PLACE UK Ltd
Senior NPD Technologist
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Location - Place UK, Church Farm, Church Rd, Norwich NR12 8RQ
As a Senior Development Technologist, you will take ownership of New Product Development (NPD) and Existing Product Development (EPD) projects, working closely with NPD, customer teams, site teams, and cross-functional stakeholders. You will drive projects through our concept-to-launch process, ensuring products are commercially viable, technically feasible, and aligned to customer strategies and business growth objectives. Acting as a key link between development and launch teams.
Key Responsibilities
Product Development & Innovation
- Deliver customer-focused and commercially successful NPD and EPD projects.
- Ensure all developments meet customer requirements, legal standards, allergen controls, sustainability goals, and welfare standards.
- Identify opportunities for product improvement that enhance customer satisfaction and business value.
- Support innovation sessions and customer presentations, bringing market trends and consumer insights to life.
- Become a subject matter expert within the product category.
Project Management
- Lead projects through the Concept-to-Launch Gate Process, ensuring milestones are met and fully documented.
- Manage project critical paths and coordinate cross-functional teams to deliver successful product launches.
- Assess product feasibility and ensure all developments are technically and commercially viable.
- Build and maintain accurate recipe and costing data within internal systems.
- Support customer relationships by delivering projects on time and managing expectations effectively.
- In collaboration with operations, support with scale-up processes and factory trials, ensuring that expectations on quality are clearly communicated and defined.
- Support during first production runs and post-launch reviews, ensuring expectations set during development and trials are achieved.
- Collaborate with commercial, procurement, operations, and technical teams to ensure alignment on project timelines.
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Technical Excellence
- Ensure products presented to customers are of the highest quality and representative of manufacturing capabilities.
- Responsible for building technical documentation during the trial with operations.
- Challenge and resolve quality or consistency issues quickly and effectively.
- Review and approve artwork to ensure compliance with legal and customer requirements.
- Support continuous improvement initiatives and implementation of best-practice development processes.
- Maintain all required documentation to support internal and external audits.
- Manage and maintain technical documentation associated with NPD and first productions, including QAS, defrost validations, QC check sheets, and data collection. Support technical with specifications information for new products.
- Identify and update the technical team with any new products that require a HACCP review and attend HACCP meetings when required.
- Ensure information relevant to gate stages is handed over to NPD packaging coordinator.
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Market & Consumer Insight
- Stay ahead of emerging food, consumer, and restaurant trends.
- Monitor competitor activity and identify new business opportunities.
- Support customer roadmaps and innovation strategies aligned to market trends and site capabilities.
- Bring passion, creativity, and food expertise into every project.
- Support with business updates, including weekly project status, sharing information required for board and executive meetings, when requested, and for research, development, and creation of quarterly trend reviews.
About You
We're looking for someone who combines technical expertise with commercial awareness and excellent stakeholder management skills.
Essential Requirements
- Previous experience in a Product Development role within the food manufacturing industry.
- Proven experience launching food products from concept to market.
- Product costing experience.
- Understanding of budgets and commercial drivers.
- Supply chain knowledge, including sourcing ingredients and packaging.
- Strong project management skills with experience managing multiple projects simultaneously.
- Excellent communication and influencing skills.
- Strong analytical ability and attention to detail.
- Proficiency in Microsoft Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.
- Relevant food industry qualification and/or equivalent experience.
Desirable
- Degree in Food Science, Marketing, Business, or a related discipline.
- Experience within relevant product categories.
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