KURK
Product Development Scientist - Functional Nutrition
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Location
Twickenham, South West London (on-site)
Contract
Permanent, full-time (Monday to Friday)
Salary
£38,000–£45,000, plus performance bonus and up to £5,000 relocation support
Start date
Early October 2026
Reports to
Operations & Product Manager
KURK is a health and nutrition company making natural formulations to improve human health. We research, formulate, manufacture and sell our products — and we do it all from our own production facility and lab in West London. That means real science, real products, and full control from bench to shelf.
We're a small team at an inflection point: investing in new science and growing our product range. This hire will shape what comes next.
The role
This is an experienced NPD role with genuine end-to-end ownership. You'll take new products from brief to launch — consumer and market research, formulation, bench trials, sensory work, costing, scale-up and commercial launch — and you'll help define how NPD is done at KURK, not just follow a process someone else wrote.
You'll work alongside our Operations & Product Manager, with direct access to the founder and real influence over the product pipeline.
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What you'll do
- Own NPD projects end to end: brief, research, formulation trials, sensory evaluation, costing and presentation to management
- Help design and embed KURK's stage-gate NPD process
- Manage external suppliers and manufacturers through development and scale-up: quotes, MOQs, purchase orders, lead times and factory trials
- Build the commercial case for new concepts — costing, pack formats, market and competitor analysis — ready for board-level sign-off
- Improve existing products — formulation, flavour and format — using customer feedback and market data
- Support production of KURK's product range: batch preparation, weighing to specification, quality documentation
- Help maintain the lab environment — hygiene, food safety and contamination protocols, stock and equipment
This is a hands-on role in a small company. Some days are formulation and strategy; some days are on your feet in the lab.
About you
Essential
- Three to five years in a commercial NPD, R&D or product development role, with products you have personally taken from concept to launch. We will ask you to walk us through one of them in detail.
- Formulation and bench-trial experience, ideally across more than one format
- Experience coordinating external suppliers and manufacturers through scale-up
- Commercial instinct — you think about target price, cost of goods and manufacturing risk early, not at the end
- Working knowledge of food safety and quality systems (HACCP, GMP) and UK food regulation
- Self-directed: able to define the process, not only follow it
- A degree in food science, nutrition, chemistry or similar, or equivalent experience
- Able to work on-site in Twickenham, South West London
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Desirable
- Liquids, emulsions, drinks or other functional formats
- Reformulation with measurable outcomes
- Nutritional labelling and claims under UK law
- Experience of a structured stage-gate process, or of building one
KURK is an equal opportunities employer. We welcome applications from all backgrounds.
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