Senior Flavor Scientist Leader

Bel est un acteur majeur de l'alimentation à travers des portions de bien manger laitières, fruitières ou végétales, et l'un des leaders mondiaux du secteur des fromages de marque. Son portefeuille de produits différenciés et d'envergure internationale tels que La Vache qui rit®, Kiri®, Babybel®, Boursin®, Nurishh®, Pom'Potes® ou GoGo squeeZ®, ainsi qu'une trentaine d'autres marques locales, lui ont permis de réaliser en 2022 un chiffre d'affaires de 3,6 milliards d'euros.

Vous souhaitez rejoindre une entreprise dotée de marques fortes, qui place le consommateur et la responsabilité au cœur de ses décisions ? Bel est fait pour vous

Vous êtes audacieux, pragmatique et déterminé ? Vous souhaitez contribuer à la transformation d’un groupe agroalimentaire international ? Alors venez mesurer l’impact de votre talent et de votre énergie sur la réalisation d’un projet d’entreprise ambitieux et durable

**#IWorkForAllForGood**

We are recruiting a senior flavor scientist to lead our new research department on flavor and taste.

**CONTEXT**
- Bel is a family-owned business - we are committed to the development of healthier, more sustainable food. Also, as part of this ambition, we seek to explore more environmentally virtuous raw materials to develop alternative cheese offerings, and portions of fruits, while maintaining or even improving their nutritional quality and naturalness. While consumers assess and appreciate these improvements, their motives for adopting these new offerings remain largely dominated by the organoleptic aspects. Indeed, the perception of taste and the associated pleasure are decisive in a food experience. Taste is the main factor that determines food preferences. Therefore, identifying and promoting the organoleptic signatures of finished products is key to success in innovation._

**AMBITION**

To meet these challenges, we are creating a research structure focused on the organoleptic properties of our products (flavors, odors, aromas, and perceptions). Our goal is to comprehend the organoleptic performance factors, and to determine how to incorporate them into our product design (through formulation or fermentation) in order to address consumer preferences.

You will be responsible for leading a team and strategic partners in creating the tools needed to achieve this goal through a data-driven approach that integrates all the organoleptic factors in a holistic manner and anticipates future developments by paving the way for a digital human twin.

On that purpose, we recruit a senior scientist, managing projects & leading a team of 2 people. The position will be based in Vendôme (41) and will report directly to the Research and Application Director of the BEL group.

**MAIN MISSIONS**
- Leading a research Team on flavor sciences_
- _Build and deploy the overall scientific strategy in line with the group's ambitions related to flavor challenges._
- _Drive research projects portfolio on the organoleptic properties and superiority for our dairy, plant-based and fruit-based offers._
- _Supervise a team of 2 people: one scientist expert in aromatic biochemistry and one technician._
- _Build an ecosystem of experts and generate collaboration and strategic partnership to support the team _
- _Monitor the scientific literature & Bring expertise and knowledge to the Research innovation community._
- _Understand the main drivers of the flavor perception and identify their levers of design into food matrix from our product portfolio._

**DELIVERABLES**
- develop tools and methods to capture the organoleptic signature of the Group's key products (trigeminal sapid aroma)
- contribute to the constitution of the data base that will support data & AI transformation
- Use the toolkit to describe off tastes or product overall taste depreciation and identify the root cause (raw materials, process, )
- Relate taste perception with texture properties to guarantee the specific organoleptic signature through the diversity of product forms
- Correlate depreciation with biological and physicochemical processes and then to predict the optimal sensory shelf life of products

**WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU**
- Integrate a company with a positive, responsible, and profitable growth model, with strong CSR commitments and - iconic brands
- Ability to grow, to initiate & lead projects, opportunity to create a new department of research at BEL
- A multidisciplinary team of scientists who are passionate about their mission - to transform the future of food
- State-of-the-art laboratory and pilot facilities over several scientific fields
- A hybrid working model and a pleasant & friendly atmosphere of work

**BACKGROUND**

PhD with significant experiences in research and at least 7 years of experiences in this scientific field

Knowledge of sensory and statistical analysis

Knowledge and experience on the flavor determinants (sapids, aroma & trigeminal system)

Interest in Data analytics and