Food Chemistry Jr. Researcher

Date: 12 Aug 2025

Country: Netherlands

Function: Innovation, Quality & Food Safety

Sub-Function: Innovation

About Us

We are a global leader in food & beverage ingredients. Pioneers at heart, we operate at the forefront of consumer trends to provide food & beverage manufacturers with products and ingredients that will delight their consumers. Making a positive impact on people and planet is all part of the delight. With a deep-rooted presence in the countries where our ingredients are grown, we are closer to farmers, enabling better quality, and more reliable, traceable and transparent supply. Supplying products and ingredients at scale is just the start. We add value through our unique, complementary portfolio of natural, delicious and nutritious products. With our fresh thinking, we help our customers unleash the sensory and functional attributes of cocoa, coffee, dairy, nuts and spices so they can create naturally good food & beverage products that meet consumer expectations. And whoever we’re with, whatever we’re doing, we always make it real.

Are you passionate about food chemistry and ready to take the next step in your career? At ofi, we’re looking for a curious, hands-on Junior Researcher to join our Plant Science team.

Job Description

Olam Food Ingredients (ofi) is looking for a Food Chemistry Jr Researcher based at our R&D facilities in Koog aan de Zaan.
In this role, you will be responsible for developing and executing research and innovation projects, focusing on plant science aspects related to the cocoa bean value. You will pursue and test innovations for cocoa bean characterization in terms of quality and its intrinsic traits. You will find the best solutions for complex technical questions regarding cocoa beans into tools for the procurement teams, for processing specifications and for quality compliance from the research standpoint. Your expertise in research will allow you to manage projects from concept to implementation in the supply chain, from the origin to the factory. With your solutions that are both scalable and innovative, you will help ofi to maintain their global leadership position in Cocoa Ingredients.

Responsibilities

Reporting into the Head of Plant Science, the position has the following responsibilities:

Managing Plant Science projects, aiming for product innovation in close collaboration with Sustainability, Procurement, Quality and R&D stakeholders;
Developing and maintaining laboratory practices, developing SOPs and maintaining databases of samples and reagents;
Translate scientific knowledge into actionable tools to operations;
Providing technical support, based on solid technical and scientific information, enabling knowledge building, decision making and successful implementation;
Setting clear timelines and objectives to maintain quality and speed, in order to introduce innovation successfully;
Developing and evaluating methods to characterize the cocoa bean traits;
Sharing knowledge, collecting information and presenting project results across different departments and processing sites;
Building a network and collaborating with relevant public and private research institutions, suppliers or other internal and external partners;

Your profile

The ideal candidate must have/be:

A MSc degree in Food Technology, Chemistry or Analytics;
At least 3 years research experience with food chemistry (preferably in cocoa) with experience in analytical chemistry;
Significant experience in experimental design, analysis of complex data;
Strategically minded, capable to integrate inputs from multiple stakeholders and experts and explain complex topics into strategic and concrete actions;
Strong leadership skills in laboratory and project management;
Strong communication and presentation skills and proficient in spoken and written English.

ofi is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, nationality, disability, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Applicants are requested to complete all required steps in the application process including providing a resume/CV in order to be considered for open roles.