The twin transition, combining circular economy and digital transformation, is reshaping the food industry and generating new skill requirements. While previous studies have examined circular and digital technologies in agri-food systems, limited attention has been paid to the employability skills needed to support their implementation. This study addresses this gap by profiling the skills required for the twin transition in the food processing phase of the agri-food supply chain. The research adopts a big-data-driven approach based on 6,473 job advertisements collected from major online recruitment platforms. Starting from ESCO occupations, relevant food processing job profiles were selected and integrated with keyword-based searches. The textual corpus was analysed through natural language processing, BERTopic, hierarchical clustering, machine learning and SHAP analysis. Skills were classified into three semantic topics – hard, soft and transversal skills – and three cognitive clusters: industry-specific, circular and digital competences. Findings show that labour demand is dominated by hard and industry-specific skills, especially production, quality management, safety standards and packaging. Circular competences are increasingly present, whereas digital skills remain comparatively underrepresented, despite their strategic role in traceability, monitoring and efficiency. Advanced traceability, LCA-guided eco-design and industrial symbiosis emerge as high-impact but still underdeveloped competence areas. The study contributes to the literature by framing employability skills as strategic assets for enabling the twin transition. It also provides practical implications for firms, policymakers and education providers, highlighting the need to invest in targeted skill portfolios able to translate circular and digital innovation into sustainable performance.