New Product Development - Undergraduate Placement Opportunity

Charlie Bigham's | B-Corp; Greater London; On-site; GBP 18,000 - 24,000; Full time

Job summary

Charlie Bigham's in the United Kingdom offers a one-year student placement to support the New Food Development (NFD) and New and Existing Food Development (EFD) teams from concept to launch, while contributing to various aspects of the development process in a fast-paced environment.

You will assist with concept development, trials, sampling, and documentation, gaining hands-on experience in a leading food company with a strong focus on quality and process handovers.

Qualifications

• Currently studying for a food-related degree.
• Experience in project management and meeting timelines.
• Willing to participate in a 1-year placement.

Responsibilities

• Support NFD/EFD from concept to launch and post-launch stages.
• Assist scale-up trials in the production kitchen and material assessments.
• Prepare and organise product samples for tests, tastings, and submissions.
• Lead documentation for tastings and shelf-life assessments.
• Support change forms processing and trial paperwork.

Skills

Confident communicator

Numerate

Highly organised

Attention to detail

Interpersonal skills

Education

Food-related degree in progress

Project management experience

Job description

Job Introduction

Are you passionate about food and eager to gain hands‑on experience in the world of New Product Development? We have an exciting one‑year placement opportunity where you will play a vital role in supporting our dynamic New Food Development (NFD) team from concept brief to process handover, while also contributing to various aspects of the new food development process. This role offers a unique chance to learn and grow in a fast‑paced, innovative environment.

Job Introduction

Are you passionate about food and eager to gain hands‑on experience in the world of New Product Development? We have an exciting one‑year placement opportunity where you will play a vital role in supporting our dynamic New Food Development (NFD) team from concept brief to process handover, while also contributing to various aspects of the new food development process. This role offers a unique chance to learn and grow in a fast‑paced, innovative environment.

We are looking for student placement t o assist the NFD and EFD (New and Existing Food Development) teams throughout the food development process from concept to launch, as well as supporting team on general activities and requirements

Role Responsibility

Key Accountabilities

• Supporting the NFD and EFD team in first class concept development through to trials, launch and post-launch stages.
• Test and validate our dishes to ensure our food safety and quality are met
• Support in preparation for, and running of, scale up trials and raw material assessments in the production kitchen.
• Prepare and organise product samples for internal presentations, external testing, photoshoots and other product submissions
• Lead support for all general NFD/EFD team activities including change management
• Support the kitchen team when the Kitchen Assistant is on annual leave

Key Responsibilities

FIRST CLASS CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT

• Support the preparation of internal food tastings. Take notes and actions, ensure attendance and share outputs with necessary teams.
• Prepare product benchmarks and conduct tastings to assess all relevant food concepts to ensure we are always developing best in class food.
• Conduct raw material assessments against the specification at concept and trial stages to ensure we are selecting the best quality ingredients.
• Own the documentation of food tastings through shelf‑life assessments from fresh / frozen and champion the quality standards our consumers will expect at each stage of the product life.
• Drive the generation of cooking instructions for new dishes in accordance with our food safety and quality criteria.
• Complete online research for benchmarking exercises, creating relevant tools to show the results, keeping benchmarking database up to date.

THE CUSTOMER

• Support customer meetings to prepare food and take notes where required.

NEW AND EXISTING FOOD DEVELOPMENT

• Attend the weekly NFD and Process meetings.
• Lead all support activities to the Process Technologists in planning, preparing and conducting scale up trials in the production kitchen.
• Drive the successful completion of all product testing and sample submissions at trial stage.
• Support the NFD & EFD team with sample preparation and organisation in the production kitchen and development kitchen.
• Ensure product sample submissions are completed on time with the required documentation for testing, customer submissions and photoshoots etc.
• Support with the completion of trial paperwork, QAS, Keycards, Labels and Handover documentation
• Assist the NFD/EFD team in raising and processing change forms for any changes to recipes or ingredients.
• Support on the running of process trials where given, working alongside process technologists to plan, and execute trial against agreed objectives.

PRODUCT QUALITY

• Own quality improvement projects where given and drive the planning, investigation and execution of improvement initiatives in collaboration with the Process Technologists, Technical and Operations teams.
• Attend taste panel & positive release meetings to drive Bigham’s quality culture
• Support the NFD/EFD team in completing 4, 8 & 12 week post launch review documentation.
• Support the maintenance and training of our QAS product standards to ensure these are always up to date and well understood by the site teams.
• Lead the management of Keycards keeping the Keycard Register and filing of Keycards up to date, print Keycards where required and ensuring all issued Keycards are signed off by key stakeholders.

The Ideal Candidate

Qualifications And Experience

• Working towards a food related degree
• Experience of project management and managing timelines

Key Skills

• A confident communicator
• Numerate
• Highly organised, able to manage and prioritise multiple tasks
• Focused with excellent attention to detail
• Excellent intrapersonal skills

Key Attributes

• Passionate about great food
• Positive ‘Can Do’ attitude
• Enthusiastic
• Proactive and curious
• Full of drive & energy
• Enjoys being part of a team
• Creative and Innovative