NPD Manager

NPD Manager
premium food producer | -60,000+ Depending on experience

The opportunity
We''re partnering with a much-loved food brand to find a passionate and driven NPD Manager. This is a pivotal role at the heart of a talented food team owning the full lifecycle of new product development from initial brief through to launch and post-launch review.
If you live and breathe great food, thrive on cross-functional collaboration, and know how to get the best out of a team in a fast-paced production environment, this could be the role for you.

What you''ll be doing
You''ll take the lead on new food development end-to-end briefing chefs, owning critical paths and driving delivery against tight timelines while keeping quality front and centre. That means running shelf-life tastings, managing raw material sourcing, costing every brief against margin targets, and producing polished food presentations for internal gatekeeping and customer sell-ins.
You''ll also play a key role in building and maintaining a quality-first culture across production, technical and supply chain teams ensuring trials are run effectively, reports are thorough and site handovers set the team up for post-launch success.
Leading a team and creating an environment where great food and great people can thrive.

You will be a good fit
* Minimum 5 years'' process management experience
* Strong NPD or EPD programme background
* Experience managing others
* Chilled experience desirable
* Commercially astute with solid analytical skills
* Confident presenter and cross-functional communicator
* Genuinely passionate about great food
* Highly organised with strong attention to detail

Please note: sponsorship is unfortunately not available for this role

If you would like to have a confidential conversation, then please contact Danielle Bailey (phone number removed) or (url removed)

As you know over here at Zest we like to do things properly and always want to keep you, the candidate in the loop. Applying to this ''one of a kind'' role you give Zest permission to hold your information. If you want to know more about how Zest look after your personal information please visit our privacy policy on the website (url removed)