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 Responsibilities1. 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.
RequirementsEducation
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.
