NPD Lead — Pet Food & Gifting Innovator

Butternut Box | B Corp; Amsterdam; Hybrid; EUR 93,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days holiday (plus bank holidays)

5 paws days off per year for learning

£500 personal learning & development预算

Discount on fresh food

Job summary

Butternut Box is seeking an experienced Product Development leader for an initial 15‑month maternity cover. You will own the Additional Products and gifting lines across brands, shaping concepts, delivering launches, and maintaining a clear reason for each product to exist.

You will steer end‑to‑end development, manage a small team, and collaborate with internal and external partners to drive commercially viable growth while staying true to customer needs.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in proposition, product development or innovation.
• Experience across food and non‑food ranges; pet category is a plus.
• A relevant degree (e.g. food science, animal science, nutrition, product development or business) or equivalent hands‑on experience.
• Food safety, nutrition or product development qualifications welcome but not required.
• Brand and proposition instinct; you understand what makes a brand special.
• A customer champion; use qualitative and quantitative insight to understand customer needs.
• End-to-end deliverer; track record taking products from idea to launch.
• Commercially minded; balance cost, quality and customer value.
• A people developer; experience mentoring at least one person.

Responsibilities

• Own and shape the long-term roadmap for additional products and gifting across both brands.
• Influence the pipeline to decide where we go next, prioritising what we work on now, next, and later.
• Bring new ideas and opportunities to the business from market, customer, and competitor research.
• Identify new opportunities, manage reformulations, and decide on products that no longer pull their weight.
• Work with third‑party partners to identify, develop, and deliver fresh opportunities across the category.
• Oversee end‑to‑end development of innovative additional products and gifting ranges from concept to launch.
• Cover both food and non‑food items with clear, justified briefs.
• Create customer‑led briefs and act as the customer champion to avoid dilution of opportunity.
• Help build recipes, plan and manage trials, and handle pre‑production activities.
• Lead product launches, support GTM with post‑launch reviews.
• Develop and maintain product briefs, specifications and documentation to high standards.
• Collaborate with Projects to strengthen ways of working and pipelines.
• Manage the additional products team to deliver roadmaps on time and in full.
• Collaborate with Senior Leadership, Marketing, Procurement, Supply Chain, Operations, CRM, and Brand.

Skills

Product development

End-to-end delivery

Brand instinct

Customer insights

Stakeholder management

Project management

Education

Relevant degree (food science, animal science, nutrition, product development or business)

Job description

Butternut Box is seeking an experienced Product Development leader for an initial 15‑month maternity cover. You will own the Additional Products and gifting lines across brands, shaping concepts, delivering launches, and maintaining a clear reason for each product to exist.

You will steer end‑to‑end development, manage a small team, and collaborate with internal and external partners to drive commercially viable growth while staying true to customer needs.