Director of Product Development & Applications – Africa

About the role

ADM is seeking a Director of Product Development & Applications for Africa to lead the technical strategy of its Human Nutrition business across the continent. The role partners closely with the Regional Commercial Lead to align commercial growth with technical capabilities, overseeing application labs and driving innovation in food and beverage solutions.

Key responsibilities

• Define and execute the regional application and technical strategy in line with ADM’s growth objectives.
• Provide leadership and governance for the African application lab network, ensuring safety, quality and compliance.
• Collaborate with the Regional Commercial Lead to translate commercial pipelines into scalable, technically robust solutions.
• Lead greenfield initiatives, including the establishment of new labs and expansion of technical capabilities.
• Design and continuously review the organization structure for Application & Technical Services, planning resources and roles.
• Manage the co‑manufacturer network, overseeing partner assessment, selection and technical qualification.
• Prioritize a regional portfolio of customer, innovation and industrialisation projects.

Required profile

• Proven senior leadership experience in product development, technical strategy or similar functions within the food, beverage or nutrition sector.
• Track record of building and managing application laboratories or technical service teams.
• Experience delivering greenfield projects and scaling technical capabilities across multiple markets.
• Strong ability to work cross‑functionally with commercial, quality, regulatory, supply‑chain and legal teams.

Required skills

• Formulation expertise
• Application development
• Manufacturing process knowledge