Senior Research Assistant

Job description

Danone is a major FMCG company in the UK, with market leading brands across four divisions: Waters (Evian, Volvic), Dairies (Actimel, Activia, Shape), Early Life Nutrition (Aptamil, Cow & Gate) and Nutricia Advanced Medical Nutrition (Neocate, Fortisip).

Early Life Nutrition and Advanced Medical Nutrition, which constitute the Specialized Nutrition category, offer nutritional solutions with the shared goal of improving the health and well-being of vulnerable individuals. This ambition stretches from the first day of pregnancy into old age, with similar activities in terms of innovation and scientific research. Specialized Nutrition focuses on allergies, from prevention to treatment, with Early Life Nutrition and Advanced Medical Nutrition working hand-in-hand to foster synergies and strengthen Danone's leading position in this sector. The Nutricia brand is a key asset for both businesses, thanks to a medical legacy of more than 120 years and a recognition of health leaders around the world.

Nutricia is Europe’s largest specialist nutrition company and the market leader in the UK. We specialise in the delivery of medical nutrition for the very young, the old and the sick, supplying high quality feeds to patients and consumers. Our purpose is to pioneer nutritional discoveries that help people live longer, healthier lives.

When it comes to finding a great place to work there are plenty of things to look for: inspirational colleagues, freedom in your job to make a real difference, and a shared ethos you can truly believe in. Throw in top perks, a responsive and dynamic environment and unrivalled opportunities to develop personally and professionally and you’ve found something pretty special. You’ve found Danone.

Here at Danone we put people at the centre of everything we do – whether we’re developing ground-breaking new products, taking care of individual patients, or supporting the community. And if you join us you can expect exactly that sort of attention too.

What about Nutricia Liverpool?

Nutricia is enjoying double digit growth in production volumes as the medical nutrition products have a strong market share. The business is operating within a mature market but there is still scope for expansion both within local and global markets, and the emphasis in the coming years with be on maintaining volume growth, whilst ensuring we drive our cost targets in the right direction.

About the role

An exciting opportunity has arisen for the role of Senior Research Assistant. The role will encompass providing support to the stability testing function within Product Development via co-ordination of internal and external testing. You will be required to support Product Development with data evaluation, out of specification management, and data trending and reporting. You will also provide support to the department and wider organisation via laboratory testing and database management.

Day to day responsibilities:

·  Manage shelf life testing as defined by shelf life protocol, ensuring that the correct analytical tests are conducted in a timely manner
·  Coordinate chemical, physical, sensory, and microbiological testing of raw materials, semi finished goods/intermediates and finished goods using LIMS and or external laboratories
·  Conduct physical tests within the PD lab and maintain databases
·  Maintain PD lab facilities to the highest possible standard of cleanliness and hygiene at all times
·  Perform stability dataset checks, out of specification management, data trending and result reporting for stability studies
·  Writing of SOPs, policies, and procedures for areas which the shelf life team are responsible for
·  Support and/or lead investigations/queries/actions arising from customer complaints, corrective actions, or internal/external product queriesSupport Shelf Life Team in continuous improvement of processes, protocols and systems used

What does the ideal candidate look like?

Someone who has the ability to:

·  Understand and can operate multiple pieces of analytical/test equipment in accordance with test methods/procedures/instruction
·  Able to collate and interpret analytical and sensory data, and produce accurate technical reports
·  Educated in a scientific discipline or with equivalent experience relevant to food or pharmaceutical industry
·  Experience of working within an analytical/test environment or a quality setting within food or pharmaceutical industry
·  Experience of using LIMS, Excel, Word and Powerpoint
·  Experience of using data trending tools is desirable but not essential

If you think this role might be of interest, click the link above to apply and you’ll be redirected to the Danone website. The closing date for applications is Friday 21st August 2020.

You can find further details about us, and other potential roles at www.danone.com .

Ensuring an inclusive working culture that is accessible to all is important to us. We therefore support flexible ways of working wherever possible. Please let us know in your application if and how you would like to explore flexible working for this position.

This vacancy is also open to individuals not currently employed by Danone. If you know someone who has the experience needed for the role and is good fit for our business recommend them by forwarding the role and receive £1,000 gross if they are successful! External candidates can also search for the vacancy on the https://jobs.danone.com/site