Senior Product Development Chef

Want to help us bring happiness to the world? Want to join an ambitious and fast growing global biscuits and confectionery business investing heavily in iconic global brands, infrastructure and people? Then this is the place for you.

As proud bakers and chocolatiers and custodians of iconic global brands, we don’t compromise on the quality of ingredients in our products or on the people we hire. We are looking for entrepreneurial spirits who share our passion for bringing happiness to our consumers and who embody our Winning Traits. To succeed at pladis you need to be purpose-led, resilient and positive because we expect pace and agility, we insist on collaboration and demand accountability.

Our story: Family and ideas have always been our ingredients. Our founding families believed biscuits and chocolates could bring moments of happiness to the world. Their ideas have stood the test of time. Their spirit continues to inspire our future. It’s in the care and the craft we bake into biscuits and chocolates that have been loved for generations. And it’s in the fresh ideas, the new twists, flavours and textures we add to old and new favourites.

A global community: Our 16,000 colleagues, in every corner of the world, bring their own experience of happiness to pladis. Each of us is unique but coming together as one family of bakers and chocolatiers working hard, with pride and with purpose. Because after all these years, we still believe biscuits and chocolates bring people together.

We bake happiness. Happiness with every bite. Inspired by you: Our founders didn’t follow rules and recipes, they created them. We’re looking for fresh thinkers to help us create the next chapter for pladis. pladis succeeds because of people like you. People who wake up in the morning excited to get to work. Who believe in themselves and their potential. Who want to grow as part of a global community of like-minded colleagues. Because growth is our oxygen and our fuel. And it’s our deep and abiding belief that growth comes from working together, helping each other out, always passionate about our purpose to bring happiness with every bite.

pladis colleagues care deeply about being the best. About winning, staying the course and never giving up. Whichever part of the world we’re in, whatever our role. Whether we’re baking, working in HR, finance, marketing or many other areas – we win as one pladis team. And while we’re all unique, we share something in common. It’s the code by which we live and work. We call it our ‘Winning Traits & Behaviours’: Purpose Led, Agile, Collaborative, Positive and Resilient. Five aspects of pladis life that define who we are, how we interact and get things done.

Why join our team? pladis works in highly competitive, fast moving markets where it is crucial to maintain and extend market share through profitable branded growth. It also has an exciting growth plan for emerging markets where offering the right value proposition is critical! Innovation through product development, continuous value improvement and consumer perceived Quality superiority v competition are critical and key to delivering the business targets.

This role will challenge and push the boundaries of conventional development to deliver differentiated product ideas. We have an exciting and unique opportunity within our R&D function for a Senior Product Development Chef! As the face of R&D, the Senior Development Chef will be the authoritative culinary voice within the team, bringing passion for food and insights of the latest food trends, from street food to high end restaurants, into our products.

What will this role achieve? The Senior Product Development Chef will bring creativity and food credentials to pladis. As the culinary leader for the business, the role will see you working closely with R&D, marketing and customer functions to share knowledge on trends and competitor activity whilst inspiring the business with innovative ideas.

What will be your key deliverables?

• Be knowledgeable and constantly aware of current and future food and consumer trends and competitor developments.
• Build strong links with marketing to ensure that these trends are utilised to build concepts and products that encourage and support the building of our future innovation.
• Support product development by ensuring that culinary aspects are considered, and great taste is central to all developments.
• Work closely with the ingredients experts and product development teams to bring to life new ingredients and technologies that will keep the business ahead of the competition.
• Build showcases to demonstrate these to team members.
• Work closely with the Consumer Technical Insights team to ensure the consumer is at the forefront of all our developments and support rapid prototyping to gather consumer feedback and ensure right first-time development.
• Build networks externally within the food industry, including suppliers and chefs.
• Competitor expert, staying ahead of competitor activity and sharing insights with the wider team, ensuring our innovation is best in class and adaptable to market trends.
• Coordinate culinary days and food tours to inspire colleagues and ensure focus on the external world.

What do you need for this role? The Product Development Chef will have significant proven experience in high-end restaurants, with demonstrable experience in new recipe development. The role is highly visible and will require the ability to work cross functionally including the leadership team.

Essential:

• Deep knowledge of food trends locally and globally.
• Ability to demonstrate a strong network of external chefs.
• Strong presentation skills, as this role may have public facing duties e.g. news interviews, social media, events, business showcases.
• Proven knowledge of managing a culinary budget.
• Culinary Qualification (Culinary Diploma, NVQ etc).

Desirable:

• Experience within an FMCG organisation as a development chef.
• Project management skills.
• Member of culinary associations.
• Detailed knowledge and highly skilled in patisserie and bakery.

Diversity and inclusion is central to everything we do and is reflected across our business. pladis brings together brands and people from around the globe – and this diversity is our great strength. We’re an equal opportunities employer and believe in fostering an inclusive environment where we celebrate diversity of thinking and respect everyone’s distinctive qualities and perspectives.

We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform key job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.

pladis is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to hiring a diverse workforce. All openings will be filled based on qualifications without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, marital status, veteran status, disability, age, religion or any other classification protected by law.

About Us: pladis is one of the world’s fastest growing snacking companies and home to much loved brands including McVitie’s, GODIVA and Ülker. pladis also owns regional brands Jacob’s, Go Ahead, Flipz, Turtles, BN, Verkade and many more products across sweet and savoury biscuits, wafer, cake and chocolate. Formed in 2016, pladis is the proud steward of over 300 years of family baking and confectionery experience. The expertise of our 16,000-strong global workforce spans 27 bakeries across 11 countries and is united by our purpose: to ‘bring happiness with every bite’. As a responsible business delivering the highest quality products and exceptional service, pladis’ products have the potential to reach more than four billion people across the world.