Assistant Manager, Research and Development (R&D)

CHAGEE Malaysia; Kuala Lumpur; On-site; MYR 90,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

CHAGEE Malaysia is seeking a senior beverage product developer to drive end-to-end creation of tea beverages for the Malaysian market. The role requires translating consumer insights into commercially viable products and coordinating with marketing, operations, and QA to ensure successful launches.

Responsibilities include market research, formulation management, and maintaining technical documentation, with a focus on new tea varieties and regulatory compliance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's in Food Science, Food Technology, Dairy Science, Beverage Science, Applied Chemistry, or related disciplines.
• Minimum 5 years of experience in beverage, tea, coffee, dairy, or FMCG product development.
• Experience in specialty tea or modern tea beverages, cafe chains, or food service preferred.
• Strong sensory evaluation skills and ability to translate consumer insights into commercial products.
• Proficient in product documentation, formulation management, and product commercialization.

Responsibilities

• Conduct in-store market research and consumer insight analysis to identify trends and opportunities in the Malaysian beverage market.
• Lead end-to-end development of new tea beverages from concept to commercialization.
• Explore new ingredients, tea varieties, flavors, and technologies to enhance product competitiveness.
• Collaborate with Marketing, Operations, Supply Chain, QA to position products and ensure successful launches.
• Develop and maintain product specs, BOMs, SOPs, and technical documentation.

Skills

Market research

Formulation

Sensory evaluation

Cross-functional collaboration

Product lifecycle management

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in Food Science/related

Job description

• Conduct in store market research and consumer insight analysis to identify emerging trends, customer preferences, and competitive opportunities within the Malaysian beverage market.
• Lead the end-to-end development of new tea beverages, from concept generation, formulation, prototype development, sensory evaluation, pilot trials, commercialization, and product lifecycle management.
• Continuously explore new ingredients, tea varieties, beverage technologies, flavor innovations, and functional ingredients to enhance product competitiveness.
• Work closely with Marketing, Operations, Supply Chain, QA, and other cross-functional teams to define product positioning, refine product concepts based on consumer testing and sensory evaluation, and ensure successful product launches.
• Develop and maintain product specifications, formulation documents, BOMs, SOPs, and technical documentation while continuously improving documentation standards.
• Establish beverage preparation standards and provide technical training to operations teams to ensure product consistency across stores.
• Investigate product quality issues, provide technical solutions, and support continuous improvement to maintain product stability and customer satisfaction.
• Drive product optimization through formulation improvements, ingredient cost optimization, process enhancement, and productivity initiatives while maintaining product quality.
• Stay updated with Malaysian food regulations, Halal requirements, local ingredient trends, and consumer preferences to ensure products meet market expectations and regulatory compliance.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree in Food Science, Food Technology, Dairy Science, Beverage Science, Applied Chemistry, or related disciplines.
• Minimum 5 years of experience in beverage, tea, coffee, dairy, or FMCG product development.
• Experience in specialty tea, modern tea beverages, café chains, or food service industry is highly preferred.
• Strong sensory evaluation skills with the ability to translate consumer insights into successful commercial products.
• Proficient in product documentation, formulation management, and product commercialization.