Process Technologist in Nottingham

From a bold idea to revolutionising dog food, Years has grown into a fast‑scaling business dedicated to helping dogs live longer, healthier lives. In just 3 years, we've built a great start‑up business, serving thousands of happy customers, all while striving to achieve our mission. Our goal? To give dog owners a better, fresher, and healthier way to feed their pets. We provide human‑cut, personalised meals designed to support each dog's unique needs, delivered straight to their door – no preservatives, no compromises, just real nutrition. You can find our customers across the UK, with future ambitions to scale internationally and continue transforming how people care for their dogs.

Your Mission

At Years, we're only as good as the quality and consistency of what goes into our products. As the business scales and our range expands, the volume of packaging changes, raw material updates, and process validations is growing, and we need someone to own that rigour end to end. This role exists to make sure that nothing reaches production underprepared, and that every change we make is backed by solid evidence. You’ll sit within the NPD team, owning technical validation and change control end to end. Your closest working relationships will be with our Development Chef during quarterly Chef Collection launches and with external packaging and ingredient suppliers, whom you’ll manage through the full trial cycle; you will report to the NPD Manager. You’ll be running trials, interpreting results, and feeding findings back into development decisions – with real scope to grow your influence across broader technical workstreams as the NPD function expands.

Key Responsibilities

• Own packaging change trials end to end, from initial supplier communication, trial planning through to execution and output review.
• Run process and raw material change validations, including cook validations on new and existing SKUs.
• Ensure EPD activity across the team is supported by a consistent and robust trial framework, maintaining clear records of outcomes and decisions.
• Provide technical support to the development chef during chef collection launch windows, ensuring collections are technically ready to go to production.
• Maintain strong supplier relationships throughout the trial process, keeping communication clear and timelines on track.
• Feed trial findings back into the wider team in a timely and useful way, flagging risks early and recommending next steps.

Requirements

• A minimum of 2 years experience in a food or pet food manufacturing or development environment, with direct exposure to trials, process validation, or technical change management.
• The ability to manage a trial end to end independently – from planning through to communicating the output.
• Strong attention to detail and a methodical approach to documentation and record‑keeping.
• Confidence communicating with suppliers and internal stakeholders, with the ability to keep multiple workstreams moving simultaneously.
• A collaborative working style – this role touches most areas of the NPD team and requires someone who works well across functions.
• Calm under pressure, particularly during launch periods where pace and precision need to coexist.

Benefits

• Salary of £36,000 – £39,000.
• Medicash Level 4 Cashback plan.
• Spill EAP and Mental Health Support programme.
• Annual £250 Learning & Development budget for courses, books, or other self‑learn activities each year.
• Annual £200 Wellbeing budget each year.
• Up to 2 weeks working abroad per year (selected roles).
• Monthly recognition through our Yappa of The Month programme.
• 1 Volunteer day per year – dog themed or not: it’s your choice.
• Subsidised employee groups – from five‑a‑side to padel there’s loads to get involved in or the chance to start up your own group.
• Quarterly subsidised team events from Axe throwing, crazy golf to cocktail making.
• Exclusive discounts on Years and Years treats for yourself and friends/family.
• Lunch & Learn programme – from dog first aid to financial savviness we’ve got sessions planned to cover all kinds of topics.
• Casual dress.
• Your birthday off or different day if it falls on a non‑working day.
• Ability to sell any unused holiday back to Years at the end of the Holiday Year (maximum 1 working week).