NPD Gifting Developer

The NPD Gifting Developer plays a key role in delivering innovative, commercially successful, and consumer-focused gifting ranges across MM Flowers’ customer base. The role has three key areas of responsibility:

• Product Development & Innovation – Developing market-leading gifting concepts from initial idea through to launch, using insight and data to create commercially viable and trend-led solutions.
• Supplier & Customer Collaboration – Building strong partnerships with suppliers across the UK, Europe, and Far East, and working closely with retail customers to deliver bespoke gifting propositions.
• Project Management & Delivery – Managing critical paths, artwork, packaging, and launch execution to ensure products meet timelines, budgets, and quality standards.

This is a creative and fast-paced role requiring strong commercial understanding, design awareness, and exceptional organisational skills.

Responsibilities

• Creation of trend-led, commercially viable gifting products that evolve and elevate the category.
• Continual horizon scanning of consumer trends, materials, and packaging to keep MM Flowers at the forefront of market innovation.
• Build strong, collaborative relationships with retail customers and global suppliers.
• Ensures quality, ethical sourcing, and sustainability are integral to all product developments.
• Manages projects from concept to launch, ensuring delivery on time, to specification, and within budget.
• Owns product accuracy, artwork sign-off, and packaging effectiveness throughout the development process.
• Ensures all products meet technical, safety, and brand standards through proactive collaboration with internal teams.
• Leads and supports risk assessments, chilled validations, and transit trials where required.
• Works closely with Procurement, Technical, Commercial, Packaging, and NPD teams to ensure smooth, coordinated delivery.
• Acts as a key point of contact between creative design, production, and customer marketing functions.
• Use market data, consumer insights, and trend forecasting to identify new gifting opportunities.
• Develop product concepts and range proposals, ensuring alignment with customer expectations and brand strategy.
• Present market trends, seasonal ideas, and new product opportunities to customers in an engaging, data-driven manner.
• Manage the design and creation of mock-ups, samples, and prototypes for customer review.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with suppliers across the UK, Europe, and Far East.
• Ensure all developments are aligned with MM Flowers’ sustainability and ethical sourcing standards.
• Lead supplier communications for sampling, pricing, and technical feasibility.
• Support procurement teams with supplier negotiations and quotation analysis.
• Manage the full gifting development process from concept to launch.
• Maintain critical paths and ensure all product development milestones are achieved within time and budget.
• Oversee artwork creation, reprographics, and print management, ensuring accuracy and compliance with brand guidelines.
• Coordinate customer artwork approvals, ensuring effective communication and timely delivery.
• Collaborate with the NPD Packaging Developer to create innovative and functional packaging solutions.
• Support the development and validation of packaging that protects product quality during storage and transit.
• Oversee transit and shelf-life trials, ensuring all results meet customer expectations.
• Review pre-production and first production runs, signing off final outputs before launch.
• Work closely with Technical, Commercial, and Operations teams to ensure smooth product delivery and alignment on specifications.
• Partner with Customer Marketing teams to deliver compelling product presentations and communication materials.
• Lead post-launch reviews to assess performance, learnings, and future improvement opportunities.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Design, Marketing, or related field.
• Proven experience developing consumer gifting, hardware, cosmetics, or homeware products.
• Strong understanding of market trends, materials, substrates, and sustainable product innovation.
• Experience managing product development from concept through to launch.
• Skilled in project management, with strong governance, process adherence, and attention to detail.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with experience in retailer-facing interactions.
• Ability to manage multiple projects and priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Experience sourcing from Far East, Europe, and UK suppliers.
• Working knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite (Premiere, After Effects, Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom).
• Experience in FMCG, retail gifting, or food-related product development.
• Knowledge of product compliance, risk assessment, and safety requirements.
• Trusted: Dependable and accountable, consistently delivering on commitments.
• Innovative: Continuously seeks to improve and challenge the status quo with creative ideas.
• Dynamic: Adapts quickly to changing demands with a positive, solutions-driven mindset.
• Collaborative: Builds strong relationships across departments and external partners.
• Customer-Focused: Always strives to exceed expectations for both internal and external customers.