NPD Lead - Maternity Cover

We believe dogs deserve the healthiest, most natural and tastiest meals - with none of the nasties. That’s why we make FRESHly prepared food, cooked just like you would at home and delivered direct to our customers in perfect portions. As a B-Corp certified company, you’re joining a sustainable business that genuinely cares about our people, our products and our impact on the planet. Our goal is simple: to help dogs live healthier, happier, and longer lives, while leaving humans smiling after every interaction.

This role sits within the Product Development team, reporting to the Product Development Director. You’ll own our Additional Products category end-to-end, spotting opportunities, shaping concepts, delivering launches, and deciding what stays, grows, or goes. You’ll also own product lines across wellness, gifting, food and non-food, combining the customer rigour of an innovator with the execution focus of an NPD lead, always raising the bar on how and what we deliver while staying true to the customer and ensuring every product has a clear reason to exist.

This role is UK-based in either London or our kitchen in Doncaster. It’s a 15-month maternity cover, with genuine potential to stay with us beyond the placement if you’re successful in the role and interested in moving into another role at a relevant level within the team or wider squad.

A bit about the team you’ll be joining: We’re a hybrid squad working across the UK, owning the product pipelines for both Butternut Box and Marro. We’re the foundation of what the business builds: great food, strong nutrition and products that genuinely improve pets’ health. We own what the physical product looks like and how it delivers real benefits for dogs and cats. We’re deliberately lean and close-knit, so everyone gets stuck in, has real ownership and plenty of opportunity to develop and progress. What brings us together is a deep belief in our products, our category and the power of fresh food to improve pets’ lives.

A bit about the work you’ll deliver: You'll own and help shape the long-term roadmap for additional products and gifting across both brands. This means you will:

• Actively influence the pipeline to decide where we go next, prioritising what we work on now, next, and later.
• Bring new ideas and opportunities to the business from market, customer, and competitor research.
• Identify new opportunities, manage reformulations, and make the call on products that no longer pull their weight.
• Work with third-party partners to identify, develop, and deliver fresh opportunities across the category.

Product Development, concept to launch: You'll oversee the end-to-end development of innovative additional products and gifting ranges, from initial concept right through to launch. You will:

• Cover both food and non-food items, keeping every range true to its brief with a clear, justified reason to exist.
• Create compelling, customer-led briefs grounded in real insights, and act as the customer champion to ensure the original opportunity doesn't get watered down.
• Help build recipes, plan and manage trials, and handle pre-production activities.
• Lead product launches, support customer-facing teams on go-to-market, and run honest post-launch reviews.
• Develop and maintain product briefs, specifications, and supporting documentation to an exceptionally high standard.
• Collaborate with the Projects team to help us strengthen our ways of working, always pushing on faster, better and bigger pipelines.

Team & Stakeholder Management: You will manage the additional products team to deliver agreed roadmaps on time and in full. This involves:

• Bringing on your one direct report and continuously raising the bar on the quality of inputs and outputs.
• Collaborating with and influencing stakeholders across Senior Leadership, Marketing, Procurement, Supply Chain, Operations, CRM, and Brand.
• Working closely with our external partners.

Commercial & Compliance: A big part of this role is balancing product quality with commercial viability. You will:

• Collaborate with the brand, data, commercial, and ops teams to determine selling prices, forecasts, positioning and branding, and to understand where capital investment is needed.
• Support Procurement and commercial teams with cost analysis and margin delivery.
• Ensure all products comply with relevant legislation, regulations, and internal standards, including claim substantiation.
• Lead the charge in resolving compliance issues or product complaints with third parties as they arise.

What we’re looking for:

• 8+ years in proposition, product development or innovation, ideally in food, FMCG or consumer products, or equivalent depth of experience.
• Experience across food and non-food ranges is a plus, as is exposure to the pet category.
• A relevant degree (e.g. food science, animal science, nutrition, product development or business) or equivalent hands‑on experience.
• Food safety, nutrition or product development qualifications are welcome but not required.
• You care deeply about the quality and integrity of what you put into the world, and won’t compromise on a product’s reason to exist just to hit a number.
• You put the customer at the heart of your decisions and believe doing the right thing for them builds long-term value.
• You have a track record of taking products from idea to launch, ideally working with third‑party partners and physical products.
• You’re comfortable making the trade‑offs between cost, quality and customer value, with a sharp eye for what makes a product worth building.
• You’re ambitious, results‑driven and always looking for ways to make things better.
• You’re energetic, organised and good with people, able to keep multiple moving parts on track without losing momentum.
• You build strong relationships, bring people with you and can influence effectively across teams and seniority levels.
• You genuinely enjoy helping others grow and bringing your team with you, with experience managing or mentoring at least one person.
• You’re comfortable moving quickly, figuring things out as you go and making decisions with imperfect information.
• You care deeply about the category and believe in what we’re building and that it can make a difference to the lives of pets and their owners.

The interview process: Initial call with your dedicated Talent Acquisition Partner, carried out remotely. Skills interview, for 90 minutes, in person. This stage will include an in interview task. Behaviours interview, for 60 minutes carried out remotely. Leadership interview, for 45 minutes in person. We usually expect our interview process to take 3-5 weeks, end to end.

25 days holiday (plus 8 bank holidays) and an additional day for every year of service up to 5 years. 5 additional, paid 'paws' days off per year dedicated to your learning, development or personal wellbeing. Hit pause when you need it most. £500 personal learning & development budget to sharpen your skills. A significant discount on our Fresh food, to keep your own dogs as healthy as our customers. Enhanced parental leave. Flexible core working hours. Cycle to work scheme. Pension with NEST. Private Medical Insurance with Vitality. Private Dental Insurance with Bupa. Paid time off for fertility treatments and pregnancy loss. Paid sabbaticals for squad members with 5 or more years service at Butternut. Discounted gym access through MyGymDiscounts. Lots of office dogs.

Important things to note: We recommend getting your application in as soon as possible. We reserve the right to close the role early. Our team thrives on collaboration. We spend 3 days a week in our West London office (Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday) and 2 days working from wherever you’re most productive. Because being together is a big part of our culture, we’re looking for someone within a comfortable commutable distance to London. We’re a small (but mighty!) recruitment team. We aim to respond to everyone personally, but if we’re flooded with brilliant applications, we may need to close the role early. We appreciate your patience while we review applications. For this specific role, we’re unable to offer visa sponsorship, so you’ll need the right to work in the UK. We believe in a seat at the table for everyone. Butternut Box is an equal opportunity employer. We believe that to make the best food for all dogs, we need a team that represents all humans. We celebrate different nationalities, backgrounds, experiences and perspectives. We are specifically committed to increasing representation from underrepresented groups. We want a strong, diverse team built from different identities and lived experiences. We’re not perfect, but we are dedicated to the ongoing work of building an inclusive, supportive place where you can do the best work of your career.