Who We Are
Ever wondered who’s behind Australia’s most indulgent desserts? That’s us. PDP Fine Foods has been crafting premium chilled desserts since 2009, and our Wicked Sister brand has become the dessert obsession stocked in every major retailer across Australia and New Zealand. We’re not just making desserts – we’re creating moments of pure deliciousness, one perfect bite at a time.
The Opportunity: Food Technologist
Are you an indulgent food creation professional? Does creating delicious desserts motivate you? We’re looking for an exceptional Food Technologist to join our tight-knit, high-performing R&I team.
This role will identify the ingredients, the flavours, the process and the magic required to make our next amazing product. You’ll work across the business from the kitchen to the shop floor ensuring every Wicked Sister creation meets the impossibly high standards our customers expect.
The Location:
5 days a week at our Ingleburn (Sydney) operations hub.
Your Mission
Reporting to our NPD Manager, you’ll be front and centre on our new launches coming up – and creations yet unknown:
- Launch products end-to-end: Undertake formulation creation, benchwork, analysis, pilot and factory trials.
- Work with dairy and functional ingredients: formulate with stabilisers, hydrocolloids, proteins and starches to nail taste, texture, viscosity and shelf life.
- Source improved and novel ingredients and liaise with suppliers with new ideas and options.
- Champion best practice product creation with marketing input and a customer focus
- Collaborate across the business to launch products the right way.
- Solve & improve understand customer feedback, assist with root cause analysis to enact process and product improvement
- Document everything: Maintain great records, understand the history and the vision of the business.
- Improve your Wisdom: understand the market, develop yourself and the team as well the products.
Who You Are – Essential Experience
This role requires hands-on experience formulating dairy, dessert or other relevant formulated products.
You’re the person who:
- Holds a Bachelor or Masters in Food Science, Food Technology, or a related field
- Has a minimum of 2–3 years’ hands-on experience formulating dairy, dessert or other relevant formulated products in an R&D / product development role.
- Has worked directly with stabilisers and functional ingredient systems (hydrocolloids, gums, starches, proteins, emulsifiers) in dairy, dessert or other relevant formulated-product formulation.
- Understands how stabilisers and functional ingredients behave in dairy, dessert and other formulated products and under heat processing.
- Applies strong critical-thinking and problem-solving skills to interpret data and improve product development and quality.
- Has outstanding verbal and written communication skills for effective collaboration with stakeholders.
- Is meticulous and accurate in conducting experiments and documenting results.
- Has sound knowledge of the Food Standards Code (food safety, labelling and compliance).
- Is open to learning new techniques, technologies and industry regulations.
- Has a passion for food and a keen interest in exploring new culinary trends and consumer preferences.
- Is flexible to work across the core operating hours of the business to support trial work as required.
Desirable
- Experience in chilled desserts, yoghurt, dairy snacks or similar categories.
- Experience formulating with cocoa or chocolate, and an understanding of how they behave under heat and processing.
- Exposure to pilot-plant and factory-scale trials and heat treatment (e.g. pasteurisation, UHT/DSI).
The Wicked Perks
Competitive Salary
Birthday Leave – Because your special day should be yours
Awesome Team Culture – Join a small, supportive, high-performing crew
Did we mention desserts? – Employee perks include sampling our creations
Ready to Get Wicked?
If you’re ready to bring your A-game to Australia’s leading dessert manufacturer and get involved in our next great creation, we want to hear from you.
To Apply: Submit your current resume and cover letter telling us why you’re the perfect fit for Team Wicked Sister. Please outline your hands on dairy, dessert or other relevant formulated product formulation experience.
Join us and help ensure every Wicked Sister dessert is wickedly perfect.
PDP Fine Foods is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
