Formulation ScientistBusiness

Unilever; Northampton; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A global leader in ingredient solutions seeks an R&D Lead for Product Formulation to manage the R&D department, oversee nutritional premixes and sports nutrition products from concept to commercialization. The ideal candidate will have a BSc/MSc in relevant science fields, extensive experience in food or nutrition manufacturing, and proven leadership in R&D formulation. Benefits include a competitive salary, pension scheme, and hybrid working arrangement with subsidised gym membership.

Benefits

Competitive Salary (£)

Pension Scheme

Hybrid Working

Subsidised Gym membership

Qualifications

• Degree-qualified in relevant fields.
• Experience in food or nutrition manufacturing with leadership.
• Direct experience in R&D leadership in premix formulation.

Responsibilities

• Manage R&D Product Formulation team and develop capabilities.
• Define and execute departmental strategy aligned to NPD and growth goals.
• Oversee formulation of premixes and sports nutrition products.

Skills

People leadership

Cross-functional stakeholder management

Science-based formulations

Technical expertise in powder technologies

Sensory understanding

Education

BSc/MSc in Food Science, Nutrition, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Pharmacology, or Chemical/Process Engineering

Job description

About the client

Our client is a global leader in ingredient solutions, supporting innovation across food, beverage, and sports nutrition markets. They drive growth through strategic partnerships with retailers, manufacturers, and health‑focused brands, and are renowned for high‑quality, functional ingredients that help brands meet evolving consumer needs.

Job Summary

The R&D Lead (Product Formulation) is responsible for leading and growing the R&D department that formulates, scales and manufactures nutritional premixes and sports nutrition products across powders, RTM and RTD‑support formats. This role owns the full product value chain end to end, from concept to commercialisation, ensuring compliance with regulatory, quality, safety and commercial requirements.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage and develop the R&D Product Formulation team, building capability, driving performance and strengthening succession pipelines.
• Define and execute the departmental strategy aligned to NPD, margin, customer satisfaction and category growth goals.
• Oversee science‑based formulation of premixes, functional blends and sports nutrition products, ensuring efficacy, stability, sensory quality and commercial viability.
• Approve product specifications and ensure team expertise in functional ingredients, regulatory changes, raw‑material optimisation and dual sourcing.
• Provide technical leadership for customer briefs, presentations, scoping, costing and on‑time launch delivery, ensuring right‑first‑time development.
• Support commercial, quality and production teams with technical service, compliance projects and raw‑material qualification.

Qualifications

• Degree‑qualified: BSc/MSc in Food Science, Nutrition, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Pharmacology, or Chemical/Process Engineering (or relevant).
• Experience in food or nutrition manufacturing, including people leadership and cross‑functional stakeholder management.
• Direct experience in an R&D leadership role in premix formulation, including vitamins, minerals, amino acids, botanicals and probiotics (any food and beverage raw materials).
• Strong background in sports nutrition, covering whey and plant proteins, BCAA/EAA, creatine, electrolytes and pre‑workout products.
• Technical expertise in powder technologies such as blending, segregation/flowability management, hygroscopic ingredients, encapsulation, granulation, milling and sieving.
• Proven ability to design science‑based formulations, applying data‑driven principles to create high‑performing products.
• Sound sensory understanding, including flavour and sweetener systems, masking strategies and texture optimisation for both RTM and RTD formats.

Benefits & Details

• Competitive Salary (£)
• Pension Scheme
• Hybrid Working: 3 days on site, 2 days work from home (remote option for candidates located more than 1.5 hours away from Kent/London)
• Subsidised Gym membership

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