- Location
- Shanghai, China
- Type
- Full-time
- Department
- IT
- Source
- Workday
Description
Position Purpose
The Technical Service Specialist serves as a critical bridge between technology and commercial teams, delivering advanced technical expertise to enable customer success and business growth. By collaborating closely with sales and marketing, this role supports value-based selling through tailored solution development and effective technical problem-solving.
The position focuses on key dairy and dairy alternative applications, including chilled and ambient yoghurt and neutral protein drinks, while also driving innovation across adjacent categories such as desserts, ice cream, and cheese. Through this, the specialist contributes to expanding application knowledge, strengthening customer partnerships, and accelerating new product development.
Key Responsibilities
- Technical Project Work Initiation & Execution
- Initiate technical projects by clearly defining objectives, scope, timeline, and required resources at the outset.
- Independently execute customer and internal technical projects according to agreed timelines and deliverables.
- Maintain proactive and regular communication with customers and sales teams regarding lab trial progress, key findings, and any technical challenges.
- Demonstrate strong discipline in experimental documentation, ensuring accurate record-keeping and timely organization of reports and technical data.
- Customer Innovation & Concept Development Support
- Support customer innovation workshops and new concept promotion activities to drive business opportunities and technical engagement.
- Demonstrate the ability to connect scientific principles with market needs, translating technical knowledge into relevant, customer-focused solutions.
- Proactively identify and analyze market trends, consumer insights, and key technology drivers within dairy and adjacent categories.
- Generate innovative concept ideas and convert them into technical prototypes aligned with strategic priorities and customer needs.
- Innovation Project Leadership & Technology Development
o Explore novel ingredient technologies and assess their applicability for future product concepts and strategic innovation pipelines.
o Lead innovation projects end-to-end, from ideation through technical validation, ensuring alignment with business objectives.
o Collaborate cross-functionally with Marketing and Commercial teams to define project scope, timelines, and success criteria.
o Conduct technical risk assessments and evaluate scalability to support transition from concept to commercialization.
o Capture and document technical learnings, providing clear recommendations to support go-to-market strategies.
o Define critical process parameters to ensure successful scale-up and manufacturing readiness.
o Build and maintain partnerships with external research institutes and technology providers to accelerate innovation.
o Continuously monitor emerging technologies, ingredient innovations, and regulatory developments to inform future opportunities.
o Develop technical reports, trend analyses, and category playbooks to support internal knowledge sharing and strategy development.
o Deliver internal training sessions to enhance team understanding of future trends, technologies, and technical opportunities.
Qualifications and experience
o Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Food Science, Food Technology, or a related discipline.
o 5–8 years of relevant experience in dairy R&D, product innovation, or technical application, with proven project delivery capability.
o Candidates with prior experience in flavor & fragrance (F&F) companies will be given preference.
o Bilingual proficiency in Mandarin and English, enabling effective communication in both customer-facing and internal collaboration settings.
o Proven ability to manage projects independently and collaborate across cross-functional teams, including sales, marketing, and operations.
o Strong curiosity and innovation mindset, with openness to cross-category exploration and a passion for emerging food and beverage trends.
o Good project management skills and ability to work cross-functionally.
o Curiosity and openness to cross-category innovation, with an interest in trying new food and beverage products.\
Tate & Lyle is an equal opportunity employer, committed to the strength of an inclusive workforce.
