Food Innovation & Product Development Trainee

Danone; Johannesburg; On-site; ZAR 240,000 - 360,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Structured program

Mentorship

Cross-functional exposure

Job summary

Danone South Africa in Johannesburg seeks a driven graduate in Food Science to join the R&I team for a 24-month development across product and packaging. You will rotate across Fresh Dairy and UHT projects, gaining hands-on experience from concept to implementation and collaborating with Quality, Regulatory, Manufacturing, and Marketing.

This structured programme emphasizes learning, mentorship, and real product improvements that bring health through food to many people.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Food Technology, Biotechnology, or a related field.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving and communication skills.
• Curiosity and a passion for innovation within the food industry.
• Ability to work collaboratively in cross-functional teams.
• Strong attention to detail and an eagerness to learn.

Responsibilities

• Participate in cross-functional rotations every 3–6 months.
• Support operational and strategic projects within each department.
• Analyse data and contribute to process improvements.
• Collaborate with teams to solve real business challenges.
• Attend training sessions and development workshops.
• Present learnings and recommendations to senior management.
• Support development and optimisation of yoghurt, desserts, and UHT products.
• Assist with recipe formulation, ingredient evaluation, and product benchmarking.
• Participate in sensory evaluations and shelf-life studies.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver consumer-centric solutions.
• Analyse technical, sensory, and product performance data to support decision-making.
• Support development, qualification, testing, and validation of packaging solutions for dairy products.
• Gain exposure to different packaging materials and formats, including primary, secondary, and tertiary packaging.
• Assist with factory trials, product-packaging compatibility assessments, and performance checks, documenting key observations, risks, and outcomes.
• Support packaging specifications, artwork reviews, colour standards, compliance requirements, and internal quality standards.
• Collaborate with suppliers and internal teams to identify opportunities for cost optimisation, material efficiency, recyclability, and sustainable packaging improvements.
• Support the scale-up of new products from laboratory development to factory implementation.
• Participate in factory trials and process validation activities.
• Assist with troubleshooting and optimisation during product launches.
• Support project management activities to ensure timely delivery of innovation and renovation projects.
• Support the creation and maintenance of specifications.
• Gain exposure to specification management across raw materials, packaging, recipes, processing and finished products.
• Support data quality, harmonisation and digitalisation initiatives.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure accurate and compliant specifications.

Skills

Analytical ability

Problem solving

Communication skills

Cross-functional collaboration

Attention to detail

Learning mindset

Education

Bachelor's degree in Food Science

Job description

Danone South Africa in Johannesburg seeks a driven graduate in Food Science to join the R&I team for a 24-month development across product and packaging. You will rotate across Fresh Dairy and UHT projects, gaining hands-on experience from concept to implementation and collaborating with Quality, Regulatory, Manufacturing, and Marketing.

This structured programme emphasizes learning, mentorship, and real product improvements that bring health through food to many people.