Manager, Food Engineering

About the Role

Emirates Flight Catering is looking for a Food Engineer to join its Concept Development & Research team in Dubai. The role is centered on improving how food products are designed, processed, scaled, and delivered so the business can consistently achieve high standards for quality, safety, efficiency, and compliance.

This position is suited to someone with strong experience in a large-scale food manufacturing environment and a passion for building innovative, reliable food processing solutions for a global customer base.

What You Will Do

• Work with the Senior Manager on budget planning and cost control activities, helping keep project and operational spending efficient.
• Develop and refine food processing equipment, systems, and methods for both new and existing products to improve quality and production performance across bakery, processed meat, and frozen ready-to-eat lines.
• Drive preservation initiatives through reformulation, process changes, and packaging improvements to lengthen shelf life while protecting taste, texture, and microbiological safety.
• Apply engineering principles to optimize food manufacturing processes such as mixing, freezing, heat transfer, mass transfer, refrigeration, and preservation.
• Oversee the transition of products from pilot-scale testing to full commercial production while maintaining consistency and operational efficiency.
• Implement processing approaches that align with company quality and food safety systems, including QMS, QA, QC, HACCP, and GMP requirements.
• Partner with Nutritionists, Microbiologists, Production Chefs, and Operations teams to protect product quality, nutritional integrity, labelling accuracy, and process performance.
• Lead process improvement efforts that raise yield, reduce waste, improve resource use, and strengthen line safety and efficiency.
• Create, maintain, and improve process specifications, machine settings, and workflow documents while ensuring adherence to SOPs, sanitation expectations, and operational standards.
• Guide and develop a team of food technologists by building technical capability, balancing project assignments, and supporting career growth.

Experience and Education

The role requires a bachelor’s degree in Food Engineering, Food Process Engineering, or a closely related discipline. A master’s degree is preferred.

Candidates should bring at least 7 years of experience in food processing or food engineering within an FMCG/CPG setting. Prior exposure to team leadership and project budget management is expected. Experience in aviation catering or hospitality will be considered an advantage.

Skills and Knowledge

You should have strong technical understanding of fluid dynamics, heat transfer, mass transfer, freezing, refrigeration, and thermodynamics as applied to food manufacturing. A solid foundation in food science, microbiology, and food safety standards is also important, along with strong analytical thinking, process improvement capability, project coordination skills, and a detail-oriented, compliance-focused working style.

Who This Role Suits

This opportunity is ideal for a seasoned food engineering professional who can combine technical depth, hands-on process improvement, team leadership, and cross-functional collaboration in a fast-paced production environment.

Additional Information

This is a full-time, on-site position based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.