Tate & Lyle Sugars
Product Development Manager (Food)
London
Posted 17 days ago
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Product Development Manager
About the ASR Group®
The ASR Group® family of companies is the world’s largest refiner and marketer of cane sugar, producing a full range of grocery, industrial, foodservice, and specialty sweetener products. Across their global portfolio, they operate:
- North America: Six refineries (Louisiana, New York, California, Maryland, Canada, and Mexico)
- Europe: Sugar refineries in England, Portugal, and Italy (via joint venture)
- Mills & Farming: Sugarcane farms and mills in Mexico and Belize
Leading brands include Domino®, C&H®, Florida Crystals®, Redpath®, Tate & Lyle®, Lyle’s®, Sidul®, and Whitworths®, plus Tellus®, a compostable plant-based tableware brand.
Job Title
Product Development Manager
Location
Thames Refinery, UK
Reports To
R&T Director
Overview
Reporting to the Research and Technology Director, the Product Development Manager provides customer-facing leadership across the European product portfolio, acting as the critical link between:
- Customers, Sales & Marketing
- Operations and technical teams
Core Responsibilities
Product Development & Project Management
- Lead technical development for product reformulation, optimisation, and launch, ensuring alignment with commercial priorities and manufacturing capabilities.
- Provide senior technical guidance on ingredient qualification, applied development, and sampling (bench-top to full-scale) to meet customer and marketing requirements.
- Apply stage/gate project management methodologies to drive multiple customer-driven initiatives on time and to specification.
- Coordinate product formulations and laboratory testing, ensuring compliance with manufacturing, regulatory, and cost objectives.
- Manage sensory evaluations and consumer testing, analyse results, and deliver actionable insights.
- Develop and approve technical documentation (specifications, formulation briefs, process control documents) in collaboration with quality and operations teams.
Scale-Up Trials & Manufacturing Problem Solving
- Lead scale-up trials across European sites and co-packers, defining objectives, designing experiments, and optimising outcomes with cross-functional teams.
- Direct full-scale production trials to validate process robustness and ensure seamless transition from development to manufacturing.
- Troubleshoot technical and performance challenges across lab, pilot, and production scales to mitigate delays, quality issues, or customer concerns.
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Team & Laboratory Management
- Provide technical leadership to the Product team, prioritising customer and commercial needs while fostering collaboration.
- Develop team capabilities, training plans, and succession strategies to ensure long-term delivery continuity.
- Oversee laboratory operations, including:
- Applied product development and analytical testing
- Equipment reliability and consumables management
- Budget planning
- GMP-compliant safety and compliance
- Manage real-time and accelerated shelf-life assessments for new, reformulated, or optimised products.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Work with manufacturing, packaging, regulatory, quality, supply chain, and procurement teams to drive innovation.
- Partner with Marketing, Sales, Procurement, Finance, and Operations to identify competitive advantages and support new product development.
- Lead customer engagement sessions, supporting Sales and Marketing with product development briefs and sample demonstrations.
Work Experience Required
- Proven expertise in a senior technical role within Food, FMCG, or sweeteners industry, with experience delivering complex development and commercial projects.
- Strong technical background covering:
- Applied product development
- Manufacturing technologies (pilot to full-scale)
- Scale-up trials and process validation
- Proficiency in project management (including stage/gate methodologies) to Execute multiple parallel initiatives under tight deadlines.
- Hands-on experience in pilot and full-scale trials, ensuring GMP compliance and accurate results against specifications.
- Extensive knowledge of:
- Design of Experiments (DoE)
- Stability & shelf-life studies
- Analytical/physical testing methodologies
- Leadership skills:
- Proven ability to manage teams, develop talent, and drive collaborative outcomes.
- Direct experience with lab management, including safety, equipment, consumables, and budgeting.
- Strong HACCP and food safety expertise, with experience in developing process control documents.
- Excellent communication and influencing skills, with track record in cross-functional leadership and customer-facing engagements.
- Proficiency in MS Office Suite and familiarity with data analysis, reporting, and project management tools.
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Preferred Qualifications
- Knowledge of sugar refining/syrup production, including formulation impact and processing behaviour.
- Familiarity with continuous improvement (Lean, Six Sigma), advanced statistics, and AI/data-driven optimisation.
- Experience applying consumer insights to drive innovative product strategies.
- Awareness of global regulatory requirements for food/beverage products.
Education & Certification
- Minimum: B.Sc. in Foods, Nutrition, Chemistry, Agriculture, or a related STEM/Engineering discipline.
- Highly desirable: M.Sc. or Ph.D. in a relevant field.
- Preferred:
- Professional certifications in Health & Safety, Food Safety, HACCP, or Quality Management.
- Project Management (PMP, PRINCE2) or Continuous Improvement (Lean/Six Sigma) credentials.
ASR Group Commitment
At Tate & Lyle Sugars, our goal is to be "the most admired sweetener company" through:
- Service Excellence: Relentless focus on reliability, superior quality, and customer service as the industry gold standard.
- Efficiency & Sustainability: Eliminating inefficiencies to achieve cost leadership and reinvestment capacity.
- Value-Add: Driving strategic innovation for competitive advantage and profitability.
- Talent & Culture: Building, retaining, and empowering a high-performance team at the core of our success.
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Skills
Product Development
Project Management
Technical Leadership
Ingredient Qualification
Consumer Testing
Data Analysis
Manufacturing
Collaboration
HACCP Principles
Communication
Team Management
Laboratory Management
Regulatory Compliance
Continuous Improvement
Analytical Testing
Food Safety
Location