Industry Technology Specialist (Coffee)- SEA at Novonesis in Ho Chi Minh

Job description

Interested in a career that matters? 
 Are you ready to use your coffee-processing expertise to help manufacturers improve their operations through innovative biosolutions? You will join the Southeast Asia Food & Beverage Technical Service team as our regional technical specialist for coffee applications, initially focusing on soluble and instant coffee processing. Working in a collaborative, science-driven environment, you will partner with customers and colleagues across technical service, sales, marketing, R&D, regulatory affairs, and laboratories to develop practical solutions and create measurable value. The role & your impact As Industry Technology Specialist, you will combine hands-on technical expertise, project ownership, customer engagement, and commercial awareness. You will help customers address complex manufacturing challenges, implement biosolutions, and improve process and product performance. Your work will influence customer success, technical project outcomes, commercialization, and the growth of our coffee business across Southeast Asia. Your key responsibilities in this role Partner with coffee customers to identify process-improvement opportunities, troubleshoot manufacturing challenges, and implement biosolutions, particularly in soluble and instant coffee processing. Plan and execute laboratory, pilot, and industrial trials, translating process and product data into practical recommendations. Support projects from opportunity identification through implementation and commercialization. Identify opportunities to improve yield, resource efficiency, waste reduction, conversion costs, product consistency, and speed to commercialization. Evaluate emerging coffee applications, technologies, and ideas while contributing technical expertise to innovation and capability-building initiatives. Collaborate with customer production and R&D teams and with internal sales, marketing, R&D, regulatory, global experts, and Southeast Asia technical teams, while meeting applicable quality and safety requirements. What you’ll need to be successful in this role A bachelor’s or master’s degree in chemical engineering, Food Engineering, Process Engineering, Food Science, or a related discipline. At least 10 years of relevant hands-on technical experience in coffee processing, coffee manufacturing, process engineering, production, plant operations, R&D, technical service, or industrial manufacturing. Practical knowledge of soluble or instant coffee manufacturing and relevant unit operations, such as roasting, grinding, extraction, concentration, freeze drying or spray drying, and clean-in-place systems. Strong capabilities in process optimization, technical troubleshooting, project management, and data-driven decision-making. The ability to diagnose technical challenges and turn process and product data into practical solutions. Strong customer focus and the ability to communicate technical concepts clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders. Demonstrated project ownership and the ability to collaborate effectively across functions and cultures. Strong written and spoken English. Additional skills & interests we value The following would be advantageous but are not mandatory: Experience in soluble or instant coffee manufacturing. Experience working directly with manufacturing sites and cross-functional production teams. Knowledge of other parts of the coffee value chain and an interest in emerging coffee applications. Additional Southeast Asian language capabilities. Curiosity, adaptability, and an interest in learning and applying new technologies. What we offer you This is an opportunity to build deep coffee-industry expertise while engaging directly with customers throughout Southeast Asia. You will contribute to a strategic regional growth area, work with experienced colleagues across multiple disciplines, and develop your capabilities through customer projects, trials, innovation activities, and exposure to reg