Impact-Driven Ingredients Manager (Food Innovation)

Wiltshire Farm Foods; Trowbridge; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 85,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

25 days holiday

Discretionary annual bonus

Pension scheme

Life assurance

Subsidised canteen

Free parking

Christmas turkey or voucher

apetito perks scheme

Job summary

apetito is seeking an experienced food professional to lead an impactful Ingredients Manager role, based at our UK Head Office in Trowbridge, Wiltshire. Initially embedded in a focused project team, you will identify opportunities to improve value, reduce complexity and deliver measurable business benefits while safeguarding food quality.

After 12–18 months, the role expands to a broader remit, leading materials, managing Food Technologists and supporting change control across the business to

Qualifications

• Extensive experience within food manufacturing, product development, ingredients, technical, quality or project management roles.
• Proven ability to identify, evaluate and deliver raw material, ingredient, packaging or product optimisation opportunities that generate measurable business benefit.
• Strong project management, prioritisation and organisational skills, with experience leading complex cross-functional projects from opportunity identification through to implementation.
• Commercially aware, with the judgement to balance cost, quality, customer expectations, operational requirements, food safety and compliance.
• Confident working with suppliers, stakeholders and cross-functional teams at all levels, with strong communication, influencing and decision-making skills.
• Practical, hands-on experience of product assessment, sensory evaluation, production trials and technical validation.
• Confident working with cost, specification, product and technical data, with strong attention to detail and a sound understanding of food legislation.
• Tenacious, flexible and resilient, with the ability to work at pace, adapt priorities and drive projects through ambiguity to successful completion.
• Capable of leading, motivating and developing a high-performing team, creating clarity, focus and momentum across priorities and workload.

Responsibilities

• Seek and enact a high-impact programme of ingredient, raw material, packaging and finished product opportunities, unlocking measurable benefits in cost, quality, consistency, operational performance and customer proposition.
• Work in close partnership with Procurement, suppliers, project teams and cross-functional stakeholders to spot opportunities, shape solutions and turn technically and commercially viable ideas into action.
• Build and manage a clear, energised opportunity pipeline, bringing structure to complex work through defined benefits, plans, timings, dependencies, risks, resource needs and governance.
• Challenge unnecessary cost, complexity, duplication and over-specification, creating space for smarter ways of working while safeguarding food safety, compliance, product quality, customer expectations and operational performance.
• Lead hands-on evaluation of ingredients, materials and finished products, using assessment, trials, technical validation and impact analysis to build confidence and drive better decisions.
• Drive approved changes through specification, change control, data, trial approval and implementation processes, ensuring great ideas are delivered accurately, efficiently and right first time.

Skills

Food manufacturing experience

Project management

Commercial awareness

Cross-functional collaboration

Food evaluation & trials

Leadership & coaching

Education

Degree in food science or related

Job description

apetito is seeking an experienced food professional to lead an impactful Ingredients Manager role, based at our UK Head Office in Trowbridge, Wiltshire. Initially embedded in a focused project team, you will identify opportunities to improve value, reduce complexity and deliver measurable business benefits while safeguarding food quality.

After 12–18 months, the role expands to a broader remit, leading materials, managing Food Technologists and supporting change control across the business to