Technical Product Development Technologist

Cape Herb; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 420,000 - 620,000; Full time

Job summary

Cape Herb & Spice in Cape Town seeks a dynamic Technical Development Technologist to drive new product development from concept to launch, with a focus on technical development, regulatory compliance, and international market readiness. You will own projects, develop formulations, ensure labelling compliance, and collaborate with customers, suppliers and internal teams.

Responsibilities include coordinating trials, product validations, and documentation, while ensuring compliance with

Qualifications

• Experience in product development and regulatory compliance within FMCG.
• Strong knowledge of HACCP and food safety practices.
• Excellent written and spoken English and stakeholder communication.

Responsibilities

• Lead new product development from concept to launch and ensure market fit.
• Develop formulations, costings, and technical documentation.
• Ensure regulatory compliance, labelling accuracy and packaging specs.
• Coordinate with customers, suppliers and internal teams across markets.
• Plan factory trials, tastings and product validations.
• Maintain BOMs, specifications and artwork review support.

Skills

Product Development

Food Manufacturing

Food Safety & HACCP

Regulatory Compliance

English communication

Education

BSc Food Science

Food Technology

Consumer Science

Tools

Microsoft Office

Excel (Intermediate)

Job description

Reporting: Technical Lead

Location: Westlake
*Please note that the location of this role will be moving to Montague Gardens in May 2027.

Cape Herb & Spice has grown from entrepreneurial roots into a global FMCG player, employing over 500 people and operating over 3 sites in Cape Town with a wide range of products across various categories.

Centered around innovation and quality, Cape Herb and Spice give any candidate a great opportunity to gain extensive international experience and build an exciting career.

Purpose:

The Spice Division is looking for a dynamic Technical Development Technologist to support innovation and new product development for key customers across local and international markets.

The successful candidate will own new product development projects from concept through to launch, with a specialist focus on the technical development and validation of products. Working across a diverse range of international markets, the role will provide technical expertise in product formulation, regulatory compliance, market-specific requirements and manufacturing to ensure products are commercially viable, compliant and fit for manufacture.

Role Objectives:

• New Product Development
• Technical Excellence

Key Functional Duties:

The Development Technologist owns projects from concept through to launch and is responsible for:

• Keep abreast of, and research, new concepts, trends, market activity and innovation within the herb and spice categories.
• Develop innovative, commercially viable products aligned with customer requirements, market trends and intended target markets.
• Manage all stages of the product development process from concept through to successful launch.
• Support recipe formulation, product optimisation and product costings.
• Research and apply relevant technical and regulatory requirements across local and international markets.
• Adapt product formulations and ingredient selections to meet country-specific regulatory, customer and market requirements.
• Develop and adapt products to meet market-specific customer, ingredient and regulatory requirements.
• Create and maintain product specifications, in-process specifications, Bills of Materials (BOMs) and related technical documentation.
• Support the development and adaptation of artwork for different international markets, ensuring ingredient declarations, allergens, claims, nutritional information and other mandatory labelling requirements are compliant.
• Review product labels, artwork and specifications for customer and country-specific legislative compliance
• Support artwork development and review product labels, artwork and specifications for technical, customer and legislative compliance across relevant markets.
• Support packaging development and the sourcing and technical assessment of compliant raw materials and packaging.
• Ensure NPD activities comply with company certifications, food safety requirements and applicable country-specific regulations.
• Liaise with customers, suppliers and internal departments throughout the development process.
• Plan and lead factory trials, travel tests, first production runs and product launches.
• Conduct product tastings and evaluations to ensure products are safe and meet quality and customer expectations.
• Work closely with the Project Development Technologist to ensure projects are successfully delivered through to launch.

Role Specialisation – Technical Excellence:

In addition to the above responsibilities, this role has a specialist focus on:

• Providing technical guidance and problem solving throughout the product development process.
• Provide technical and regulatory guidance for product and artwork adaptations across international markets
• Assessing formulations and ingredients against customer and market-specific requirements, particularly for international markets.
• Leading product validation through factory trials, travel tests, shelf-life assessments and sensory evaluations.
• Providing guidance on HACCP, food safety and regulatory requirements.
• Supporting technical assessments of new raw materials, ingredients and packaging.
• Supporting manufacturing optimisation to ensure products are suitable for commercial production.
• Investigating technical challenges and supporting root cause analysis and corrective actions.
• Identifying opportunities for product, process and quality improvements.
• Supporting technical decision-making across development projects

Education & Required Knowledge:

• Food Technology
• Consumer Science
• BSc Food Science

Experience in:

• Product Development
• Food Manufacturing
• Food Safety & HACCP
• Regulatory Compliance
• Computer Literacy (Microsoft office)
• Excel Fluency – Intermediate level
• Excellent verbal and written communication in English

Personal Characteristics:

• Deadline driven
• Proactive and enthusiastic
• High attention to detail
• Strong analytical thinking
• Strong problem-solving skills
• Solutions orientated
• Resilient and adaptable
• Curious with a continuous improvement mindset
• Ability to work in a high-pressure and fast-paced environment
• Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously
• Commercially minded
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team
• Knowledgeable foodie

If you have not received a response within two weeks of application, kindly consider your application unsuccessful.

To consider any application for employment, we will have to process your personal information. The Protection of Personal Information Act, 4 of 2013 (POPIA), provides that when one processes another’s personal information, such collection, retention, dissemination and use of that person’s personal information must be done in a lawful and transparent manner.

To give effect to the above, we are required to provide you with information regarding the processing of your personal information. This information is recorded under the HR Processing Notice, which can be accessed and viewed on the Company website at https://www.libstar.co.za/legal/. Printed copies of this Processing Notice can also be accessed from the HR department. We kindly request that you read the HR Processing Notice to ensure that you understand how Libstar uses and processes your personal information.