Product Developer

Greencore Group Lts; Sheffield; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 45,000; Full time

Job description

Why Greencore?

We’re a leading manufacturer of convenience food in the UK and our purpose is to make every day taste better.

We’re a vibrant, fast-paced leading food manufacturer, employing around 13,600 colleagues across 16 manufacturing units and 17 distribution depots across the UK. We supply all the UK’s food retailers with everything from sandwiches, soups and sushi to cooking sauces, pickles and ready meals. In FY23, we generated revenues of £1.9bn.

Our vast direct-to-store (DTS) distribution network, comprising of 17 depots nationwide, enables us to make over 10,400 daily deliveries of our own chilled and frozen produce and that of third parties.

What you'll be doing

We have an interim opportunity for a Product Developer to join our team at Kiveton for a period of 12 months to cover maternity.

As a Product Developer, your role will be to develop new and modify existing products in line with written briefs, customer expectations, and financial targets to create products of sustainable and repeatable quality and sustainable cost.

In this role you will be required to:

• Develop new and existing recipes into commercially viable products, benchmarking regularly to gain awareness of the market for a competitive advantage.
• Create recipes alongside the chefs, input recipes onto the recipe management system, and review the accuracy of all recipes inputted by the product technologist and chefs to ensure they meet cost, weight, and nutritional requirements.
• Ensure the viability of new raw ingredients from an operational, technical, and product development perspective to bring innovation and challenge to existing Greencore policies and practices.
• Complete and/or review and approve all relevant documentation (feasibility forms, customer submission forms, concept to process handovers, etc.) to ensure accuracy of information shared internally and externally.
• Put all products through the feasibility process, working with the commercial, operations, technical, and purchasing teams to solve any issues to ensure concepts are repeatable, sustainable, and scalable.
• Compile product costing information and adapt recipes to balance food quality with achievement of commercial brief targets within customer brand standards.
• Present benchmarking, existing (EPD) and new products (NPD) at internal and customer presentations, passionately demonstrating good market and food trends awareness to achieve product approval.
• Follow the critical path timelines as directed, escalating incomplete tasks and deficiencies in testing to ensure that mitigating action can be taken to prevent delays in product acceptance and launch.
• Assist the process team with the scale-up production trials, as required, to ensure production quality matches the kitchen quality signed off by the customer.
• Provide leadership and direction to ensure that across the team, people are kept safe, engaged, focused, developed, and delivering to their potential.

What we’re looking for

• Proven experience in food product development, ideally within the FMCG or food manufacturing sector.
• Analytical; comfortable with producing and reviewing costings.
• Proficient in all elements of product development from concept to launch.
• Proven track record of successfully validating products and producing high-quality documentation.
• Confident in presenting to all levels within the business and directly to customers.
• Experience in people management.

If this sounds like you, join us and grow with Greencore, and be a part of driving our future success.

What you’ll get in return

• Competitive salary and job-related benefits.
• Holidays.
• Pension up to 8% matched.
• Company share save scheme.
• Greencore Qualifications.
• Exclusive Greencore employee discount platform.
• Access to a full Wellbeing Centre platform.

Throughout your time at Greencore, you will be supported with on-the-job training and development opportunities to further your career.