Food Product Development Manager

Role: Food Product Development Manager
Pay rate: £450 to £600 + Holiday pay (PAYE – Inside IR35)
Start: Immediate
Location: Central London – 3 days in the office with 2 days for work from home
Expected duration: 1 year with a possibility of extending

Our client is a fresh products grocer and global retailer. They are looking for an exceptionally motivated and talented Senior Product Development Manager with a strong customer focus, passion for great quality food. We are looking for someone with enthusiasm and food product development skills to be part of our client’s dynamic growing grocery team.
As an experienced Senior Product Development Manager, you will be responsible for the development of food products through all stages of the product lifecycle from insight through to product planning, development, specifications, artwork, and launch. You will use customer data and insight to inform product and ranging decisions.
Key Responsibilities

• Managing the development and product lifecycle of the grocery products under the business’s brand including but not exclusively: range architectures, adherence to brand values while setting and maintaining the highest quality standards and managing the critical path.
• You will need to constantly strive to simplify processes, maintain frugality and deliver results against commercial guardrails whilst upholding a high-quality bar.
• Clear and articulate communication skills and complex stakeholder management is essential
• You must be capable of building and managing long term relationships with a broad portfolio of vendors.
• Leveraging a background in culinary product development, the ideal candidate has a well-developed palate, a clear understanding of the grocery retail market, food trends and innovation
• The team works cross-functionally on projects that require a strong detail-oriented executional focus, problem solving drive, and proven ability to work autonomously. You will be passionate about food with extensive experience in grocery retail and bringing new products to market.

Requirements

• Ideally around 10 years product development experience, with majority experience (5 years +) at a food retailer. Ideal candidate has experience as a contractor.
• Culinary & Food Technology experience/training, preferably in fresh food development
• Experience and knowledge of ingredient functionality
• Experience working in a cross-functional large organisation environment
• Experience of converting data and insights into strategic product pipelines
• Experience in end-to-end project management and adherence to critical paths, brand standards
• Experience commercialising diverse products
• Experience with Excel, Outlook, SharePoint, and formula management focused systems