Graduate Product Developer, Co Durham

Job Description

A client of ours – one of the leading brands in the food manufacturing sector – has notified us of an exciting position for those within the New Product Development field. The client is looking for an NPD graduate, either straight out of university or with 6 months to 1 years’ experience in the field. This is a fantastic opportunity to work with one of the leading food manufacturers in it’s sector.

Main Purpose of the Position

• To provide a site-based product development resource based onsite, supporting the development department with NPD, EPD, Value engineering projects as well as other business or customer related projects.
• Involved in all aspects of bringing a new product to market – from the initial concept right through to product launch.
• Work as part of a cross functional team and will liaise with Technical, Procurement, Marketing, Account and Commercial managers & Production departments.
• Hands on experience across various retail customers and includes branded product development.

Key Responsibilities

• Taking an active development role for account briefs with developer support. Including ideation, recipe development, benchmarking, coordinating taste panels and product submissions along with supporting paperwork.
• Assisting across full development process from concept through to launch – recipe make up, tasting and testing to customer requirements.
• Recipe development and reformulation to achieve a product that meets customer expectations and that is financially and technically feasible, supported by NPD developers
• Supporting NPD developers in account specific tasks
• Communication with internal departments and external customer/supplier contacts where required
• Operating internal systems and processes for costings and nutrition with accuracy
• Researching and observing trends and ideas to bring into concept development
• Undertaking relevant project tasks when required
• HFSS scoring/input and calculation
• Conducting shelf-life panels and updating relevant paperwork
• Nutritional testing of new products to ensure that the nutritional composition of a new product meets the requirements of the retailers’ nutritional policies and/or fulfils nutritional claims.
• Cooking instruction development for all new products to ensure that a food to safe to consume and of a high quality for consumers when cooked.
• Collect raw materials from the factory when needed and ensure sample deliveries are located.
• Visiting retailers and shopping to support sample preparations or customer meeting refreshments as required by the business.

What the position offers

• Industry competitive salary of £25,000
• The chance to work with a market leading food manufacturer who promote fantastic development and progression opportunities

If you find yourself interested, please contact David Cockburn at D R Newitt for more information.