Home Economist-Product Development
Company overview
AGA Range master are world leaders in the manufacture of premium range cookers, Rangemaster’s history is rich as the first manufacturers of the range cooker nearly 200 years ago. Leamington Spa has been the home of our operation for the duration of our heritage, and we continue to produce cookers through the facility today. There are multiple brands in the group which are famous in many fields throughout many countries worldwide, these brands include AGA, Rangemaster, La Cornue, Leisure, etc.
Rangemaster remains the undisputed market leader through quality, reliability and performance, we are constantly striving to improve our products for the user and try to offer innovation to not only remain Britain’s favourite but the choice products around the world.
Role Purpose
As a Product Development Home Economist, you will support the Lab Manager and wider Product Development team to co-develop new products and features with Engineering, ensuring they deliver excellent performance and a simple, intuitive consumer experience.
You will own the planning and execution of cooking performance verification and validation against agreed test plans, emerging consumer trends, and competitive benchmarks. You will produce clear, evidence-based recommendations and support formal product sign-off at key project gates.
You will also work closely with Customer Services to help customers get the best from their appliances, supporting effective troubleshooting and aftercare. The role spans a broad white goods portfolio, including range cookers, built-in cooking products, refrigeration, dishwashers, sinks, and related categories.
Accountabilities/Responsibilities
Subject matter expert for cooking performance in Product Development, supporting decisions from concept to sign-off.
Create and deliver test plans, protocols, and acceptance criteria aligned to PD requirements and project gates.
Run hands-on performance testing on prototypes/production-intent units and drive improvements with Engineering.
Analyse results and translate data into clear recommendations to improve performance and usability.
Keep up to date with consumer trends and competitor activity, feeding insights into feature development and test coverage.
Own the test kitchen/lab, keeping it safe, organised, and suitable for repeatable testing.
Produce clear reports and presentations to document activity and support sign-off decisions.
Work effectively in a multi-disciplinary team, adapting to changing priorities and timelines.
Confidently influence stakeholders to push for product improvements, using evidence to support decisions.
Full UK driving licence and willingness to travel as required
Knowledge/Skills/Experience
Essential
Degree in Home Economics / Food Science or similar or equivalent relevant experience
Strong practical cooking knowledge; able to plan, execute and evaluate repeatable cooking trials
Strong written skills with disciplined record keeping
Able to plan work to balance conflicting priorities and meet deadlines.
Able to interpret results, identify trends/root causes, and translate observations into clear, actionable recommendations
Ability to develop and refine test methods and improve protocols over time
A self-starter that can work autonomously
Understanding how typical consumers use appliances; ability to identify usability risks and propose practical improvements
Able to support regular travel between sites (Telford Site)
Desirable
Experience working in product development across white goods portfolio, from a cooking performance perspective
Experience contributing to user guides, cooking charts, FAQs, troubleshooting scripts, or training materials
Experience creating standardised methods, repeatability studies, and improving protocols over time
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