Application Specialist - Bakery at Puratos

Your Mission

• An application specialist at Puratos focuses on developing and testing products, ensuring that innovations are feasible for commercial use, and providing tailored solutions to meet specific customer requirements mainly industrial level in the bakery, patisserie, and chocolate sectors.

What you do

• Supporting industrial bakeries/patisseries with high-end technical advice
• Seek solutions to customers’ needs and help them in the implementation of products and concepts.
• Creating strong and long-term partnerships with the assigned accounts.
• Supporting R&D Director for research and new product developments.
• Working with customers to understand their needs and co-create tailored solutions.
• Leading projects to deploy existing and new products at our customers’ production facilities.
• Translate the Puratos group guidelines for NPDs towards the Kenya market and support the introduction of new products through test baking, samples & trainings.
• Identifying and managing new business opportunities and risks to existing portfolios, to support the business development team in reaching their sales targets.
• Operating in a cross-functional team with our local Technical, Marketing and Sales colleagues, or alongside the international and diverse global network of Puratos. Use collaborative working tools and data analytics
• Maintain baking & ingredients knowledge of current and up-and-coming trends, as well as a thorough understanding of all Puratos products.
• Build strong and long-term relationships at customers, as well as develop and maintain a network of ingredient and equipment experts in Puratos and externally.

What we expect from you

• Bachelor’s degree in food science or related field.
• 5 years hands-on experience in the industrial bakery sector
• You have a passion for food and a strong drive to ‘do the right thing’ for the planet and future generations.
• Thorough understanding of the patisserie automation process, analytical techniques and NPD processes, and the use of ingredients to create and improve healthy and delicious products
• Understands functionality of ingredients, additives and basic food chemistry
• Computer skills and ability to use professional tools (CRM), spreadsheets, and presentation software
• Good knowledge on process & equipment and finished goods
• Customer oriented, with strong sense for business development
• Ability to translate creative concepts into inspirational finished goods within the framework of an industrial production environment
• Analytical skills and problem-solving attitude
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, able to inspire customers
• Interdependent team player: respect others, helpful, open minded, dynamic and modest.
• Proven planning and organization skills with good attention to detail
• Flexibility to travel