Title:  Lead Food Designer

JOB SUMMARY

Grow with us as a Lead Food Designer - Salty Snacks, based at our Belgian R&D center in Mechelen.

Are you a food professional that has dreamt of developing an exciting career within a global company that has a focus on learning and development and a legacy of innovation leadership among its well-loved brands driven by genuine consumer insights?

We are currently recruiting for a number of roles so if you believe you can strengthen the current R&D team supporting the whole of Kellanova European business then see if you have the talents that we are looking for. You will operate in a collaborative culture ensuring the future success of the business is delivered through a proactive and innovative approach to food and process initiatives.

As part of a world class, global, R&D team we are passionate about our food and our brands, come and innovate with us!

WHAT WILL I BE DOING?

In your role as a Lead Food Designer – Salty Snacks with the focus on Salty Snacks Pringles, you will work as part of a dynamic team to help us grow the European business by:

• Providing technical leadership throughout the project including developing technical timelines, providing risk and shelf-life assessments, input to stage-gate documents and meetings including ideations and pre-BCA assessments
• Being the main recommender to the Salty Snack category in all decisions regarding food image and production acceptability on 1st production runs
• Responsible for developing an effective sensory and consumer testing plan to aid development of optimal food to maximize potential for success
• Responsible for development of product to meet the aligned food brief requirements, cost targets, timing milestones, relevant food safety regulations, quality standards, shelf-life, and customer and consumer needs leveraging Design to Value principles
• Accountable to manage all Bottom-and Top line growth initiatives on Salty Snacks Pringles. Responsible to deliver growth objectives regarding NSV$
• Setting the food image, providing documentation and communicating image specification and limits of acceptability to the manufacturing and quality team to enable the product to be consistently replicated
• Providing technical or scientific direction within the department and European business. Partnering with Marketing, Sales, Category Management and Supply Chain
• Supporting and demonstrating leadership in the R&D goals and accountabilities, policies and initiatives. Striving to make improvements to key policies and processes within the Salty Snacks department
• Responsible for the development and progression of more junior Food designers through on-boarding and formal and informal training and mentoring
• Building product and technical expertise to develop European R&D capability and knowledge on Salty Snacks Pringles portfolio.

WHAT DO I NEED TO DEMONSTRATE?

At Kellanova we want self-motivated people who are passionate about food to help us grow our business and build on our successful heritage. To be considered for this position you must be able to demonstrate the following:

Required:

• You will have a degree or equivalent in Food Science, Food Technology or a related field
• With significant, relevant experience within the food industry, preferably in Snack products, you will have an understanding of food design, consumer insights, raw materials, equipment and processes
• You will have demonstrable experience of creative product development and hands-on process experience, taking projects from ideation to market and creatively solving problems that arise throughout plant testing and scale-up
• With an ability to critically examine cost saving opportunities, you are also able to develop an execution plan and influence key business stakeholders to enable realization of essential fuel for business growth

WHAT ELSE DO I NEED TO KNOW?

• Based at the Mechelen R&D center with potential for considerable travel throughout Europe
• May require working outside of normal business hours including weekends and shift work
• Travel to, and work in, manufacturing or test facilities are an integral part of this role
• Operation of process equipment is necessary

What can we offer you?

Working in a stimulating environment where collegiality, teamwork, and respect are central - everyone has a place at our table;

A permanent contract with a competitive salary package.

Opportunities for development and advancement. We encourage this through training and coaching.

Interested?

For inquiries, you can contact HR at +32 15 26 54 56. You can apply via the application button.

Please note that we will only accept applications that are made to us via our Careers site.

If you experience any difficulty when applying to this role, please contact pringleshrtalent@kellanova.com

Please note that the closing date may be subject to change. We will interview suitable candidates as they apply, so please don’t hesitate to take this opportunity to submit your application as soon as possible.

Mars has agreed to acquire Kellanova in a combination that will shape the future of snacking! The transaction is anticipated to close within the second half of 2025 (subject to Kellanova shareowner approval and other customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals). The companies remain separate until closing.

You can learn more at www.futureofsnacking.com, and our hiring teams will be happy to discuss further questions if your application advances in the hiring process.