New Product Developer

at  Start People Ltd

Senior New Product Developer
Food Manufacturing Sector
Salary up to £40,000.00 plus benefits
Training and Development Opportunities
Company Pension

ESSENTIAL SKILLS:

• Ability to deal with a complexity of products, projects and customers
• Computer literate across Excel, Word and Powerpoint.
• Customer facing - to display a confident and knowledgeable manner in order to engage with customers
• Basic culinary knowledge of flavours, flavour pairings and how to make delicious products
• Ideally having some background in technical/quality/NPD sales
• Understanding health/nutritional/dietary benefits of products to be suggested or presented to the customer.
• Project management skills; flexible to travel and attend launches outside normal office hours
• Experience in a similar role within a food/ beverages manufacture environment
  We are seeking an NPD professional to start a new role with our client as soon as possible.
  Apply today to be considered for this fantastic opportunity.

MAIN PURPOSE OF JOB:

• To oversee products from concept to launch in line with an agreed brief and critical path.
• Develop products which have clear reasons to believe, are delicious and take on board any relevant trends to ensure that they exceed expectations.
• Input product knowledge and customer insight within category team to ensure product development is aligned with all key customer requirements and meets financial measurements.
• Build and maintain customer relationships acting as the dedicated contact to provide accurate and consistent communication internally and externally whilst identifying and resolving issues promptly.
• Create and collate customer product samples for projects.

KEY TASKS:

• Project management of NPD briefs from concept to launch with a right first-time approach.
• Lead innovation taste panels either internally or externally to the standard required whilst being the authority on the products being presented.
• Source and verify the feasibility of new raw materials within specifications and approved suppliers clearly understanding allergen and MOQ considerations.
• Brief suppliers and closely work with them in order to meet briefs in the best possible way. Coordinate suppliers’ value engineering and innovation meetings where appropriate.
• Store visits, collection of samples from retail, attendance at trade events as and when necessary.
• To be aware of and continuously develop understanding of trends, consumer behaviours, insight and new opportunities which may present business opportunities.
• Assisting other members of the NPD team with NPD or EPD projects when required