Your job
Do you want to participate in the assessment of food and ingredients for aroma and taste?
And do you have a passion for working with advanced analysis equipment?
We have a vacancy for Research Expert Flavour Technology!
Are we looking for you?
Introducing the role of Research Expert Flavour Technology in Wageningen. As a valued team member, you will play a key role. You will help advance our understanding of aroma and taste compounds. Your expertise in chromatographic and mass spectrometric analyses is crucial as it will help uncover new insights into aroma and flavor. These findings will transform the world of taste and aroma. You will solve a flavour “puzzle” through chemical analysis and human tasting. Your practical attitude creates flexibility in setting up latest methods and interpret the data produced.
As a Research Expert in Flavour Technology, you contribute to developing knowledge in the field of aroma and taste. This involves working with ingredients and food products by:
- Setting up and executing experiments with colleagues in multidisciplinary applied science research projects. These projects focus on food process technology and product development.
- Design and implement cutting-edge analytical methods. These distinguished-throughput methods should identify and quantify flavor and taste components and determine key components in different matrices.
- Explore and apply new in-vivo methods for assessing product quality, sensory perception, and multi-compound interaction.
- Generating qualitatively and quantitatively trustworthy results, including using multivariate statistics and data analysis. We expect you to enthusiastically communicate these results to colleagues in the project teams.
- Contribute to the ongoing development of knowledge in ingredients and food products, enhancing our understanding of their sensory attributes, driving innovation.
- Sharing the results and working together with other research groups and disciplines within WUR and external.
- The day-to-day management of the equipment and planning of activities in the analysis laboratory.
Wageningen Food & Biobased Research, part of Wageningen UR, offers you a challenging and market-oriented environment where excited scientific professionals conduct research for companies, government and knowledge institutions.
In our Food Technology group, more than 45 people work on the development and practical implementation of knowledge and technology for the food industry. We focus on developing sustainable technologies for new ingredients. These ingredients are then applied in healthy and safe food products and beverages like meat and chees anologues.
A well balanced aroma and taste are essential for consumers in the acceptance and rebuy of these food and beverages. Both the positive flavours as the off-flavours have our attention. Processing optimalisation and fermentation are some examples to achieve this objective.
In-depth knowledge in the field of aroma and taste is essential, e.g. for the optimization of product quality and the prevention of deviations due to production and storage conditions. We work with a spacious range of equipment to measure aromas and flavours in order to understand the impact on the odour and taste experience. These techniques include LC-MSMS, SICRIT/LC-Orbitrap (HRMS), PTR-HRMS, GC-MS, GC-MSMS, GC-O, Olfacto- and Gustometers.
Your qualities
- You have completed a relevant education at Bachelor level, for example Analytical Chemistry, and on top of that you have several years of work experience with chemical analysis techniques (preferably for aroma and flavour compounds) and the statistics used for data analysis;
- You are a devoted, independent research expert with good communication and technical skills and team spirit;
- You have problem-solving skills and you are quality-oriented and customer-oriented. You can plan and organize well and you have an eye for safety in the laboratory and you are not afraid to tinker with equipment;
- You like variety and challenge, you can switch well between creative work and routine activities and you function well in a dynamic project organization in which working for customers is key;
- You are able to independently work out, interpret and report results and have good oral and written reporting skills in Dutch and / or English.
We offer you
Wageningen University & Research offers excellent terms of employment. A few highlights from our Collective Labour Agreement include:
- working hours that can be discussed and arranged so that they allow for the best possible work-life balance;
- the option to accrue additional compensation hours by working more, up to 40 hours per week;
- sabbatical leave, study leave, and partially paid parental leave;
- there is a strong focus on vitality and you can make use of the sports facilities available on campus for a small fee;
- a fixed December bonus of 4%;
- excellent pension scheme.
In addition to these first-rate employee benefits, you will of course receive a good salary. We offer, depending on your experience, a competitive gross salary of between €3.024 and €4.317 for a full-time working week of 36 hours, in accordance with the CLA Wageningen Research (scale 9). Additionally, a contract for 0.8 FTE can be discussed.
Wageningen University & Research encourages internal advancement opportunities and mobility with an internal recruitment policy. There are plenty of options for personal initiative in a learning environment, and we provide excellent training opportunities. We are offering a multi-faceted position in an international environment with a pleasant and open working atmosphere.
You are going to work at the greenest and most innovative campus in Holland, and at a university that has been chosen as the “Best University” in the Netherlands for the 18th consecutive time.
Do you want more information?
For more information about this position, please contact met Nicole Koenderink, R&D Manager Post-Harvest Technology, e-mail: nicole.koenderink@wur.nl.
For more information about the procedure, please contact paul.snijder@wur.nl, recruiter.
Do you want to apply?
You can apply directly using the apply button on the vacancy page on our website which will allow us to process your personal information with your approval.
This vacancy will be listed up to and including 10th July, 2023. We hope to schedule the first job interviews in July 2023.
Equal opportunities
Wageningen University & Research (WUR) employs a large number of people with very different backgrounds and qualities, who inspire and motivate each other. We want every talent to feel at home in our organisation and be offered the same career opportunities. We therefore especially welcome applications from people who are underrepresented at WUR. A good example of how WUR deals with inclusiveness can be read on the page working at WUR with a functional impairment.
We are
The mission of Wageningen University & Research is “To explore the potential of nature to improve the quality of life”. Under the banner Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen University and the specialised research institutes of the Wageningen Research Foundation have joined forces in contributing to finding solutions to important questions in the domain of healthy food and living environment.
With its roughly 30 branches, 7,200 employees (6,400 fte) and 13,200 students and over 150.000 participants to WUR’s Life Long Learning, Wageningen University & Research is one of the leading organisations in its domain. The unique Wageningen approach lies in its integrated approach to issues and the collaboration between different disciplines.
Read the 5 reasons why your future colleagues enjoy working at WUR and watch this video to get an idea of our green campus!
We will recruit for the vacancy ourselves, so no employment agencies please. However, sharing in your network is appreciated.