R&D & Product Innovation Lead — Cereals

Mindfield Resources

Muscat

On-site

OMR 60,000 - 90,000

Full time

14 days+

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Job summary

Mindfield Resources seeks an experienced R&D Manager for a leading food and commodities manufacturer to drive product development, formulation, standardization, process optimisation, and innovation across core product portfolios.

You will drive cereal-based and value-added products from material evaluation through pilot trials, scale-up, and commercial deployment, ensuring quality, efficiency, and alignment with growth strategy.

Qualifications

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Food Science, Food Technology, Cereal Science, or a related discipline.
8-10+ years of R&D or technical experience within food manufacturing, cereal-based products, grain processing, bakery ingredients, pasta, or a closely related processing environment.
At least 3-5 years of managerial or technical leadership experience, with responsibility for R&D, product development, or technical teams.
Strong hands-on understanding of cereal science, raw material functionality, formulation, product standardization, and manufacturing processes.
Proven experience delivering new product development, formulation improvement, product renovation, and commercial scale-up within an industrial manufacturing environment.
Experience working closely with manufacturing equipment and Production, Quality, Procurement, and Commercial teams to resolve technical and process challenges.
Strong exposure to pilot trials, sensory and product testing, process optimisation, technical documentation, and cost improvement initiatives.
Strong analytical and problem-solving capability with a practical lab-to-production-line approach.
Fluent English communication skills, Arabic language capability would be an advantage.

Responsibilities

Lead R&D activities across cereal-based and value-added food products, from concept development and formulation through pilot trials and commercial scale-up.
Develop, standardize, and optimise product formulations and specifications across multiple product grades, applications, and customer requirements.
Evaluate raw material characteristics and processing performance to improve product consistency, functionality, quality, and manufacturing efficiency.
Lead new product development and product renovation initiatives aligned with market requirements, customer needs, and the organization’s innovation strategy.
Conduct sensory, physicochemical, shelf-life, and performance testing while establishing appropriate technical and quality benchmarks.
Partner with Production, Quality, and Procurement teams to troubleshoot formulation and manufacturing issues and optimise process parameters.
Maintain technical documentation covering formulations, specifications, standard operating procedures, testing protocols, and product standards.
Support innovation roadmaps, feasibility studies, cost optimisation, and continuous improvement initiatives while monitoring developments in food processing and product technology.