Bakery Application Technologist

At Corbion, we exist to champion preservation in all its forms, preserving food and food production, health, and our planet.

The role
As a Bakery Application Technologist, you will support and grow Corbion’s bakery business across the APAC region (excluding China). The role reports into the RD&A Director, APAC and is a full-time position fully dedicated to bakery applications, reflecting the strong growth and strategic importance of this segment. You will focus on the development, optimization, and application of Corbion’s natural preservation, mold inhibition, acidification and sensory enhancement solutions for bakery products such as bread, buns, pastries, tortillas and wraps. This position combines strong hands-on laboratory work with customer-facing technical support and close collaboration with Sales, Business Development and distributors. Approximately 70% of the role is application and product development, and 30% customer-facing technical support. Travel within APAC is part of the role (typically 20–30%, mostly short trips of 3–5 days). Key focus markets are Southeast Asia and Japan. The role requires a holistic, outward-looking technologist who enjoys translating market trends, customer needs and regional sensory preferences into commercially viable bakery solutions.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop, optimize and apply bakery formulations using Corbion’s ingredient portfolio, with a focus on natural preservatives, mold inhibition systems, acidifiers and sensory solutions.
• Conduct laboratory-scale baking trials and external pilot- or plant-scale trials, including design of experiments (DOE), prototype development and validation.
• Perform and coordinate shelf-life, microbiological and sensory evaluations, working closely with internal sensory, microbiology and analytical teams.
• Design sensory evaluation approaches tailored to regional and local market preferences (e.g. Southeast Asia, Japan), identifying key sensory drivers and barriers.
• Document formulations, test data, trial outcomes and conclusions in clear, structured technical and application reports.
• Support customer projects end-to-end: from understanding customer challenges, to developing prototypes, presenting solutions and supporting implementation at customer or third-party sites.
• Work closely with Sales, Business Development and distributors during customer visits, technical discussions, presentations and product demonstrations.
• Translate lab-scale learnings into customer-scale and plant-scale trials, understanding which parameters transfer directly and which require validation during scale-up.
• Maintain awareness of market trends, competitive solutions and alternatives, balancing performance, cost and customer requirements.
• Collaborate with global and regional R&D and Innovation & Solution Development teams to leverage existing data and adapt global concepts to APAC market needs.
• Ensure all formulations, trials and activities comply with food safety regulations, quality standards and internal guidelines.
• Maintain laboratory equipment, SOPs, documentation and lab organization according to Corbion standards.
• Support ad hoc technical projects as required.

You bring

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Food Science, Food Technology or a related discipline (Bachelor’s degree is common and fully acceptable for this role).
• 2–5 years of experience in bakery product development or bakery applications.
• Hands-on experience in a B2C environment (end-product focused) – this is considered essential. B2B ingredient experience is a plus but not mandatory.
• Solid understanding of bakery processes, formulations and short- to medium-shelf-life products.
• Strong experimental and application mindset, including the ability to design experiments, analyze data and draw practical conclusions.
• Comfortable spending 50–75% of the time in the lab.
• Strong communication, listening and interpersonal skills; able to engage confidently with customers, sales teams and distributors.
• Learning agility and curiosity, with the ability to quickly build knowledge of new ingredients and systems.
• A proactive and flexible working style, with openness to customer interaction even if prior exposure was limited.
• Fluent in English.
• Willingness to travel across APAC (typically short, frequent trips).
• Willingness to participate in sensory evaluations of lab-made and commercial foods, including bakery and other food categories as relevant.

What we offer

• A visible, high-impact technical role within a rapidly growing bakery segment in APAC.
• Broad exposure to diverse bakery applications, customers and markets across the region.
• A dynamic environment combining deep technical work with customer interaction and commercial collaboration.
• Close collaboration with regional and global experts in R&D, sensory, microbiology and innovation.
• The opportunity to contribute to sustainable, natural ingredient solutions that improve food quality, safety and shelf life globally.

About Corbion 
Corbion is the global market leader in lactic acid and its derivatives, and a leading supplier of emulsifiers, functional enzyme blends, minerals, vitamins, and algae ingredients. We use our unique expertise in fermentation and other processes to deliver sustainable solutions for the preservation of food and food production, health, and our planet. For over 100 years, we have been uncompromising in our commitment to safety, quality, innovation and performance. Drawing on our deep application and product knowledge, we work side-by-side with customers to make our cutting-edge technologies work for them. Our solutions help differentiate products in markets such as food, home & personal care, animal nutrition, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and bioplastics. In 2025, Corbion generated annual sales of €1,267.4 million and had a workforce of 2,408 FTE. For more information: www.corbion.com

Corbion is an equal opportunity employer and committed to a diverse workplace.  All applicants will be considered equally.

Corbion does not accept unsolicited resumes from individual recruiters or third party recruiting agencies in response to job postings. No fee will be paid to third parties who submit unsolicited candidates directly to our hiring managers. All candidates must be submitted by approved Corbion vendors who have been expressly requested to make a submission by our Talent Acquisition team for a specific job opening. No placement fees will be paid to any firm unless such a request has been made by the Corbion Talent Acquisition team and such candidate was submitted to the Corbion Talent Acquisition Team.