Senior Research Scientist, Renewables

Our story goes back more than 150 years, to the chilly southern coast of Scandinavia. From our early success in Sweden and Denmark, we’ve grown into the world’s leading specialist producer of plant-based oils, employing more than 4,000 people all across the globe.

We work with our customers to make the products you love even better. The oils we produce go into making your chocolate extra-creamy or putting the crunch into your croissant. And it’s not just food — we work across industries to make products that are higher quality, healthier and better for the planet.

Everything we do is about Making Better Happen™.

AAK Denmark
Founded in 1871 and located in the Port of Aarhus, AAK Denmark is our oldest site, and the world’s largest producer of shea oil and fats. These are mostly used in the chocolate and confectionery industries, but shea oil is also used in cosmetics. Our highly automated production process runs 24/7 – 365 days a year, supervized by expert operators from our central control room. Our oil and fats laboratory is responsible for the development of AAK’s global process technologies, which contribute to cleaner and more efficient manufacturing, and more sustainable end products. Our product development team manages development activity across the group, in close collaboration with the Customer Innovation Center. Our site’s large IT team also works across the globe.

About the role
Creating value through renewable and sustainable products becomes more and more important for AAK to maintain our status as our customers first choice of value-added solutions. To further strengthen our competitive edge, it is important to make sure we are updated on existing and emerging technologies within this field, with emphasis on replacing existing ingredients with renewable and functionally superior ones. To be successful in this job, it is important to have a strong understanding of organic petrochemistry and the chemical processes involved in organic synthesis, both on a theoretical and more practical level and preferable experience and understanding of the functionalities of petrochemical products in their applications.
As Senior Research Scientist you will be a part of a number of projects, sometimes driven by yourself, within the field of renewable ingredients. You will be responsible for evaluating, assessing and combining new and existing technologies and processes to improve the sustainability and functionality of our products with emphasis on moving away from fossil-based ingredients, while maintaining or improving the functionality.
Furthermore, you will be spending time screening the technology landscape for new processes and technologies, and for those deemed interesting you will be assessing their effectivity and feasibility for AAK in the search for greener and more innovative ingredient production.

Your main contacts internally will be your peers in the Process Development and R&D team as well as the innovation team in the Personal Care division. Some travel activity must be expected.

You will be reporting to AAK’s Process Development Manager who’s responsible for global process development within the company. Together you will ensure that AAK’s purpose, making better happen, becomes a reality and new solutions and improvements are implemented continually.

About you
As the role embraces experimental as well as theoretical aspects of organic petrochemistry, you hold a MSc or PhD degree in either chemical engineering or organic chemistry. As the position requires knowhow as to how to design and scale chemical processes, earlier experience is required. We are looking for someone who’s eager to understand and design chemical processes via experiments and modelling, who’s not afraid to speak her/his mind, and who likes being around people and bring out the best in one’s teammates.

You should be able to see yourself in the following:
You hold a MSc/PhD degree in chemical engineering or organic chemistry
You have experience from industry or academia in organic chemical processes
You can see yourself working with upscaling and optimization of chemical reactions in global project teams
You are curious and enthusiastic about new and emerging technologies
You are being highly accountable and are able to independently drive your work
You are enthusiastic and passionate about your work and strive to deliver high-quality results
You speak English fluently
Preferably you have experience from the petrochemical industry.

In return AAK offer
Great working atmosphere where everyone matters.
Diverse and challenging projects and tasks.
Become a part of the global R&D department in AAK.
Getting the opportunity to impact the direction of the process technologies implemented in the future.
Getting the opportunity build competences as an expert within renewables.

About AAKEverything AAK does is about Making Better Happen™. We specialize in plant-based oils that are the value-adding ingredients in many of the products people love to consume. We make these products better tasting, healthier, and more sustainable. At the heart of AAK’s offer is Customer Co-Development, combining our desire to understand what better means for each customer, with the unique flexibility of our production assets, and a deep knowledge of many products and industries, including Chocolate & Confectionery, Bakery, Dairy, Plant-based Foods, Special Nutrition, Foodservice and Personal Care. Our 4,000 employees support our close collaboration with customers through 25 regional sales offices, 15 dedicated Customer Innovation Centers, and with the support of more than 20 production facilities. Listed on Nasdaq Stockholm and with our headquarters in Malmö, Sweden, AAK has been Making Better Happen™ for more than 150 years.

For any questions regarding the role or the process please reach out to Process Development Manager Jeppe Hjorth on +45 29124460.

AAK prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, age, national origin, physical or mental disability, religion, veteran status, and any other class of individuals protected from discrimination under state or federal law in any aspect of the access to, admission, or treatment of students in its programs and activities, or in employment and application for employment.
Location:
Aarhus