Food Technology Lead - Product Development (f/m/d)

A message from the founder:

"This goes out to inventors, innovators, and people who enjoy exploring the unknown. This job is about creating something that does not exist today. As the Lead of vly’s Product Development team, you will balance a very science-first, data-driven approach (i.e. lots of trials & lots of feedback) with an appreciation for the art of development. You will need to drive towards perfectionism & excellence while being fast & pragmatic to thrive in a startup environment."

We are vly - one of Europe's fastest-growing FoodTech startups from Berlin, with a strong drive for R&D, innovation, and health. We exist to right the wrongs in the food industry and we do that by creating healthy, plant-based products that make people vly, not sugar-high. After years of R&D, we launched milk alternatives based on pea protein. They not only contain only 1/3 of the sugar content of oat milk but they also won best product of the year. We have also created one of the healthiest yogurts on the market and continue to grow with our healthy, everyday dairy alternatives.

To make our vision a reality, we need you as a Food Technology Lead - Product Development! In this role, you will lead product development at vly including providing the drumbeat on our experiments, their evaluation and ultimately creating amazing products that consumers love.

Your Challenges:

• Lead Experiment Design & Execution.
• Conduct & manage Benchtop Trials.
• Conduct & manage Pilot Trials including running & overseeing weekly pilot trials on our own UHT pilot plant.
• Gather & analyze feedback (internal as well as external & consumer).
• Manage ingredient suppliers (finding new ones, relationship building, communicating clearly).
• Lead a team of 2-3 direct reports.

Your Benefits:

• Purpose - it's an important fight to change the food industry for the better and your work will impact the change of our food system.
• A fascinating industry – dairy touches almost every household, oat milk & blood sugar are everywhere on socials and the importance of health is ever-growing.
• Access to state-of-the-art lab and pilot production equipment: your own in-house lab!
• Team - we've got a unique group of people that is not only talented and super driven but also creative & fun.
• Public transport ticket, equipment, coaching, sports membership subsidy, team events, and two team off-site events per year.
• A true vly subscription - as much as you can drink.

Your Profile:

• Education: You have a Bachelor's or Master's degree in Food Technology, Food Science, Chemistry, or equivalent.
• Experience: You have 5+ years of experience within food product development.
• Ideally, you’ve brought at least one innovative food product from an idea to the market shelves.
• Ideally, you’ve worked in a fast-paced startup environment before.
• Hands-on: You are willing to get the hands dirty / done that in the past in terms of executing experiments yourself when needed.
• Passion: You are very excited about products and ingredients. You love checking out all kinds of new products and get into the details.
• Ambition: You are ambitious and very driven to make the best possible products.
• Language: Your English is at C1 or higher; your German is at C1 or higher.

If you've read this far, we should get to know each other! Just send us your documents - we look forward to getting to know you!