New Product Development Manager

Consumer Search; Blyton CP; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

Consumer Search in Blyton, England is seeking an NPD/EPD project lead to take ownership from concept to launch within a busy food manufacturing environment. You will manage the full development journey from brief through factory trials, scale-up and successful launch, coordinating with Development Chefs, Commercial, Technical, Production and Purchasing.

There is strong customer-facing involvement, presenting development activity to retail and foodservice partners and developing key

Job description

If you enjoy product development but want to be closer to the customer, have more ownership and see your ideas all the way through from concept to launch, this could be a really interesting next step.

This is an opportunity to take a central role within a busy food manufacturing environment, managing NPD and EPD projects from the initial brief through factory trials, scale-up and ultimately successful launch. Rather than working on one small part of the process, you’ll have visibility and influence across the full development journey.

You’ll work closely with Development Chefs, Commercial, Technical, Production and Purchasing, giving you broad exposure across the business and the opportunity to develop a much wider understanding of how commercially successful products are created and launched.

There is also a strong customer-facing element to the position. You’ll be involved in presenting and coordinating development activity with retail and foodservice customers, working alongside the Commercial and Technical Account Managers and developing your own relationships with key customer contacts. For someone looking to build their profile beyond a purely site-based NPD role, it offers valuable exposure to the commercial and customer side of product development.

You’ll have genuine ownership of the critical path, helping turn concepts developed by the culinary team into products that can be successfully manufactured at scale. You’ll coordinate factory trials, bring the relevant teams together and play an important role in making sure projects progress efficiently from development kitchen through to launch.

The breadth of the role also means you’ll be able to get involved beyond individual product launches. You’ll work with the wider team on food trends, innovation, new processes, machinery and site capabilities, with opportunities to contribute to R&D and continuous improvement projects.

It’s a role that will put you at the centre of NPD rather than at the edge of it. You’ll have exposure to customers, chefs, commercial teams and factory operations, while developing the project management and stakeholder skills that can open up the next stage of a career within product development.

So, if you’re looking for an NPD position where you can take more ownership, get closer to the customer and follow products all the way from an idea through to the factory floor and final launch, this is exactly the kind of opportunity that can give you that next step.