R&D Project and Product Manager

Arethia

The R&D Project and Product Manager acts as the operational backbone of the R&D function, ensuring customer projects, internal initiatives, and laboratory activities are prioritised, structured, and executed efficiently.

This role does provide project management, operational guidance, mentorship, and quality oversight to enable the R&D team to focus on high-value technical work.

• Lead and structure cross-functional R&D projects from brief to delivery, ensuring clear scope definition, timelines, ownership, and execution across local and global teams. Own and maintain all project workflows and tasks in Jira.

• Own internal customer project intake, prioritisation, and execution, working closely with Sales, R&D, and Applications to ensure delivery timelines, technical feasibility, and commercial priorities are aligned and performance KPIs are met.

• Act as the UAE product management coordinator, working in partnership with global Product Management and Applications teams to:

  • Support flavour selection and application fit for customer projects.

  • Ensure alignment with the global portfolio, innovation roadmap, and approved ingredients.

  • Feed local market needs, customer insights, and gaps back into global portfolio discussions.

• Manage and coordinate local product lifecycle activities, including product introductions, reformulations, discontinuations, and documentation alignment, ensuring smooth implementation at the UAE level.

• Own local quality, safety, and R&D operations, acting as the primary point of contact for quality documentation, audits, and corrective actions; planning and forecasting lab and R&D resource needs (consumables, equipment maintenance, capacity, operational readiness); and ensuring clear, consistent, and up-to-date R&D documentation in Confluence, including hands-on review and guidance to the team on structured project reporting.

• Serve as the first point of escalation for R&D-related issues, helping unblock bottlenecks and ensuring smooth cross-functional collaboration.

• Bachelor s degree in Business Administration, Science, or a related field.

• Experience in an R&D coordination / operations or technical project management role, preferably in a scientific or technical environment.

• Highly organised, structured, and detail-oriented, with the ability to zoom out to prioritise effectively.

• Strong communication skills - excellent written and verbal communication skills.

• Ability to work independently and handle sensitive information with professionalism.

• People-person, must be able to assist members of the team at all levels.

• Experience working with JIRA, Confluence, and structured quality systems.

• Solid understanding of R&D environments, preferably in food safety, lab compliance, and 5S principles.

• Exciting tasks in an internationally operating, growing family business with flat hierarchies

• Responsibility from day one in a company that encourages personal responsibility and growth

• 30 days paid vacation per year

• 4 weeks of remote work annually (internationally)

• Annual flight allowance for full-time expats (after one year)

• Flexible working hours and a hybrid working model

• Option to swap one day of an Islamic holiday for a cultural or religious day of your choice

• Regular company events

• Paid team dinners or activities for each team

• Comprehensive private group health insurance

• Ongoing learning and development support, including internal trainings, role-specific courses, and access to LinkedIn Learning

• Initial screening with recruiter.

• Technical interview(s) with hiring manager.

• Challenge (task-based).