Senior Food Technologist — NPD Lead for Ready Meals

The Kitchen Food Company; Sydney; On-site; AUD 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary package

Career development opportunities

Lead a growing NPD function

Job summary

The Kitchen Food Company is seeking a Senior Food Technologist to lead NPD initiatives for ready meals and short shelf-life foods, manage a small team of Food Technologists, and drive innovation from concept through to commercial launch.

You will report to the Senior NPD Specialist and focus on delivering new products, cost optimisation, and process improvements while ensuring FSANZ, HACCP and GMP compliance and strong customer collaboration.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Food Science, Food Technology, Nutrition, Chemistry or related.
• Minimum 5 years’ FMCG food manufacturing experience, especially short shelf-life or chilled production.
• Experience in ready meals, convenience foods or fresh prepared foods.
• Proven leadership of product development from concept to launch.
• Experience mentoring technical team members.
• Strong knowledge of food regulations, labeling, HACCP and GMP.
• Experience conducting factory trials and scaling from pilot to full production.
• Excellent project management and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Strong commercial awareness and ability to balance innovation, quality and cost.
• High attention to detail and excellent written and verbal communication.

Responsibilities

• Lead development and commercialization of new and improved food products from concept to launch.
• Mentor two Food Technologists, providing coaching and workload prioritisation.
• Own the NPD pipeline and Stage Gate process, delivering projects on time and within budget.
• Interpret customer briefs and develop innovative concepts aligned with market trends.
• Drive recipe optimization, cost engineering and value improvement initiatives.
• Lead factory trials, scale-up activities and post-launch reviews.
• Manage critical paths and coordinate cross-functional project teams.
• Ensure compliance with FSANZ, HACCP, GMP and customer requirements.
• Review specifications, nutrition panels and labeling.
• Oversee shelf-life validation programs including sensory, microbiological and physical testing.
• Identify emerging ingredients, technologies and packaging innovations to support growth.
• Provide technical support to customers, internal stakeholders and suppliers.

Skills

Leadership

Project management

Mentoring

Stakeholder engagement

Communication

Commercial awareness

NPD leadership

Quality & regulatory understanding

Education

Food Science / Food Technology / Nutrition / Chemistry degree

Job description

The Kitchen Food Company is seeking a Senior Food Technologist to lead NPD initiatives for ready meals and short shelf-life foods, manage a small team of Food Technologists, and drive innovation from concept through to commercial launch.

You will report to the Senior NPD Specialist and focus on delivering new products, cost optimisation, and process improvements while ensuring FSANZ, HACCP and GMP compliance and strong customer collaboration.