R&D Manager Tobacco Blending (m/f/d)

Please, apply by February 24, 2026

Global applicants welcome

R&D Manager Tobacco Blending (m/f/d)

Your job mission: 

Join our Leaf & Blends Team and contribute to the scientific foundation of our products. You will maintain and evolve leaf grades and blends to meet regulatory, market, and quality requirements, while supporting product consistency and innovation. Working closely with global R&D, you’ll apply analytical thinking and technical expertise to shape material specifications and drive improvements that directly impact our products.

Who are we?

JTI is a leading international tobacco company with locations in more than 130 countries and world-famous brands such as Winston, Camel and American Spirit. With our brands Nordic Spirit, Logic and Ploom, we also focus on growth through innovations in the field of reduced risk products. In Germany, we are the largest employer in our industry with over 2,000 employees.

As a multiple award-winning top employer, we offer an open and inclusive working environment with exciting tasks in a challenging environment. Flexible working concepts, diverse development opportunities and international career paths are part of our everyday life. Visit us at www.jti.com to find out more about JTI and what it's like to work for us.

Your tasks:

As the R&D Manager Tobacco Blending, you will:

• Maintain leaf grades and blends in one or more factories, ensuring adherence to quality, cost, and timeline requirements.
• Provide troubleshooting support for grade and blend-related issues in the factories under your responsibility.
• Develop and optimize tobacco materials and blends, ensuring alignment with blend concepts, quality and cost targets, regulatory requirements, and consumer expectations.
• Manage multiple Leaf & Blends projects, delivering timely progress updates and meeting defined goals and deadlines.
• Contribute to planning activities related to leaf usage, inventory levels, and purchase requirements, in line with strategies defined within R&D and key stakeholders.
• Provide expert input on the qualification of tobacco types and varieties, collaborating with cross-functional partners to support JT Group quality standards and consistency.
• Maintain and develop leaf category descriptions and specifications, and manage item creation and updates within SAP.
• Ensure routine tasks follow established work processes and ISO requirements, and support the development and improvement of L&B processes and tools, ensuring alignment within the team and cross-functionally.

Your profile:

• Educational Background - University degree in agronomy, engineering, chemistry, or a related scientific field (or equivalent education).
• Professional Experience - Experience in the tobacco industry, ideally in an international environment, would be an asset.
• Technical Expertise - Proficiency in common software tools, including SAP and process management systems.
• Core Competencies - Excellent analytical, problem‑solving, and strategic thinking abilities.
• Personal Attributes - Strong communication and presentation skills, with a high level of team orientation.
• Language Skills - Fluent in English, both written and spoken.

Your benefits:

• Your team - You will work in an open and international working environment with approx. 60 nations at the Trier site
• Your remuneration - Above-average pay including 13th and 14th monthly salary and bonus as well as annual reviews. Individual company pension scheme and capital-forming benefits
• Your meals - Our subsidized company canteen and numerous snack and coffee vending machines ensure your physical well-being
• Your appreciation - You will receive regular feedback from us and, as your personal safety is important to us, we also protect you in your private life with our JTI accident insurance
• Your work-life balance - You should enjoy your work! That's why we offer you 30 days of vacation for personal relaxation
• Your mobility offer - With our BusinessBike program, we offer you the opportunity to lease the bike of your choice at attractive conditions as part of a permanent position. This is an uncomplicated and flexible way to promote your health
• Your development - We focus on your personal development. We support you with a wide range of internal training courses as well as external training and development opportunities that are tailored specifically to you

Have we aroused your interest?

Apply directly with your complete application documents (CV, cover letter & references) stating your earliest possible starting date (Job ID 104489).

Diversity & Inclusion:

We want everyone at JTI to be themselves and develop their full potential, because each and every one of us makes a valuable contribution to the success of the company and the location in Germany. We live and promote diversity, equality and inclusion accordingly. We have local employee groups and networks, such as the PRIDE Chapter Germany or the togetHER network for female employees, in which committed colleagues are involved, and we support a wide range of projects in our local area. For this and many other activities in the area of diversity & inclusion, we have already been awarded the Global Equality Standard by Ernst & Young.

Sustainability & Commitment:

We have particularly close ties to the Trier region and the greater Cologne area through our two locations and want to make a significant contribution to a high quality of life, e.g., through annual clean-up campaigns on the Rhine and Moselle and as a long-standing partner of the Cologne Green Foundation, we are committed to the preservation and expansion of the city's green spaces. Renewable energies are also part of our sustainability goals, which is why we are investing in the expansion of the Bescheid Süd wind farm, located 20 kilometers east of our Trier site, in order to secure green electricity for the region and for our production at the Trier plant. We are constantly reducing the amount of plastic used in the packaging of our classic tobacco products, thus saving tons of plastic waste.

Find out more about us at: https://www.jti.com/de/europe/germany/top-arbeitgeber