Product Developer

at  Natures Touch Inc

Who Are We?
Nature’s Touch is one of the largest suppliers of frozen fruits to retailers in North America, Australia, Taiwan, and Japan. We offer a comprehensive range of products and support multiple private label programs in addition to our own brands. We are one of the largest buyers of fruits globally each year and continue to experience strong growth in this emerging retail category.
The Opportunity We Offer
The Product Developer R&D, Project Manager plays a key role in product development activities and optimizing the ‘core’ product portfolio. They are responsible for developing a short- and medium-term plan to optimize the product portfolio in collaboration with procurement. They will manage their private label clients autonomously and offer products tailored to their needs and market trends. They will be responsible for building an effective internal monitoring system regarding the organoleptic quality of raw materials in collaboration with quality, operations, and strategic procurement teams. They will complete cost reduction, portfolio optimization, and new product development projects assigned to them to bring innovative, competitively priced products to market for their clients. They work closely with internal partners and act as a technical expert.
The Role

Aspect 1: Portfolio Optimization:

• Build knowledge and understanding of the fruits to become a subject matter expert.
• Be the key customers technical services to grow and share knowledge
• Formulate new and existing products in their category to meet the company’s financial objectives.
• Identify opportunities to improve offerings in the category based on trends and consumer needs. Build a short- and medium-term plan to revitalize the ‘core’ portfolio and propose new opportunities in relation to our suppliers’ capabilities.
• Evaluate and adapt product development based on various manufacturing processes.
• Assist/improve technical support to operations.

Aspect 2: Management of Customer Raw Material and Finished Product Specifications:

• Following internal audits, they must build and maintain an internal quality monitoring system for raw materials in collaboration with the R&D Director, factories, and procurement. Escalate deviations, analyze business impacts, establish recommendations and action plans, and ensure follow-ups.
• Work in collaboration with quality teams in different countries that are in contact with our suppliers at the source.
• Ensure internal control and validation of the quality team in place regarding organoleptic quality, product grading, and compliance with specifications.
• Ensure training and acceptance of specifications for the first transformations of our products (from fresh to frozen).
• Conduct an annual review of product specifications and make recommendations on the evolution of raw material specifications based on client requirements and supplier limitations.
• Lead cost reduction reformulation
• Participate to Bid and Specification review and development.
• Share crop challenges and work with customer PD to develop a portfolio to reduce risk

Aspect 3: Efficiency in Product Development:

• Ensure the completion of projects in a Lean and efficient manner. They play an influential role with their colleagues to implement good development practices.
• Develop experimental protocols, develop new products; plan and organize pilot and industrial plant trials; develop technical documentation; supervise the implementation of these products on an industrial scale.
• Develop prototypes and validate new products/new mixes.
• In collaboration with the team, plan and execute the annual market review and SWOT analysis of products in their category.

What You Will Bring

• University degree in Food Science and Technology or equivalent.
• 5-10 years of experience in the food manufacturing sector, or equivalent.
• Extensive experience in successfully launching projects.
• Basic food safety principles and standards (HACCP, SQF, etc.).
• Mastery of regulations for frozen fruits and vegetables in Canada and the United States is an asset.
• Experience in quality control and quality assurance is an asset.
• Excellent organizational skills and priority management.
• Sharp analytical skills and respect for confidentiality.
• Customer service-oriented with a good sense of initiative.
• Must possess excellent business acumen.
• Ability to act as a change agent within the organization.
• Excellent communication skills in English and French (written and spoken).
• Good knowledge of the Microsoft Office suite.

Please refer the Job description for details