Senior Product Development Manager FTC

This is a fixed-term contract.

Our Hectar Laing Development Centre site is the beating heart of innovation at pladis, a dynamic hub where creativity, science, and consumer insight come together to shape the future of snacking. Home to our Innovation, R&D, Regulatory, and Technical Insights teams, this site supports both pladis Global and UKI, driving progress across our sweet and savoury portfolios. With a state-of-the-art pilot plant and a culture of collaboration, High Wycombe is our centre of excellence for research and development. From the first spark of an idea to the final product on shelf, our teams work side by side to deliver exciting, high-quality snacks that delight consumers everywhere. It’s a place where every voice matters, and every innovation is powered by the passion and expertise of our people.

This is a critical role responsible for building opportunities to explore, develop and implement protocepts to prototypes to fit concepts that will drive brand strategies across multiple geographies. They will work closely with marketing teams to activate and bring to reality technical briefs. They will support the Breakthrough Product Director in the delivery against an ambitious and transformational breakthrough product strategy that is aligned to the growth ambition and sustainability aspirations of the company.

The role requires an individual who is competent and skilled at working across cultures and functions and collaborating to deliver with others. They need to be able to work effectively with both internal and external partners to identify appropriate opportunities and drive development of innovative solutions, best practice approaches and systems.

Key areas of focus for this secondment role will be:

• Managing the development and the Global Savoury Expansion initiative – with an aim of growing the pladis portfolio in new and existing markets: working closely with both global commercial and regional R&D teams while employing strong technical project management.
• Leading initiatives to unlock future technologies by applying both strong product and process knowledge to build scale platforms for innovation. This will include prototyping, planning and executing trials in both pilot plants and production facilities, identifying process requirements.
• Defining and delivering technical concepts into product development.
• Developing solutions to technical hurdles.
• Providing a technical response to commercial briefs.
• Owning and delivering bench samples and pilot / factory trials.
• Managing trial budgets and project plans.

Excellent core technical skills are required, along with a strong understanding and experience in product development and managing such projects/programmes, and a good understanding of process/chemical engineering principles. You should be able to understand the needs of the business, our consumers and customers to drive an exciting product agenda. You will be a self-starter, possessing a drive for results.

The interview process will include:

• Initial Telephone call with Talent Acquisition.
• 1st stage interview – 45 minutes competency-based interview based on our company values and your experiences.
• 2nd stage interview – 60 minutes – a technical interview to understand your skill set / case study or presentation interview.

What does pladis offer you?

• Annual Incentive Plan (AIP) – this is the business’s annual bonus scheme.
• Opportunity to self-enrol into Health Cash Plan.
• Life Assurance Cover ~ upon enrolment to Stakeholder Pension Scheme.
• 25 days +