Team Lead - Food Analystics

🧪 Job Title: Team Lead – Food Analytics

📍 Location: Ede, Netherlands

🕒 Employment Type: Full-time

🏢 Department: Analytical Sciences / Food Innovation

 
🌟 About the Role

We are looking for a dynamic and experienced Team Lead to head our Food Analytics team. This role is ideal for a seasoned scientist with a strong background in analytical chemistry and food science, who thrives in a collaborative, innovation-driven environment. You will lead a multidisciplinary team focused on delivering high-impact analytical solutions for food, fermentation, and health science applications.

🔬 Key Responsibilities

Technical Leadership

• Oversee and guide analytical projects utilizing chromatographic and mass spectrometric techniques (GC-MS, LC-MS, RP/NP-HPLC, HILIC, HPAEC-PAD, SEC-MALLS)
• Develop, optimize and validate methods for the characterization and quantification of volatile and non-volatile compounds including flavor compounds, metabolites, toxic compounds, peptide/proteins and oligo/polysaccharide.
• Apply a range of sample preparation, detection, and quantification techniques to support diverse analytical objectives using inputs from complex food and health matrices (e.g. infant formula, digestion samples)
• Integrate analytical data with sensory and food science insights

Team & Project Management

• Lead and mentor a team of scientists and technicians
• Manage project timelines, resources, and deliverables
• Ensure high-quality data interpretation and presentation to clients

Client Engagement

• Serve as the primary technical contact for clients
• Translate client needs into actionable analytical strategies
• Present findings and recommendations in a clear, impactful manner

🎓 Qualifications

• PhD in Analytical Chemistry, Food Science, or related field with 5+ years of experience OR Master’s degree with 10+ years of hands-on experience in food analytics
• Proven expertise in mass spectrometry (GC-MS, LC-MS), chromatographic techniques (HPLC, GC), including  method development and validation
• Strong understanding of food matrices and analytes, including flavor compounds, metabolites, dairy/plant/alternative proteins and oligo/polysaccharide(bio-active peptides, pre-biotica)
• Excellent communication and leadership skills
• Experience in project management and client-facing roles

💡 Preferred Skills

• Familiarity with sensory science integration
• Experience in fermentation analytics
• Ability to work cross-functionally with R&D, QA, and product development teams

🚀 Why Join Us?

• Work at the forefront of food innovation in collaboration with leading scientists and industry partners
• Make a measurable impact on health and sustainability through food science
• A fair salary and competitive fringe benefits such as an attractive pension scheme, 25 holidays and 13 reduction of work (ADV) days, all on a full-time basis. 
• An inspiring and people-oriented work environment, where together with your passionate colleagues you will contribute to our ambitions for sustainable production of healthier food.  

Interested? 

Does this sound attractive to you? Then send your cover letter and resume exclusively to our application portal. For questions about the position, please contact Hannah Blitzblau (Chief Contract Research Officer) at Hannah.Blitzblau@NIZO.com.  

Enjoy a culture of innovation, professional growth and the chance to influence the next generation of food solutions!