Senior NPD Technologist

JOB TITLE: Senior NPD Technologist (D1)
REPORTS TO: Head of Innovation
LOCATION: Bristol Innovation Centre, Farleigh Church, Old Weston Road, Flax Bourton. BS48 1UL
BENEFITS: Competitive basic salary + 20 days holiday (pro rata) + your birthday off + health care scheme + other company benefits
HOURS: Full time, Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm (flexibility required for travel to/from manufacturers for product trials/launches)

Purpose of role:
FSC is a family business with more than 30 years of award-winning experience in creating, rolling out and managing bespoke customer food-on-the-move solutions. Our customers include a selection of blue-chip companies in various industries, such as Shell and Dunelm. 
The Senior NPD Technologist will be based at the Bristol Innovation Centre (BIC), responsible for developing feasible recipes and products to meet our customer requirements in a challenging and fast-moving environment.

The role will involve…
Delivering new products & customer launches to market as part of an Agile scrum team, through:

• Attending, contributing to and being the accountable NPD Technologist at the daily stand-up meeting with scrum team members to discuss planned and completed work tasks, and assist team by removing blockers where possible 
• Driving the development and being both responsible and accountable for the development of feasible products from chef handover to launch, taking into consideration cost, market trends, microbiological hazards, customer profile, ease of manufacturing, distribution, packaging, and product testing
• Ensuring the ingredient/product information is accurate, up-to-date, and consistent across different ingredients and suppliers in the online NPD system (Recipe Professor), to a high professional standard
• Ensuring ingredient specs are completed on time in full by our suppliers
• Ensuring processes are followed e.g., RP technical approval of ingredients before artwork generation
• Creating manufacturing specifications and generating other required reports using the NPD system, ensuring a high quality of reports and the information they contain e.g., photos need to be cropped, edited, and fit for purpose
• Building relationships with the manufacturers, understanding their capabilities and spending time on site with their development teams to create exciting products in an efficient way, following the products through to the launch and beyond
• Being responsible and accountable for generating/formatting/checking information for product labeling including designs, descriptions, and ingredients in accordance with current legislation and customer brand standards, ensuring consistency
• Proof reading of artwork against pack copies ensuring consistency and accuracy across all cutter guides/product types/designs
• Liaising and communicating with external and internal stakeholders… the manufacturers, other members of the NPD team, ops team, technical team and account managers throughout the development and launch process
• Running/attending factory trials and product launches at various locations across the UK and Ireland
• Running/attending product photo shoots and taking photos for product specs where required, ensuring they are fit for purpose, accurate and of the quality required
• Assisting in sourcing new ingredients where appropriate
• Investigating new food trends and competitor activity at a local, national, and global levels
• Promoting a positive friendly ‘can do’ attitude within the department
• Performing any other duties and objectives as required from time to time to contribute effectively to the achievement of the business aims and objectives

Qualifications (academic and work-related)

Essential

• BSc Food Science/Technology (or similar)
• Valid driving licence

Experience

• 5+ years’ experience in NPD/process within FMCG, and having visited/worked in several different food manufacturing sites
• Specification management/artwork proofing with an FMCG food company
• Experience in working in a fast-paced environment, working with a high volume of SKUs
• Knowledge of UK labelling legislation
• A strong interest in food outside of work and awareness of market trends

Skills

• Computer literate, particularly EXCEL
• Meticulous attention to detail
• Excellent organisational skills
• A self-starter
• Able to work independently and as part of a team
• Relishes working in a fast-paced environment in a hands-on capacity
• Has a natural can-do attitude 
• Shows initiative
• Has ability to learn to use new software quickly
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal 
• As required to drive to suppliers/clients or between offices, a valid UK driving licence is essential
• Ability to multitask