Senior Flavorist - Food & Beverage

About the role

IFF is looking for a Senior Flavorist to join its Creative & Design team in the Dubai offices. The role creates consumer-preferred flavors for food and beverage products, especially across dairy, sweets and beverages, blending scientific expertise with creative innovation. It requires knowledge of flavor chemistry, sensory science and regulatory compliance.

Key responsibilities

• Design and formulate innovative flavors for food and beverage applications, including compounded liquids, spray-dried powders, plated flavors, reaction flavors, emulsions and extracts, using GRAS and FDA-approved materials.
• Create, develop and optimize flavor profiles for beverage, sweet goods and dairy applications.
• Lead creative development projects from concept through launch, meeting timelines, specifications and quality standards.
• Apply analytical data and sensory science to develop, characterize and match flavor materials.
• Develop flavors that meet U.S. and international regulations, including those for alcoholic beverages.
• Collaborate with Applications, R&D, Marketing, Sales and Operations teams, and partner with account managers on customer needs and technical support.
• Mentor and train junior colleagues and collaborate with global innovation teams.

Required profile

• Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Chemistry or a related scientific discipline.
• 10+ years of hands-on flavor creation and development, with expertise in sweet, dairy and beverage categories.
• Certified flavor chemist credentials, such as Society of Flavor Chemists certification, or an equivalent recognized qualification.
• Ability to manage multiple customer and internal projects while keeping quality and timelines.
• Foundational leadership capability with experience mentoring junior professionals.
• An advanced degree (master's or doctorate) is a plus.

Required skills

• Strong knowledge of food science, chemistry, aroma molecules, natural extracts and flavor manufacturing.
• Ability to identify, characterize, formulate and match flavors using analytical and sensory techniques.
• Working knowledge of U.S. and international flavor regulations and experience with approved materials.
• Clear communication of technical information to colleagues and customers.

What makes you stand out: experience with clean label and natural flavors, and a track record of combining consumer insights, sensory science and emerging technologies. The role offers access to global innovation capabilities and the chance to develop leadership through mentoring.