NPD Manager (Food)

The Company

This is a fantastic opportunity to join an exciting and rapidly growing food & drink brand who are driven by innovation and ambition. They love to create products that make an impact to the lives of their consumers, showcasing the power of natural ingredients.

They are now looking for an NPD Manager who has a real passion for product innovation to join the team.

The role is hybrid and based at the London office 3 days per week and there will be some travel within the UK and overseas.

The Role

You’ll be reporting to the Head of Product, working with them to build insights to create the NPD pipeline for long and short-term projects. As well as range extensions and new flavour profiles, this role would be exploring new categories and packaging concepts. You’ll need to be up on your consumer, ingredient and technology trends to ensure you are ahead of the curve. A real foodie at heart, you will effortlessly seek out hot new trends, source amazing new ingredients, play with flavour combinations, benchmark competitor products and translate trends into fabulous concepts.

There will be hands on development work as well as taking responsibility for the end-to-end management of the Product Development lifecycle, ensuring the successful delivery of the innovation pipeline from concept to launch. This will mean building and owning the NPD critical paths with manufacturing partners in the UK and overseas.

You’ll work closely with the Product Technologist to ensure scale-up trials, pre-productions and launches are on schedule with the right documentation to pass onto internal teams. You’ll also seek out collaborative relationships with ingredient and packaging suppliers, understanding how they can help drive the performance of new and existing products.

The Candidate

We are looking for an ambitious, tenacious and highly collaborative Senior Product Developer / NPD Manager with a food science/technology degree who has experience of working for a food/drink brand, manufacturing business or retailer. You will have a passion for healthy foods, with an exceptional palette and understanding of flavour profiles to allow you to push the boundaries for this high-flying brand.

Along with a proven track record of delivering NPD pipelines from concept to launch, you will also have some experience of working with co-manufacturers and understanding the importance of working in partnership. Commercial awareness and project management skills are a must have for this role.

You will need to be confident, engaging and resourceful with a proactive approach, being able to find solutions and opportunities in a pacey environment, with the ability to make things happen. Previous experience within a start-up / challenger / high growth SME brand would enable you to thrive in this role.

If you’ve been keeping an eye out for an amazing brand where you can develop your career and make a real impact then this could be the one! Apply now or call us on 0345 2600 737 for a confidential chat.

Ref: L6826

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Due to the large number of applications our opportunities attract, it sometimes takes us time to thoroughly review and consider them all. We endeavour to respond to every application within 5 working days, however if you have not heard from us within this timeframe, we are sorry to say your application for the role has not been successful. To support you in showcasing your best self, we make sure that any necessary accommodations, whether physical or non-physical, are provided to assist you throughout the job application and interview process.

Also, please note that we are only able to accept and respond to applications from candidates with eligibility to work in the UK and those who hold valid work visas.