Greencore
Head Development Chef
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Job Description
Job: Head Development Chef
Location: Spalding West Marsh Road
Why Greencore?
Following the combination with Bakkavor in January 2026, we’re one of the UK’s leading creators of convenience food, driven by a simple purpose: to make everyday taste better.
As a vibrant and fast-moving business, we’re proud to employ over 28,000 talented colleagues across 36 manufacturing sites and 21 distribution depots in the UK and the US. Together, we bring delicious food to life. Our products cover every meal occasion from breakfast through to dinner and dessert, with lunch and snacking in between.
In FY25, our shared passion helped us achieve combined revenues of approximately £4bn. Our extensive direct to store (DTS) network, with 17 depots across the UK, allows us to deliver fresh and frozen food both our own and from trusted partners to thousands of stores every day, ensuring consumers enjoy the very best, whenever and wherever they shop.
We have an exciting opportunity for a Head Development Chef to join our innovation team in Bourne leading the the culinary excellence of our fresh produce category.
As the Culinary Lead, you will be at the forefront of our commitment to ‘Great Food,’ serving as a beacon of creativity and inspiration for our product development team. You'll not only champion culinary excellence but also build lasting food credibility with our valued customers.
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Key Responsibilities:
- Provide food innovation direction for product development for relevant product categories and customers aligned to the direction from the Future Food Team to ensure Greencore remain at the forefront of food and ingredient trends
- Working in conjunction with the Future Food team to drive the food knowledge, ingredients and skills via information sharing and workshops driving the great food culture across the development team and relevant manufacturing sites
- Provide creative food leadership challenging and pushing boundaries of conventional development to deliver differentiated products whilst understanding and challenging operational and technical capabilities
- Ensure all product development kitchens are run in a professional safe manner
- Build relationships with key customer contacts to drive the development of market leading products whilst creating reputation of great food and innovation
- Work in collaboration with the Future Food team to deliver specific category food innovation workshops to showcase the food innovation vision to support strategy presentations
- Hands on product development to assist with product development briefs as required following NPD procedures to ensure products are launched right first time and are of repeatable sustainable quality
- Leading the team to deliver development that improves our sustainability position through data tracking and reporting
- Manage team performance and personal development utilising GWG and LMF systems
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What We’re Looking For:
- Exceptional Culinary Expertise: Demonstrated through top-tier restaurant training and relevant manufacturing knowledge, showcasing your ability to blend creativity with practicality.
- Proven Track Record: Evidence of turning innovative food ideas into commercially successful products while setting new trends.
- Leadership Skills: Experience mentoring and developing teams, building strong customer relationships, and driving food credibility.
- Presentation Prowess: Proficiency in creating and delivering compelling presentations that captivate both internal teams and external stakeholders.
What you'll get in return:
- Competitive salary and job-related benefits
- Holidays
- Competitive matched pension contributions
- Life insurance up to 4x salary
- Company share save scheme
- Greencore Qualifications
- Exclusive Greencore employee discount platform
- Access to a full Wellbeing Centre platform
- Enhanced parental leave and menopause policies
Throughout your time at Greencore, you will be supported with on the job training.
We reserve the right to close this advert ahead of the specified end date.
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