Senior Food Technologist

JOB TITLE: (Senior) Food Technologist (D1)
REPORTS TO: Ruth Fingleton (Head of NPD)
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 + enhanced maternity/paternity leave package + 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 looking for a (Senior) Food Technologist to develop new products, and modify existing ones, in-line with briefs for a variety of customers (currently including Shell UK, Shell Canada and HMS Host), ensuring food safety, legality and quality standards are met for all products.
Key deadlines will need to be met, with a focus on customer requirements and financial targets, project tracking, proactively communicating throughout the NPD process and managing expectations across the business.

The role will involve:
Product Development

• Owning products from concept to launch (in-line with the critical path) with a strategic approach, considering factors such as cost, market trends, customer preferences and being the contact for individual products
• Providing guidance to all relevant departments when new products are developed in your food technology specialism
• Ensuring food safety, legality, and quality standards are adhered to in line with the businesses policies and procedures for all new products
• Ensuring the ingredient/product information is accurate, up-to-date, and consistent across different ingredients and suppliers in the online NPD system (Recipe Professor)
• Ensuring all new raw materials are assessed appropriately and assessed against the current HACCP plan, raising any concerns where appropriate
• Coordinating/attending factory trials, product launches and product photo shoots at various locations across the UK and Ireland
• Making sure post trial actions are documented, followed up and completed e.g., product spec sign off, organising samples for microbiological and organoleptic shelf life testing, transit trials, and hot hold testing, as well as arranging customer samples
• Ensuring product specifications and QAS documents are created, agreed, approved, and issued in a timely manner prior to launch
• Approval of packaging artwork and accountability for updating allergen matrices following a thorough risk assessment 
• Ensuring that any new procedures are implemented effectively, and continually updating existing ones where necessary
• Assessing ingredient changes during the development process that reduce environmental impact
• Engaging the team/customers in discussions around minimising environmental impact due to wastage
• Working collaboratively with the NPD department on raw materials both new and current for cost saving projects and product / process quality improvement initiatives 
• Performing any other duties and objectives as required from time to time to contribute effectively to the achievement of the business aims and objectives 

Collaborative Engagement and Team Leadership 

• Presenting products (existing and new) at internal and customer presentations, passionately demonstrating good market and food trend awareness to achieve product approval 
• Building strong relationships with manufacturers, assessing capabilities, and collaborating closely with their development teams to create exciting products in an efficient way, following the journey from conception through to launch and beyond
• Leading post launch reviews for all products within the range to validate that financial, operational and sales KPIs have been achieved and to capture lessons learned for future product designs and launches

Marketing Communications

• Managing and coordinating all point-of-sale (POS) materials throughout the marketing calendar with key shell partners, including creating or updating POS info (e.g., allergens, price, kcal), on-site testing of new POS, and creation of monthly MyShop (using Adobe Illustrator and InDesign Software) in accordance with current legislation and customer brand standards
• Delivering the product manual and process guides

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
• Experience in working in a fast-paced environment, working with a high volume of SKUs
• Customer facing
• Knowledge of UK (& Canadian) labelling legislation
• A strong interest in food outside of work and awareness of market trends

Skills

• Computer literate, particularly EXCEL (Adobe Illustrator/InDesign knowledge would be advantageous)
• 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 the ability to learn to use new software quickly
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal 
• If required to drive to suppliers/clients or between offices, a valid UK driving licence is essential
• Ability to multitask