• To be based out at Factory and be R and I interface with D2D (part of D2D Leadership Team).
• Strong cross functional team player with good communication and leadership skills.
• R & I lead for PSQC projects, execute strategic factory projects, for countries such as India, SEA and Europe.
• R & I SPOC for factory trials with PCM as lead.
• Lead and manage R & I lab
• Collaborate and provide inputs / technical expertise to factory Process Technologist on R & I related topic.

Roles and Responsibilities :

• Responsible for the timely delivery of assigned projects related to innovation, renovation, secure supply, value optimization and quality improvement projects.
• Responsible for right execution of end-to-end product development activities including formulation development, pilot & plant trials, shelf-life study, sensory evaluation, technology transfer and R&I documentation (specifications, protocols, reports etc.)
• Independently prepares project approach & plan, design of experiments, R&I activity timelines, risk assessment & mitigation plan.
• Design formulation of products that meet the agreed nutritional profile, the regulatory standards and Danone tolerance limits; achieve the cost targets and the taste requirements of the target consumers.
• Develop ingredients that are compliant to the requirements of Danone ingredient standards by working collaboratively with the specification manager and quality team
• Maintains the ingredient database of supplier COA, analysis results, FSV and nutritional profile.
• Define risks, opportunities and way forward for critical issues related to food safety, quality and regulation.
• Develop, bench test (lab / pilot), scale up and commercialize, ensuring that new and reformulated products are successfully implemented on the production scale and that targeted product performance is achieved.
• Design and follow stability study to assess the shelf life of products.
• Estimate the development costs required for the project assigned and monitor that the spends for the project are within the budget assigned.
• Manage assigned projects by ensuring that all the mandatory process steps as per the stage-gate methodology are followed.
• Cultivate an innovative mindset – Follow product trends and ingredient / technology developments in the nutritional food business and help translate these into new product & project ideas.
• Collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams (health care nutrition, marketing, operations and quality) and with external partners (suppliers, external labs, 3rd party sites) while driving projects activities.
• Identify and drive efficiencies in Material and factory processes
• Manage R and I shelf-life Lab at Lalru
• Manage Shelf life plan for SN projects and shelf life sample plan for HA projects.
• Forecast and track Lalru R and I budget