The successful candidates will work as part of a 12-strong team to improve and perfect the sweet snacks before they hit shop shelves in over 150 countries.
As a lab-based role in Food Science, Chocolate Tasters are required to understand the complexities of the human senses and mechanics of chocolate eating, and will need to differentiate and proficiently communicate the subtleties within the flavour, texture and melt-in-the-mouth experience.
The role is based in Wokingham in Berkshire at Mondelēz’s Global Research Centre and Tasters will be contracted to work a maximum of eight hours per week to avoid ‘palate fatigue’.
“There is so much more to eating chocolate than you would think. It’s hugely rewarding to play a part in a new product launch [and] it fills me with pride to see the final product on my local supermarket shelves,” said Amanda Greenwood, a Chocolate Panellist at Mondelēz’s Wokingham site.
In the current coronavirus scenario, Tasters will be expected to collect pre-prepared laboratory samples of products for testing at home. However, when it is again safe to work on site, Tasters will return to the lab to collectively review the confectionery giant’s products before taste testing them in individual booths.
“Chocolate Tasters are vital to our business as their input helps us to perfect our products before they hit the shelves,” added Afsha Chugtai, senior group leader, Consumer Science, RDQ Mondelēz International.
“In this challenging and unprecedented year, our ways of working with our Chocolate Tasters have become more agile. We very much hope to return to site when it is safe to do so [as] we all miss the office camaraderie of discussing the products together. Consumer insight and research is a fascinating field, I can’t wait to see who joins us next to help us to perfect the nation’s favourite treats.”
Closing date for applications is 6 January 2021.