Customer Innovation Manager - Dairy, Savoury, Plant-Based Foods & Foodservice
AAK · Marfleet, Hull
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Why this role matters
How close this job is to real sourcing and menu decisions.
This is a technical innovation role at a major fats-and-oils supplier, working directly on plant-based meat, plant-based dairy, and dairy-alternative applications alongside conventional dairy and savoury lines. The lever here is formulation: someone in this seat helps solve the texture, emulsion and process-tolerance problems that determine whether a plant-based product can actually match the mouthfeel and performance of the animal-based version it's meant to replace, often the single biggest barrier to a consumer switching. It won't give you authority over what a retailer stocks or what a menu serves, but it puts you inside the technical conversations that decide whether plant-based alternatives are good enough to win that fight, and builds the ingredient-science credibility that alt-protein category and NPD roles further up the chain are built on. Getting this right matters for the protein mix a business sells, and for the climate, land-use and health case for shifting more of it towards plant-based options.
Where this role can take you
What this job teaches you, and the jobs it can lead to.
What you'd build
- Ingredient functionality expertise (fats, oils, emulsions)
- Plant-based meat and dairy formulation exposure
- Customer-facing technical consulting
- Cross-functional project leadership
- Commercial value proposition development
Where it can lead
- Senior Application Technologist
- Category Innovation Manager
- Plant-Based NPD Manager
Roles like these set the technical specifications and formulation benchmarks that decide whether plant-based products are good enough to displace meat and dairy at scale.
About the role
AAK, a specialist producer of plant-based oils, is hiring a Customer Innovation Manager for the UK & Ireland covering Dairy, Savoury, Plant-Based Foods and Foodservice applications, based at its King George Dock site in Hull with at least one day a week on-site and travel across the UK and Ireland. The role sits at the intersection of technical application expertise and commercial customer partnership, reporting into a structure that works closely with Sales, Commercial Product Management, Marketing and regional application teams. Core responsibilities split across three areas. Under Customer & Innovation Partnership, the role leads customer co-development projects from concept to commercialisation across Dairy, Savoury, Plant-Based Foods and Foodservice, builds technical relationships with customers, distributors and strategic partners, translates customer and market challenges into commercially viable, technically robust solutions, supports customer trials, industrial validations, shelf-life studies and troubleshooting, and positions AAK as an innovation and performance partner rather than purely a fats and oils supplier. Under Technical & Application Expertise, the postholder provides expertise in fats and oils functionality, emulsions, texture, process tolerance and application performance, and supports product development across dairy and dairy alternatives, savoury and culinary applications, plant-based meat and plant-based dairy, convenience foods, and frying and cooking solutions. Under Commercial & Cross-Functional Collaboration, the role works with Sales, Commercial Product Management, Marketing and regional application teams to accelerate opportunity conversion and customer growth, contributes to pipeline development, project prioritisation and strategic account planning, and supports customer presentations, technical workshops and value proposition development. Essential requirements are a degree in Food Science, Food Technology or a related discipline; strong experience in customer-facing food application, technical service, or product development roles; experience working within Dairy, Savoury, Plant-Based Foods and/or Foodservice categories; a strong understanding of industrial food processing and ingredient functionality; a commercial mindset able to translate technical concepts into customer value propositions; excellent communication, stakeholder management and relationship-building skills; comfort managing multiple projects and customer priorities in an international business environment; and a proactive, collaborative approach to innovation and customer partnership. Benefits mentioned include international exposure across 25+ countries, training, mentorship and defined career paths, and participation in AAK's sustainability-focused approach. The posting is tagged #LI-Hybrid.
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Key terms to include in your CV and cover letter
What this employer is asking for, in their words. Applications are often screened by software looking for exact phrases, so if these describe your experience, use their wording.
- customer co-development
- product development
- food science degree
- technical service
- ingredient functionality
- industrial food processing
- emulsions
- texture optimisation
- process tolerance
- shelf-life studies
- plant-based meat formulation
- plant-based dairy formulation
- stakeholder management
- cross-functional collaboration
- commercial value proposition
- strategic account planning
How to position yourself
The language that works with hiring managers for this kind of job.
Frame your interest around solving the functional and sensory barriers that stop plant-based and dairy-alternative products matching conventional benchmarks, texture, emulsification, process tolerance, since that is the commercial case AAK itself makes to customers. Building food-carbon or protein-transition literacy alongside your food science background will strengthen your case for progressing into more category-facing plant-based innovation roles.
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