This is a chance to join a high growth health and wellness brand with a well established base in key markets and plans to really push growth internationally over the next few years.
The business are heavily science led, researching and formulating their own products inhouse and this role is going to be key in the business growth as they diversify their product range and look to move forwards from start up in to an established player.
The role:
This is an experienced NPD role with genuine end-to-end ownership. You'll take new products from brief to launch — consumer and market research, formulation, bench trials, sensory work, costing, scale-up and commercial launch — and you'll help define how NPD is done, not just follow a process someone else wrote.
You'll work alongside the Operations & Product Manager, with direct access to the founder and real influence over the product pipeline.
What you'll do:
- Own NPD projects end to end: brief, research, formulation trials, sensory evaluation, costing and presentation to management
- Help design and embed stage-gate NPD process
- Manage external suppliers and manufacturers through development and scale-up: quotes, MOQs, purchase orders, lead times and factory trials
- Build the commercial case for new concepts — costing, pack formats, market and competitor analysis — ready for board-level sign-off
- Improve existing products — formulation, flavour and format — using customer feedback and market data
- Support production of KURK's product range: batch preparation, weighing to specification, quality documentation
- Help maintain the lab environment — hygiene, food safety and contamination protocols, stock and equipment
Ideal Candidate:
- Three to five years in a commercial NPD, R&D or product development role, with products you have personally taken from concept to launch. We will ask you to walk us through one of them in detail.
- Formulation and bench-trial experience, ideally across more than one format
- Experience coordinating external suppliers and manufacturers through scale-up
- Commercial instinct — you think about target price, cost of goods and manufacturing risk early, not at the end
- Working knowledge of food safety and quality systems (HACCP, GMP) and UK food regulation
- Self-directed: able to define the process, not only follow it
- A degree in food science, nutrition, chemistry or similar, or equivalent experience
- Liquids, emulsions, drinks or other functional formats would be preferable
- Reformulation with measurable outcomes
- Nutritional labelling and claims under UK law
