Senior NPD Technologist
Cranswick Poultry is a specialty producer of delicious, cooked poultry ingredients and is a leading innovator in the industry. We create exciting, original products that meet the needs of today’s busy consumers. Working closely with customers, our bespoke chicken products offer creative and flavorsome lunchtime solutions.
An exciting new opportunity has arisen to join Development team as a Senior NPD Technologist. The role will involve external contact with customers as well as internal contact with own department, Sales, Purchasing, Operations, Technical and Category teams.
The key elements of the role are:
- Understands category insight to enable them to generate credible and commercially sound paper ideas with rationale.
- Accurately creates recipes from scratch that fit with site operational competencies and comply with site codes of practice, whilst meeting the brief requirements and considering retailer brand standards.
- Drive cost effective concept development and ongoing product improvement, working in hand with the rest of the team.
- Sourcing new raw materials, liaison with ingredient suppliers during the development process.
- Leads and/or attends site feasibility meetings for new projects.
- Organise nutritional testing and any chemical analysis to test and validate any initial product claims.
- Champions the site stage and gate process and ensures accurate completion, record keeping and communication to key stakeholders throughout the NPD process.
- Ensure all projects are managed and delivered through the Stage & Gate Process with adherence to both Cranswick and customer policies.
- Ensure all documentation and systems are maintained accurately in line with best practice, customer and business requirements.
- Organise and produce samples ready for despatch and complete sample submission paperwork accurately.
- Manage internal and customer panels, presenting to the customer with confidence and supporting rationale.
- Builds a strong relationship with the customer development contact, understands what a good job looks like from a customer’s perspective and manages customer expectations in a timely manner.
- Attend customer meetings, presentations, product reviews and factory visits.
- Ensure customer expectations are understood, communicated and delivered consistently.
- Build relationships with suppliers and external businesses to support development plans.
Key Requirements
- A strong technical knowledge ideally provided from experience (min 2 years) from chilled/within a similar field.
- Understanding of retailer launch processes and customer requirements.
- Strong understanding of Stage & Gate processes.
- Works to SMART objectives
- Able to cope under pressure and flex with departmental peaks.
- Can act on decisions with the appropriate level of urgency.
Shift is Monday to Friday