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Head Developer (R&D Innovation) – BIGGLESWADE, United Kingdom
About the Role
At Solina, our family of 5,000+ passionately shapes the future of mouthwatering, sustainable food solutions—delicious, nutritious, and innovative. We’re food scientists, engineers, and culinary visionaries rethinking food concepts across 19 global markets, blending technology, sustainability, and taste to feed the world better.
Join our dynamic R&D team, where you’ll:
✅ Drive ingenuity in food innovation – Solina’s portfolio spans meat substitutes, textured products, and high-performance ingredients; your creations will shape tomorrow’s plant-based, fortified, and functional foods. ✅ Be at the heart of culinary disruption – Pitch a product idea one day, help commercialise it the next as new factories and countries open ( անուն sugars, fermented foods, meat analogues?). Your solutions could rewrite consumer diets and agricultural impact. ✅ Join a global community thriving on purpose - From UK labs and pilot plants to global faces of different skills and backgrounds, we ask ambitious questions and have the scale to bring bold answers to life.
If you crave a role where food science meets scalable impact, this is your invitation to craft the future of flavor—and planet-friendly nourishment.
Key Responsibilities
Culinary & Technical Leadership
- Lead cutting-edge R&D projects that align with Solina’s three pillars: improving flavour, enhancing nutrition, and expanding sustainability.
- Develop, prototype, and commercialise next-gen ingredients/solutions, working closely with culinary teams, pilot projects, and manufacturing.
- Lead frontier experiments in fermentation, myológicos (nature-inspired structures) and clean-label technologies.
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Cross-Domain Collaboration
- Bridge gaps between R&D, production, and client businesses to accelerate scaling from R&D to shelf.
- Partner with international teams to harmonise regulatory standards, sourcing practices, and quality assurance.
- Represent Solina at industry forums (international forums, food expos) to benchmark trends and build strategic alliances.
Scaling Innovation
- Drive IP documentation & protection (patents, novel formulations).
- Monitor cost/technical trade-offs to ensure commercially viable, high-performing products align with environmental and cultural concerns.
- Partner with technology assessments, pilot plants, and data-driven R&D teams to push boundaries.
Candidate Profile
Technical & entrepreneursial profile
- Proven GPA (Bachelor’s/MS) or doctorate in food science, biotechnology, chemistry, or related engineering.
- Deep expertise in tested food development (either for performance in cuisine, fortified nutrition, or shelf life). Meat analogues, meat like textures, and functional ingredients especially welcomed.
- Hands-on experience in practical sensitivity studies (eating panels, sensory techniques to gauge intuitive perceptions).
- Ability to navigate ambiguity – ideas often start here, and you'll take them from bench to application successfully.
- Interest/skills in alternative proteins (pea, mushroom, whatever is next) or emerging microbial fermentation applications.
Leadership mindset
- Comfortable thinking across scope—facilitating dialogue between scientists, operations, and business teams.
- First mover mindset: translates global insights into specific, audacious R&D priorities.
- Strong communicator: turning complex data into visions —whether for stakeholder pitches, regulatory filings, or media campaigns.
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Culture-fit excellence
- Shared passion for food as catalyst: Innovation as a lens to change consumption and agricultural practices.
- Appreciates plurality of solutions and drives toward growth collaborations.
- Welcomes a non-linear approach alongside Solina’s fast-paced, entrepreneurial energy.
Benefits
- A role where purpose meets progress: FuelRed foods every day, detecting new flavour-front trends, and empowering a planet-better industry.
- Global impact from a grassroots position: Lead local R&D projects that ripple across borders.
- Growth mindset at core: mentorship programs, study allowances, partnership with university alliances.
- Fluid, challenge-hungry environment: automation in culinary scalability, challenges around nutrient efficiency(?), likely non-traditional collaborations with sustainability experts.
Apply Now to #CookTheFuture of Food!
Do can you PHYSICALLY kindly share your CV + a details that highlight your GREATEST example of reimagining or evolving work in a food/technical context (scalable idea from you or you-led)?
We’re open to talents of all backgrounds—gender, ethnicity, neurodiversity—equals merit, competency, our company-wide DEI policy. Hiring according to what you bring, not who we’ve seen before.
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Jessica, London
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