Assistant Manager, Research and Development (R&D)

Responsibilities:

• Conduct in store market research and consumer insight analysis to identify emerging trends, customer preferences, and competitive opportunities within the Malaysian beverage market.
• Lead the end-to-end development of new tea beverages, from concept generation, formulation, prototype development, sensory evaluation, pilot trials, commercialization, and product lifecycle management.
• Continuously explore new ingredients, tea varieties, beverage technologies, flavor innovations, and functional ingredients to enhance product competitiveness.
• Work closely with Marketing, Operations, Supply Chain, QA, and other cross-functional teams to define product positioning, refine product concepts based on consumer testing and sensory evaluation, and ensure successful product launches.
• Develop and maintain product specifications, formulation documents, BOMs, SOPs, and technical documentation while continuously improving documentation standards.
• Establish beverage preparation standards and provide technical training to operations teams to ensure product consistency across stores.
• Investigate product quality issues, provide technical solutions, and support continuous improvement to maintain product stability and customer satisfaction.
• Drive product optimization through formulation improvements, ingredient cost optimization, process enhancement, and productivity initiatives while maintaining product quality.
• Stay updated with Malaysian food regulations, Halal requirements, local ingredient trends, and consumer preferences to ensure products meet market expectations and regulatory compliance.

Requirements:

• Bachelor's or Master's Degree in Food Science, Food Technology, Dairy Science, Beverage Science, Applied Chemistry, or related disciplines.
• Minimum 5 years of experience in beverage, tea, coffee, dairy, or FMCG product development.
• Experience in specialty tea, modern tea beverages, café chains, or food service industry is highly preferred.
• Strong sensory evaluation skills with the ability to translate consumer insights into successful commercial products.
• Proficient in product documentation, formulation management, and product commercialization.