Principal Food Designer

A Principal Designer is a recognized industrial expert who seamlessly integrates creativity, innovation and presentation skills to provide best in class support to IFF clients. They provide or enable innovative solutions to customers individually or through leading regional/global teams to commercialization. The Principal Designer understands and translates Category innovation needs into successful products. They are a strong contributor to strategy initiatives and commercial relationships, both internally and externally influencing sales growth. The Principal Designer acts as a mentor and recognized trainer for Designers.

Responsibilities:

Solution Design

• Recognized industrial expert in aligned Category
• Works independently across all customer categories
• Industry expert in recipe ingredients/raw materials and their functions
• Develops and refines industrially proven application formulations
• Maximizes solutions performance through recipe and process design
• Identifies Flavor and Ingredient portfolios gaps and drives action with appropriate expertise/resources
• Refines and expands flavor and texture attribute/language and articulates with others in the team/on projects
• Strong project management abilities
• Justifies, builds and leads appropriate resource or expertise in project teams
• Understands taste and texture differences/preferences and ensures concept/submission alignment Innovation & New Technology
• Recognized and established technical expert in the industry, on a global level, within the company and by key Category customers, academia and industry groups
• Successful execution of global customer projects
• Fosters technical team spirit
• Promotes next generation of IFF technology and capability within the technical community
• Fosters and drives (from technical perspective) Category initiatives and/or new concept generation
• Understands and translates Category innovation needs into successful products
• Clear understanding, execution, and refinement of IFF processes

Customer Intimacy & Technical Partnership

• In-depth understanding of customer business strategy, market trends and global business
• Strong understanding of IFF technological strategy, areas for technological development and core technological strengths
• Contributes to R&D and program initiatives, and acts as an advisor to senior managers
• Active involvement with R&D and is knowledgeable on global R&D scope, projects and timelines
• Strong understanding of global capabilities and effective global network
• Maintains strong customer relationships and brand understanding, interacting with all internal and external customers
• Provides innovative solutions for client projects independently or leading regional/global teams to commercialization (i.e. profile, legal, cost and stability requirements, etc.)
• Expert in industrial troubleshooting and technology provider to aligned customer base
• Industry expert to Sales, Marketing, Flavorists, Product Experience, GRA and other departments to support project execution
• Known industry expert with strategic customers and related categories
• Drives technical strategy implementation to all Category aligned accounts
• Key contributor/innovator of customer brands/products and consumer preference of the assigned segments/Category

Leadership

• Well-developed technical network with global colleagues
• Leads high level, global and regional projects
• Mentors or sponsors individuals with capacity for increased responsibility by motivating and preparing them for key project roles within the function or region
• Supports, collaborates, and refines development of Designer/training programs
• Fosters and drives interdepartmental regional and/or global networks/relationships

Requirements:

• Minimum 15 years’ experience in industrial food, pharmaceutical, ingredient or flavor industry
• Minimum 5–10 years’ experience of interdepartmental cross-functional team roles with a focus on leadership role
• Promoted from Senior Designer or entered at an equivalent from a competitor

Academic Qualification/Background

• Minimum entry level is a completed University/College Degree
• Preferred Master’s Degree and/or PhD in related area
• Principal Designer is the most senior role attained in the Designer ladder

We are a global leader in taste, scent, and nutrition, offering our customers a broader range of natural solutions and accelerating our growth strategy. At IFF, we believe that your uniqueness unleashes our potential. We value the diverse mosaic of the ethnicity, national origin, race, age, sex, or veteran status. We strive for an inclusive workplace that allows each of our colleagues to bring their authentic self to work regardless of their religion, gender identity & expression, sexual orientation, or disability.

Visit IFF.com/careers/workplace-diversity-and-inclusion to learn more