Head of Product Development - Pet and Human Nutrition in West Bromwich

The Head of Product Development is responsible for leading the CD&D Product Development teams covering New Product Development (NPD), Existing Product Development (EPD) and Sales Support/Specifications for the ADM Protexin Dietary Supplements business across EMEA. This role provides leadership to teams based in Somerset, UK and Hundested, Denmark, with a strong focus on end product development for Human and Pet Health, from concept through scale-up and commercialization, working closely with manufacturing facilities to ensure feasibility, robustness, and successful execution. The role will set priorities across both sites, ensure quality and timely execution of projects, and proactively identify and implement process and capability improvements. They will also ensure the organisation has the right people, skills, and mindset in place, fostering a high-performing and collaborative team culture.

Your Responsibilities

• Lead and supervise NPD, EPD, and end product development activities for B2C and B2B2C, across Human and Pet Nutrition, in close collaboration with Sales, Marketing, Operations, Quality, Regulatory, and Manufacturing.
• Ensure effective collaboration with manufacturing facilities, supporting formulation design, scale-up, process validation, and smooth transfer from development to production.
• Provide strong site leadership to the Product Development teams in Somerset and Hundested.
• Drive stability, robustness, and efficiency of formulations and processes.
• Set priorities and manage resources to ensure on-time delivery and high-quality execution of projects, in alignment with business strategy.
• Own and deliver key KPIs, including On-Time Performance and Win Rate.
• Drive Lifecycle Management initiatives within Dietary Supplements EMEA.
• Work closely with regional CD&D teams and shared resources to support timely and effective project delivery.
• Participate in and support strategic customer meetings as required, providing technical leadership and insight.
• Provide feedback to CD&D leadership on key learnings, trends, and improvement opportunities from NPD/EPD and end product development projects.

Qualifications and Experience

• A number of years' experience in Human Health & Wellness and/or Pet & Animal Wellbeing related roles.
• Degree in Nutrition, Food Science, Animal Science or a related field.
• Proven success in people leadership, ideally managing teams across multiple sites.
• Hands-on experience working with manufacturing facilities, including scale-up, process optimization, and product industrialisation.
• Demonstrated experience in end product development, ideally within dietary supplements, pet nutrition, or functional health products.
• Understanding of the Animal Health and Pet Care markets (Dogs, Cats, Horses), with a clear vision of market and customer requirements would be beneficial.

Skills and Competencies

• Excellent communication skills, with confidence presenting complex technical information to both internal and external stakeholders.
• Strong team leadership and project management capabilities.
• Experience working cross-functionally with Manufacturing, Quality, Regulatory, and Supply Chain teams.
• Ambitious, energetic, and agile, with a solution-oriented mindset.
• Strong proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint; PowerBI knowledge is an advantage.
• Fluency in English is mandatory; additional languages such as Spanish or Danish are an advantage.
• Strong customer focus, entrepreneurial mindset, influencing ability, and the confidence to operate at senior leadership level.
• High level of initiative, excellent planning and organisational skills, and the ability to build strong, collaborative relationships.