NPD Manager
premium food producer | £60,000+ Depending on experience
The opportunity
We’re partnering with a much-loved food brand to find a passionate and driven NPD Manager. This is a pivotal role at the heart of a talented food team owning the full lifecycle of new product development from initial brief through to launch and post-launch review.
If you live and breathe great food, thrive on cross-functional collaboration, and know how to get the best out of a team in a fast-paced production environment, this could be the role for you.
What you’ll be doing
You’ll take the lead on new food development end-to-end briefing chefs, owning critical paths and driving delivery against tight timelines while keeping quality front and centre. That means running shelf-life tastings, managing raw material sourcing, costing every brief against margin targets, and producing polished food presentations for internal gatekeeping and customer sell-ins.
You’ll also play a key role in building and maintaining a quality-first culture across production, technical and supply chain teams ensuring trials are run effectively, reports are thorough and site handovers set the team up for post-launch success.
Leading a team and creating an environment where great food and great people can thrive.
You will be a good fit
• Minimum 5 years’ process management experience
• Strong NPD or EPD programme background
• Experience managing others
• Chilled experience desirable
• Commercially astute with solid analytical skills
• Confident presenter and cross-functional communicator
• Genuinely passionate about great food
• Highly organised with strong attention to detail
Please note: sponsorship is unfortunately not available for this role
If you would like to have a confidential conversation, then please contact Danielle Bailey 01780 483 999 or db@zestfoodjobs.co.uk
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