Technical Service Specialist-Dairy
Grade: Grade 4
Job Family Group: Sales & Marketing
Job Family: Technical Service / Technical Sales
Reports To:
Technical Service Category Manager, Dairy, The Great China
Location:
Shanghai
Travel Requirement:
Approximately 20-30% (innovation workshops, customer technical training, factory technical issue solving, technical solutions communication and other customer co-creation)
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
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.
Tate & Lyle's purpose, Transforming Lives Through the Science of Food, inspires everything we do. Whether it’s by making food and drink healthier and tastier; continuously improving how we work; promoting a safe working environment; or making a difference to our local communities, we believe we can successfully grow our business and have a positive impact on society.
What is it we do? Simply put, we make healthy food tastier and tasty food healthier. Our work is driven by consumer health needs and trends, governments desire to build and support healthy communities, and the need for affordable food and nutrition in many parts of the world. We deliver ingredients and solutions to meet all these needs. Our speciality sweeteners and fibres help reduce sugar and calories. Our fibres fortify food and improve digestive health. Our mouthfeel solutions provide texture and shelf life and make food creamy, crispy and stable without all the sugar and fat.
Across the globe, we are transforming lives through the science of food. And we need talented and skilled people to help us on this journey.
