Current vacancies
Product Development Technician
We’re a family-owned business with a state of the art facility and a reputation for supplying premium grain and seed products to food manufacturers across bakery, breakfast cereal, biscuit, snack and brewing categories.
We are looking for a Product Development Technician to support our busy New Product Development (NPD) and Sales teams.
Working within the NPD team based in the North East of England, you’ll support the NPD Manager with the creation of new products - from concept to launch - as well as working on product improvement and cost saving projects. You will also have responsibility for test kitchen stock and inventory.
We are looking for someone with basic cookery skills and food hygiene knowledge to work 28 hours a week. We fully support flexible working, so if you’re looking to work with an established, respected, friendly and creative team, we believe there’s nobody better.
Scope of the job
- To support the NPD Manager with the development of new product concepts, through the preparation of recipes and contribution of ideas in response to a development brief.
- To support the sales team through the preparation of samples, as required by the business
- To manage Sales & NPD sample dispatch to ensure full traceability of customer samples, including completion of the sample log, arranging appropriate dispatch method, generating sample labels, parcel tracking etc.
- To control an inventory of raw materials and sample stock held in the NPD kitchen, ensuring health and safety data sheets and specifications are available for relevant products
- To manage the stock of raw materials held in the kitchen. To ensure products are available in a timely manner, within shelf-life and with full traceability. Ordering internal sample stock through purchasing, as required.
- To liaise with suppliers for sample ingredients, as required.
- Responsible for housekeeping and hygiene in the NPD Kitchen and storage areas.
- Responsible for ensuring NPD equipment is calibrated and maintained
- Following relevant training able to use all relevant product testing equipment to support transfer of products from the NPD kitchen to the line
- Supporting the NPD Manager and Sales team with customer lunches and presentations, as required
- To support the with shelf-life studies for new concepts, as directed by the NPD Manager
- To support the NPD Manager at factory trials when required, to ensure that all relevant samples are collected and relevant testing is completed.
- To attend supplier presentations as requested by the NPD Manager to gain knowledge of new raw materials, be aware of flavour trends etc.
- Working within the scope of the BRC standard to ensure there are no NPD non-compliances by following the required NPD procedures.
Skills required
- Experience of food preparation / Basic hygiene knowledge.
- Basic cookery skills / Able to follow recipes.
- Interest in foods.
- Organised / Good attention to detail.
- Basic computing skills using Windows, Excel and Outlook.
- Good communication skills.
- Able to make decisions but refer upwards when the decision requires management approval.
To apply, send your CV and covering letter to our NPD Manager, Julie Telfer.
General recruitment
We advertise our vacancies online as well as locally and in specialist trade media. However, we are always keen to hear from talented people with work experience from outside the industry, so please register your interest by completing our online form.
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