Senior Application Specialist Culinary

Are you passionate about turning technical expertise into innovative food solutions that delight customers and drive business growth?

IFF is a global leader in flavors, fragrances, food ingredients and health & biosciences, we deliver sustainable innovations that elevate everyday products.

Food Ingredients: Innovating improved nutritional profiles, better taste and texture, and greater cost efficiency to meet the needs of global food and beverage manufacturers.

The role is based in Castelo Branco, SP (on-site role) with approximately 20% travel. Be part of a customer-focused, collaborative, and solution-oriented team, where together we can achieve greatness and make a real impact. Your potential is our inspiration.

Where You’ll Make a Difference

• Deliver technical service excellence through bench development, pilot/plant trials, troubleshooting, and training in close collaboration with Commercial teams
• Lead end-to-end technical projects, from defining scope and hypotheses to executing trials, analyzing results, and presenting recommendations
• Develop and optimize formulations for processed meat, sauces, and dressings, ensuring performance, cost, and compliance targets are met
• Translate ingredient functionality into finished-product performance, optimizing texture, stability, and sensory experience
• Act as a trusted technical partner to customers, leading trials, diagnosing issues, and supporting product demonstrations
• Integrate market trends, customer insights, and competitive intelligence into technical recommendations and solutions
• Communicate complex technical topics effectively through presentations, prototypes, and data-driven storytelling
• Maintain clear and compliant documentation of experiments, trials, and technical deliverables

What Makes You the Right Fit

• 7+ years of experience in food ingredients and/or applications within processed meat, sauces, dressings, or similar culinary categories
• Strong understanding of ingredient functionality, food processing, and finished-product performance
• Proven experience in leading cross-functional technical projects and influencing stakeholders (R&D, Commercial, Operations, Quality)
• Solid background in gastronomy, with the ability to translate culinary concepts into industrial-scale solutions
• Hands-on experience with pilot plant equipment, experimental design, and analytical approaches
• Strong project management skills, with the ability to balance multiple priorities (speed, quality, cost)
• Fluency in Portuguese and advanced English proficiency required. Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to simplify complex concepts
• Commitment to safety, quality standards, and good laboratory practices

How Would You Stand Out?

• Experience working in customer-facing technical roles with frequent client interaction
• Ability to combine technical rigor with creativity to deliver differentiated solutions
• Experience mentoring junior team members or contributing to capability building

Why Choose Us?

• Hybrid work model with hands-on exposure to lab and pilot plant environments
• Opportunity to work on impactful, customer-facing innovation projects
• Collaborative and international work environment
• Continuous learning and development opportunities
• Exposure to cutting-edge food technologies and ingredients
• Opportunity to influence product innovation and business growth

For your awareness, IFF has announced its intention to sell its Food Ingredients Business to CVC Capital Partners. The sale is presently expected to close in the first half of 2027, pending regulatory approvals and other closing conditions. The Food Ingredients business unit will remain a part of IFF until close and, at such time, it will transition to CVC Capital Partners. In applying for this position, you acknowledge your awareness that the position is a part of the Food Ingredients business unit and has been identified to transition to CVC Capital Partners.

We are a global leader in taste, scent, and nutrition, offering our customers a broader range of natural solutions and accelerating our growth strategy. At IFF, we believe that your uniqueness unleashes our potential. We value the diverse mosaic of the ethnicity, national origin, race, age, sex, or veteran status. We strive for an inclusive workplace that allows each of our colleagues to bring their authentic self to work regardless of their religion, gender identity & expression, sexual orientation, or disability.

Visit IFF.com/careers/workplace-diversity-and-inclusion to learn more