Senior NPD Technician

Place UK Ltd; Norwich; Remote; GBP 42,000 - 64,000; Full time

Job summary

Place UK Ltd in Norwich is seeking a Senior NPD Technologist to own New Product Development (NPD) and Existing Product Development (EPD) projects from concept to launch. You will drive cross-functional collaboration with NPD, customer teams, site teams and commercial on feasible, commercially viable products and ensure compliance with legal standards, allergen controls and sustainability goals.

This role requires strong project management, technical excellence and the ability to turn market

Qualifications

• Previous experience in a Product Development role within the food manufacturing industry.
• Proven experience launching food products from concept to market.
• Product costing experience.
• Understanding of budgets and commercial drivers.
• Supply chain knowledge, including sourcing ingredients and packaging.
• Strong project management skills with experience managing multiple projects simultaneously.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills.
• Strong analytical ability and attention to detail.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.
• Relevant food industry qualification and/or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

• Deliver customer-focused and commercially successful NPD and EPD projects.
• Ensure all developments meet customer requirements, legal standards, allergen controls, sustainability goals, and welfare standards.
• Identify opportunities for product improvement that enhance customer satisfaction and business value.
• Support innovation sessions and customer presentations, bringing market trends and consumer insights to life.
• Become a subject matter expert within the product category.
• Lead projects through the Concept-to-Launch Gate Process, ensuring milestones are met and fully documented.
• Manage project critical paths and coordinate cross-functional teams to deliver successful product launches.
• Assess product feasibility and ensure all developments are technically and commercially viable.
• Build and maintain accurate recipe and costing data within internal systems.
• Support customer relationships by delivering projects on time and managing expectations effectively.
• In collaboration with operations, support with scale up processes and factory trials, ensuring that expectations on quality are clearly communicated and defined.
• Support during first production runs and post-launch reviews, ensuring expectations set during development and trials are achieved.
• Collaborate with commercial, procurement, operations, and technical teams to ensure alignment on project timelines
• Stay ahead of emerging food, consumer, and restaurant trends.
• Monitor competitor activity and identify new business opportunities.
• Support customer roadmaps and innovation strategies aligned to market trends and site capabilities.
• Bring passion, creativity, and food expertise into every project.
• Support with business updates, including weekly project status, sharing information required for board and exec meetings, when requested and for research, development and creation of quarterly trend reviews.

Skills

NPD

EPD

Project management

Stakeholder management

Analytical ability

Excel

Budgeting

Sourcing ingredients

Communication

HACCP understanding

Education

Food Science degree

Relevant food industry qualification

Tools

MS Office

PowerPoint

Job description

Role – Senior NPD Technologist

Location – Place UK, Church Farm, Church Rd, Norwich NR12 8RQ

As a Senior Development Technologist, you will take ownership of New Product Development (NPD) and Existing Product Development (EPD) projects, working closely with NPD, customer teams, site teams, and cross-functional stakeholders. You will drive projects through our concept-to-launch process, ensuring products are commercially viable, technically feasible, and aligned to customer strategies and business growth objectives. Acting as a key link between, development, and launch teams.

Key Responsibilities

Product Development & Innovation

• Deliver customer-focused and commercially successful NPD and EPD projects.
• Ensure all developments meet customer requirements, legal standards, allergen controls, sustainability goals, and welfare standards.
• Identify opportunities for product improvement that enhance customer satisfaction and business value.
• Support innovation sessions and customer presentations, bringing market trends and consumer insights to life.
• Become a subject matter expert within the product category.

Project Management

• Lead projects through the Concept-to-Launch Gate Process, ensuring milestones are met and fully documented.
• Manage project critical paths and coordinate cross-functional teams to deliver successful product launches.
• Assess product feasibility and ensure all developments are technically and commercially viable.
• Build and maintain accurate recipe and costing data within internal systems.
• Support customer relationships by delivering projects on time and managing expectations effectively.
• In collaboration with operations, support with scale up processes and factory trials, ensuring that expectations on quality are clearly communicated and defined.
• Support during first production runs and post-launch reviews, ensuring expectations set during development and trials are achieved.
• Collaborate with commercial, procurement, operations, and technical teams to ensure alignment on project timelines

Technical Excellence

• Ensure products presented to customers are of the highest quality and representative of manufacturing capabilities.
• Responsible for building technical documentation during the trial with operations
• Challenge and resolve quality or consistency issues quickly and effectively.
• Review and approve artwork to ensure compliance with legal and customer requirements.
• Support continuous improvement initiatives and implementation of best-practice development processes.
• Maintain all required documentation to support internal and external audits.
• Manage and maintain technical documentation associated with NPD and first productions, including QAS, defrost validations, QC check sheets and data collection. Support technical with specifications information for new products.
• Identify and update technical team with any new products that require a HACCP review and attend HACCP meetings when required
• Ensure information relevant to gate stages is handed over to NPD packaging coordinator.

Market & Consumer Insight

• Stay ahead of emerging food, consumer, and restaurant trends.
• Monitor competitor activity and identify new business opportunities.
• Support customer roadmaps and innovation strategies aligned to market trends and site capabilities.
• Bring passion, creativity, and food expertise into every project.
• Support with business updates, including weekly project status, sharing information required for board and exec meetings, when requested and for research, development and creation of quarterly trend reviews.

About You

We’re looking for someone who combines technical expertise with commercial awareness and excellent stakeholder management skills.

Essential Requirements

• Previous experience in a Product Development role within the food manufacturing industry.
• Proven experience launching food products from concept to market.
• Product costing experience.
• Understanding of budgets and commercial drivers.
• Supply chain knowledge, including sourcing ingredients and packaging.
• Strong project management skills with experience managing multiple projects simultaneously.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills.
• Strong analytical ability and attention to detail.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.
• Relevant food industry qualification and/or equivalent experience.

Desirable

• Degree in Food Science, Marketing, Business, or a related discipline.
• Experience within relevant product categories.