The Opportunity
We are representing an established Malaysian food and beverage group with a growing regional footprint and a strong portfolio of consumer food brands.
As the business continues to expand its product portfolio and strengthen its innovation capabilities, we are looking for an experienced Head of R&D to lead the Group's product development and technical innovation agenda.
This is a senior leadership position with responsibility for translating consumer and market opportunities into commercially viable products, while strengthening R&D capability, technical standards and manufacturing execution across the organisation.
What You'll Be Responsible For
R&D Strategy & Innovation
- Lead the overall R&D agenda in line with the Group's commercial and growth objectives.
- Establish priorities for new product development, renovation and technical improvement.
- Identify emerging food, ingredient and consumer trends and translate them into relevant innovation opportunities.
- Strengthen the Group's technical knowledge, development methodologies and innovation pipeline.
Product Development & Commercialisation
- Oversee the full product development cycle from concept and formulation through validation, trials and commercial launch.
- Ensure products are technically sound, commercially viable and capable of being manufactured consistently at scale.
- Lead product optimisation initiatives covering formulation, raw materials, process efficiency, quality and cost.
- Establish effective technical transfer processes between R&D and manufacturing.
Manufacturing & Technical Support
- Act as a senior technical partner to manufacturing and operational teams.
- Provide direction on complex formulation, process and product-quality issues.
- Lead factory trials, scale-up activities and technical troubleshooting for new and existing products.
- Drive structured root-cause analysis and sustainable corrective actions where required.
Technical Governance
- Strengthen standards surrounding product specifications, formulations, raw materials, technical documentation and product performance.
- Ensure R&D activities remain aligned with applicable food safety, regulatory and certification requirements.
- Work closely with Quality, Manufacturing, Procurement, Commercial and other stakeholders to ensure successful product execution.
Regional Collaboration
- Support product development and technical initiatives across the Group's regional operations.
- Facilitate knowledge sharing and technical consistency between different manufacturing and business units.
- Work with external suppliers, ingredient partners and technical specialists to evaluate new technologies and development opportunities.
Leadership
- Lead and develop a multidisciplinary R&D team, including managers and senior technical personnel.
- Build stronger technical capability, succession depth and accountability within the function.
- Establish a culture focused on innovation, speed, technical discipline and commercial impact.
Requirements
- Degree in Food Science, Food Technology, Food Engineering, Chemistry or a related scientific discipline.
- Approximately 15+ years of relevant R&D / product development experience within the food manufacturing industry.
- Proven experience leading an R&D function or a sizeable technical/product development team.
- Strong track record in NPD, formulation, product renovation and commercialisation.
- Experience taking products from laboratory or development stage through factory trials and commercial production.
- Strong understanding of food manufacturing, raw materials, formulation, sensory evaluation, shelf-life and process optimisation.
- Good knowledge of food safety, regulatory and certification requirements.
- Commercially minded with the ability to balance innovation, quality, speed and cost.
- Experience working with multiple manufacturing sites, business units or markets will be highly advantageous.
- Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to engage senior management as well as technical and operational teams.
- Willingness to travel when required for regional projects, plant activities and supplier engagement.
Why This Role
This is an opportunity to take ownership of a significant Group-level R&D function within an established food business.
You will have direct influence over the company's innovation pipeline, product portfolio and technical capability, working closely with senior leadership and cross-functional teams across the business.
If you're an experienced food R&D leader looking to move beyond individual projects and take broader ownership of innovation, product development and technical strategy, we'd be interested in speaking with you.
