Associate Drying Specialist (maternity cover), Arla Foods Ingredients, Danmark Protein - Videbæk

Would it motivate you to apply your technical and process Spray-Drying competencies at one of the food industry’s most advanced production sites?

Join the Production, Technology & Development (PTD) department at Danmark Protein. Danmark Protein is an independent company under Arla Foods Ingredients with a strong strategy and ambitions to become the global leader in value-added whey-based ingredients for various food segments, including bakery, dairy, infant nutrition, and sports nutrition.

Read more about what it means to work with Arla Foods Ingredients:

https://www.arlafoodsingredients.com/about/career/#career

How you will make an impact?

In this maternity cover as our Associate Drying Specialist you will be reporting to the Team Manager in the PTD department, where you will take up a pro-active support role towards the production and act as the link from PTD to other business functions such as R&D, production, and sales. As an Associate Drying Specialist, you help ensure stable processes where the full production capacity is utilized. You will be a key player with data-driven knowledge and professional curiosity to troubleshoot and optimize spray drying processes, and to ensure that agreed changes are controlled and documented in close collaboration with Production, QEHS, Application and R&D. As an Associate Drying Specialist, you will lead smaller drying flexibility projects from start to finish, as well as being involve in various optimization and investment projects.

In a varied workday with substantial cross-functional collaboration, your responsibilities will include:

• Analyzing process data to support improvement proposals


• Acting as the go-to person for fine-tuning recipes or process equipment


• Managing the commissioning of new products and new equipment in the spray-drying process


• Contributing to problem-solving and optimizations within spray-drying and packaging processes


• Communicating actively to stakeholders about status and progress on optimization tasks

What will make you successful?

For this maternity cover, we are looking for a candidate with practical experience – ideally from spray-drying or similar industrial drying technologies, as process intuition is an advantage in this role. You understand how processes behave in real production environments and are comfortable combining technical insight with operational realities.

Whether you already bring solid experience within drying technologies or you are a technically strong profile eager to further develop your specialist skills, this role offers a unique opportunity to grow. It is well‑suited for someone who wishes to work as a specialist across both technology and processes from a data‑driven and analytical perspective, motivated by continuously learning, refining methods, and shaping best practice in collaboration with colleagues across functions.

To succeed in this position you likely bring:

• Hands-on experience from a production environment with solid understanding of spray-drying technology or similar industrial drying processes


• A data-driven and structured approach to troubleshooting and optimization, where you combine process data, operational insight and technological understanding to identify root causes, assess risks and implement sustainable improvements.


• An analytical, goal-oriented and independent mindset, enabling you take lead on assignments and coordinate stakeholders to drive tasks forward.


• The ability to balance urgency with thorough risk assessment in technically complex situations


• Good communication skills and the ability to navigate across functions, motivate colleagues and make fact-based recommendations to management.

In addition, you are collaborative and proactive. You seek knowledge rather than assume you have all the answers, and you understand that success in this role depends on transparency, structured communication and strong cross-functional relationships. Last but not least, you speak and write Danish and English.

What do we offer?

This maternity cover as an Associate Drying Specialist runs until September 2027, which gives you pleanty of time and oppertunity to develop your skills and gain hands-on experience in a dynamic environment. During this time, you will become part of our large “factory family” of approximately 720 employees, of which the PTD department consists of 26 smiling and ambitious specialists, where collaboration is the key to a good workday and a strong working environment. Danmark Protein is a high-tech factory where, as an Associate Drying Specialist and part of PTD, you will be an important link between application and production. You will have a highly varied workday, where you can plan and prioritize your own time.

Would you like to join us?

If you want to seize this exciting opportunity, please apply as soon as possible, as we review applications and conduct interviews on an ongoing basis. When applying, please submit your CV in English. Applicants are encouraged to upload a cover letter, which may be submitted in Danish or English.

If you would like further information, you are welcome to contact PTD Team Manager Heidi Frahm Christoffersen at +45 9131 7782.

Shape the Future of Dairy 

Arla is a global leader in the dairy industry, committed to enabling good food choices that make life better, providing people with natural, sustainable nourishment, while taking care at every step to ensure Arla is a choice they can feel good about. If you are looking to shape the future with an ambitious global cooperative that truly cares about your growth, where everyone feels valued and empowered, and collaboration is the core of culture, Arla is a choice you can feel good about.