Food Scientist Intern

Barley was India's first grain. We're bringing it back.
The Way Back is building India's first instant high-protein barley breakfast. Our recipe is a traditional grain dish rebuilt for modern mornings: 20g protein, high in fibre, no refined sugar, and ready in 60 seconds with milk. We currently make it in three flavours: Rich Belgian Chocolate, Classic Italian Tiramisu, and Creamy Cappuccino.
We're a small, bootstrapped founding team. Nothing here comes from a big-company playbook. We're figuring out how to turn an ancient grain into a product people crave every morning, and we want a curious food scientist to figure it out with us.
What you'll actually do
Build new products from the ground up
Take new SKUs from concept to benchtop prototype to pilot batch.
Work on formulation: balance protein, fibre, sweetness, texture, and cost in a clean-label dry mix.
Research new ingredients, functional add-ins, and category ideas beyond breakfast.
Experiment with flavour
Run flavour trials with natural and nature-identical flavours, cocoa, coffee, and natural sweeteners.
Solve real problems, such as masking protein off-notes, improving milk mixability, and getting a dessert-like taste without refined sugar.
Set up and run sensory panels, then turn the feedback into formulation changes.
Make our current products better
Improve texture, mouthfeel, dispersibility, and taste across the existing range.
Help with shelf-life studies, moisture and stability checks, and packaging compatibility.
Help keep our nutrition claims accurate so the product always delivers what the label promises.
Set up our R&D infrastructure from scratch
Help design our in-house test kitchen or lab: equipment, workflows, and documentation.
Create SOPs for batch trials, QA checks, and recording formulations.
Work with our contract manufacturing partner on scale-up, from grams in a lab to kilos in a batch.
Help build our food safety and FSSAI compliance processes from day one.
Who we're looking for
A student or recent graduate in Food Technology, Food Science, Nutrition, Dairy Technology, or a related field.
Someone who wants to understand how food technology works in practice, beyond the textbook.
Hands-on and experimental: you'd rather run ten trials than wait for the perfect one.
Comfortable with basic lab work, careful note-keeping, and a spreadsheet or two.
Bonus: experience with dry mixes, protein fortification, sensory evaluation, or FSSAI labelling.
Why this internship is different
Real ownership. Your formulations can reach real customers' breakfast bowls.
The full picture. You'll see ingredients, sourcing, costing, manufacturing, packaging, and compliance, all in one place.
Direct access to the founders - no layers between you and decision-makers.
A foundation you built. You'll help shape the lab and processes this brand grows on.
A clear story for your career. Few people can say they helped relaunch a 10,000-year-old grain.
How to apply
Send your resume and a short note to sayhi@thewayback.co with the subject line "Food Scientist Intern [Your Name]". In your note, tell us about one food product you think could be made healthier, and how you'd do it.

Work arrangement
No