support the development of improved data tables and assumptions for process losses and shelf-life losses.
• Help identify gaps between expected recipe calculations and observed analytical results.
• Work with technical experts to ensure that collected data is relevant for future formulation and product design decisions.
• Contribute to strengthening the evidence base used in Right by Design decision-making.

Required profile

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience in one of the following areas:

• Food Technology
• Food Science
• Nutrition Science
• Chemistry
• Analytical Chemistry
• Process Technology
• Product Development
• Similar technical or scientific discipline

Experience

The ideal candidate has experience with:

• Food or nutrition product development.
• Analytical testing of food products, ingredients, or nutritional compositions.
• Sample collection, sample preparation, and sample shipment.
• Working with internal or external analytical laboratories.
• Shelf-life studies, process trials, production samples, or stability testing.
• Structured data collection, data tracking, and technical documentation.
• Working in a regulated food, medical nutrition, infant nutrition, or FSMP environment is a strong advantage.
• Experience in a temporary project, consultancy, or external assignment environment is preferred.

Technical knowledge

The candidate should have a practical understanding of:

• Nutrient analysis and analytical variability.
• Shelf-life studies and product stability.
• Process losses and shelf-life losses.
• Basic food technology principles, preferably in liquid and/or powder products.
• Recipe calculation logic, including ingredient contribution, overages, process losses, shelf-life losses, and label targets.
• Basic mathematics and data handling needed to compare calculated values with analytical outcomes.
• Excel or similar tools for data tracking, calculations, and dataset preparation.

Key competencies

• Structured and accurate way of working.
• Strong attention to detail.
• Ability to manage multiple samples, products, results, timelines, and stakeholders in parallel.
• Practical problem-solving mindset.
• Good communication skills with laboratories, factories, product developers, and project leads.
• Comfortable working with incomplete or imperfect data.
• Able to distinguish between operational sample issues and technically meaningful deviations.
• Proactive in following up on missing data, shipment delays, unclear analytical results, or documentation gaps.
• Curious and motivated to understand how technical data contributes to better product design decisions.
• Able to work independently and deliver quickly in a temporary external assignment.

Assignment scope

This is an 8-month external contract assignment supporting the Right by Design program. The assignment is focused on strengthening the data foundation for recipe predictability, process loss understanding, shelf-life loss assumptions, and technical root cause analysis.

The role is expected to provide hands-on support in sample coordination, analytical follow-up, data structuring, and technical project execution. The assignment will work closely with Right by Design leads, product developers, laboratories, factories, and other technical stakeholders.

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