R&D Chef

Role overview

We are seeking a talented and hands-on R&D Chef to drive the creation of healthy, market-ready food products that perform well both commercially and operationally. In this role, you will own the product development journey from the first idea through to launch, making sure each item aligns with the company’s standards for taste, nutrition, quality, efficiency, and profitability.

What you will do

• Create fresh meal ideas, seasonal offerings, and new product ranges.
• Build and refine recipes through kitchen trials, product tests, and repeated iterations.
• Document recipes in a clear standard format, including ingredient details, yields, cooking steps, and portion control.
• Adapt and verify recipes for large-scale production while preserving consistency, food safety, and quality.
• Partner with Procurement and Finance to control food costs and maintain desired margins.
• Follow SFDA requirements, HACCP guidelines, and internal food safety procedures.
• Review packaging, product shelf life, transport suitability, and the end-customer experience.
• Track market movements, consumer preferences, and competitor products to support innovation.
• Coordinate with Operations, Production, Quality Assurance, Marketing, and Supply Chain teams to help new products reach launch successfully.
• Keep improving existing products based on performance data, customer feedback, and operational requirements.

Requirements

• A bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional qualification in Culinary Arts, Food Science, Nutrition, or a closely related discipline.
• 3 to 5 years of experience in product development or R&D within the food sector.
• Background in environments such as central kitchens, meal subscription businesses, cloud kitchens, catering, or food manufacturing is preferred.
• Strong working knowledge of recipe standardization, food costing, nutrition, and commercial-scale food production.
• Solid understanding of HACCP, SFDA regulations, and broader food safety systems.
• Good communication, planning, organization, and project management abilities.
• Fluency in English is required; Arabic will be considered an added advantage.

Technical skills

• Recipe creation and standardization
• Food costing and yield control
• Product lifecycle management
• Nutritional analysis and food labeling
• Shelf-life testing and packaging validation
• Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets
• ERP or recipe management tools are a plus