NPD Technician: Food Innovation & Sample Creation

Avara Foods; Wednesbury; On-site; GBP 21,000 - 27,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

31 Days Holiday

Pension

Life Insurance

Wellbeing resources

Job summary

Avara Foods is seeking an NPD Technician to support the New Product Development team across Dudley and Wednesbury sites. You will help drive food product innovation from concept to launch while ensuring safe, compliant kitchen and factory areas.

The role requires hands‑on cooking, ingredient handling, and strong organisational skills. A full UK driving licence and 2+ years in food are preferred; opportunities for development and travel are available.

Qualifications

• Clear and confident verbal and written communication.
• Excellent time management and a logical, adaptable approach to tasks.
• Self-motivated and able to take initiative and ownership of responsibilities.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office, especially Excel and email communication.
• Minimum 2 years’ experience in the food industry (e.g. home economics or kitchen-based roles).
• A full UK driving licence (manual & automatic, with business insurance).

Responsibilities

• NPD Area Management: Ensure the development areas are safe, clean, well-organised, and stocked with ingredients and consumables.
• Equipment Maintenance: Monitor and manage equipment servicing, calibration, and risk assessments on a regular schedule.
• Sample Preparation: Produce high-quality samples for customer submissions, internal innovation sessions, benchmarking, and presentations.
• Product & Data Support: Support technologists with organoleptic tasting assessments, cooking validations, nutrition samples, and data uploading.
• Ingredient Management: Source, collect, and store ingredients according to allergen procedures across sites.
• Audit & Compliance: Support internal audits to meet pass standards.
• Presentation Support: Assist with customer and supplier presentations and travel as required.
• Collaboration: Build relationships across Wednesbury, Dudley, and other sites.
• General NPD Support: Help Development Technologists and wider NPD team.

Skills

Verbal and written communication

Time management

Initiative

Microsoft Excel

UK driving licence

Tools

SharePoint

Recipe Professor

Microsoft Excel

Job description

Avara Foods is seeking an NPD Technician to support the New Product Development team across Dudley and Wednesbury sites. You will help drive food product innovation from concept to launch while ensuring safe, compliant kitchen and factory areas.

The role requires hands‑on cooking, ingredient handling, and strong organisational skills. A full UK driving licence and 2+ years in food are preferred; opportunities for development and travel are available.