R&D Executive – Food / Chocolate & Confectionery
Location: Batu Pahat, Johor
Industry: Food Manufacturing | Chocolate & Confectionery
About the Role
- We are looking for a hands-on R&D Executive to join our Product Development team.
- In this role, you will be involved in the full product development lifecycle — from understanding customer requirements and developing formulations to preparing samples, product costing, factory trials and commercial production.
- You will work closely with Sales, Production, QA, Purchasing and Management to develop new products, improve existing formulations and ensure products are commercially viable and suitable for manufacturing.
- Candidates with 2–3 years of R&D or product development experience in chocolate, confectionery, spreads, fillings, bakery ingredients, sauces or related food manufacturing industries are highly encouraged to apply.
Key Responsibilities
1. New Product Development & Formulation
- Develop new products based on customer requirements, market trends, internal concepts and commercial opportunities.
- Formulate and optimise products such as chocolate spreads, sauces, fillings, creams, coatings, glazes, nut-based products and other confectionery applications.
- Conduct laboratory trials and optimise taste, texture, colour, viscosity, stability and overall product performance.
- Translate customer briefs into commercially viable formulations.
- Develop alternative formulations based on raw material availability, cost considerations and customer specifications.
2. Customer Samples & Development Projects
- Prepare accurate and timely samples for customer evaluations, sales presentations, exhibitions and internal assessments.
- Work closely with Sales and Marketing to understand customer applications and technical requirements.
- Follow up on customer feedback and revise formulations accordingly.
- Maintain proper records of sample requests, formulations, trial results, feedback and product revisions.
- Ensure approved samples can be consistently reproduced during production scale-up.
3. Recipe & Formulation Management
- Maintain accurate formulations, recipes, processing parameters and revision histories.
- Standardise production recipes following successful laboratory and factory trials.
- Review existing formulations to improve quality, stability, processing efficiency and cost effectiveness.
- Evaluate and communicate formulation changes to relevant departments.
- Maintain strict confidentiality of product formulations and recipes.
4. Product Costing & Cost Optimisation
- Prepare and maintain product costing for new and existing formulations.
- Evaluate cost implications arising from ingredient substitutions, supplier changes, formulation adjustments and raw material price fluctuations.
- Develop cost-effective formulations without compromising product quality or performance.
- Work with Purchasing, Sales and Management to assess commercial feasibility.
- Identify opportunities for ingredient and formulation cost optimisation.
5. Production Scale-Up & Factory Trials
- Conduct pilot and factory-scale trials together with Production and QA.
- Establish appropriate manufacturing parameters, including mixing sequence, processing temperature and time, particle size, viscosity and filling conditions.
- Ensure laboratory formulations can be successfully transferred to commercial production.
- Troubleshoot formulation and processing issues during factory trials and production.
6. Product Improvement & Technical Troubleshooting
- Improve existing products based on customer feedback, quality concerns, production performance, raw material changes and cost optimisation initiatives.
- Investigate technical issues including oil separation, crystallisation, texture changes, viscosity variation, flavour inconsistency, colour variation and shelf-life concerns.
- Conduct product benchmarking and comparative trials where required.
- Recommend corrective actions based on technical findings and trial results.
7. Raw Material Evaluation
- Evaluate new ingredients and alternative suppliers together with Purchasing and QA.
- Conduct application trials involving cocoa products, chocolate, fats and oils, nuts and nut pastes, milk ingredients, sweeteners, emulsifiers, flavours, colours and other functional ingredients.
- Assess ingredient functionality, compatibility, quality and cost effectiveness.
- Maintain proper documentation for raw material evaluations and trials.
8. Documentation, Food Safety & Regulatory Support
- Maintain accurate R&D documentation including formulations, trial reports, sample records, product specifications, manufacturing procedures, product costing, shelf-life studies and technical documents.
- Work closely with QA to ensure products meet applicable food safety, Halal, regulatory, labelling and customer requirements.
- Support relevant food safety and quality management systems including HACCP, GMP, Halal and other applicable certifications or standards.
Requirements Education
Diploma or Degree in:
- Food Science
- Food Technology
- Food Engineering
- Food Chemistry
- Nutrition
- Biotechnology
- or other relevant disciplines
Experience
- Minimum 2–3 years of hands-on R&D / Product Development experience in food manufacturing.
- Experience in one or more of the following is highly preferred:
- Chocolate & confectionery
- Chocolate or nut spreads
- Bakery fillings
- Creams & coatings
- Sauces & glazes
- Bakery ingredients
- Related food manufacturing
- Hands-on experience in chocolate or confectionery manufacturing will be a strong advantage.
Skills & Competencies
- Strong understanding of food ingredients, formulation principles and manufacturing processes.
- Able to independently conduct laboratory trials and prepare customer samples.
- Comfortable with formulation calculations, percentage calculations, yield calculations and raw material costing.
- Strong analytical, troubleshooting and problem-solving skills.
- Good documentation and record-keeping practices.
- Able to coordinate effectively across Sales, QA, Production, Purchasing and Management.
- Able to manage multiple development projects and priorities simultaneously.
- Proficient in Microsoft Excel, Word and general reporting.
- Hands-on, organised, detail-oriented and able to work independently.
Technical Knowledge – Added Advantage
Experience or knowledge in the following will be advantageous:
- Chocolate and compound chocolate formulation
- Cocoa powder and cocoa mass
- Nut pastes and nut-based spreads
- Vegetable oils and fats
- Lecithin and emulsifiers
- Sweeteners and sugar-reduced formulations
- Chocolate rheology and viscosity
- Particle size / micron control
- Mixing, refining, conching, melting and filling processes
- Product stability and shelf-life evaluation
- Ingredient substitution and cost optimisation
- Factory scale-up and technical troubleshooting
What We're Looking For
We are looking for someone who can do more than develop a good product in the laboratory.
The right candidate should understand how to take a product from concept to commercial production — ensuring that it can be manufactured consistently, meets customer requirements and remains commercially viable.
You should be comfortable managing the complete development journey:
Customer Brief → Formulation → Laboratory Trial → Sample Preparation → Product Costing → Customer Feedback → Recipe Optimisation → Factory Trial → Commercialisation
If you enjoy hands-on product development and seeing your formulations progress from the lab to actual commercial production, we'd love to hear from you.
