Senior Product Developer

Overview

Bring exciting food to life and help create market leading meals and desserts as a Senior Product Developer. You will lead product development projects for Wiltshire Farm Foods, driving the pipeline, improving favourites, and pushing boundaries of what great food can be, from concept through to launch.

Who we are

apetito is the UK's leading food supplier to the health and social care sectors, serving more than 1,300 care homes, health and education settings. Our meals are crafted by dietitians and chefs and then frozen to lock in quality. Wiltshire Farm Foods, our sister company, is the UK's main ready meal supplier, cooking and delivering over 330 frozen ready meals across the UK.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage Wiltshire Farm Foods development programmes at all stages of the development process from concept through to launch.
• Provide leadership and team development support.
• Ensure compliance with apetito development processes and company policies.
• Deliver market leading innovative, proactive and responsive product development.
• Identify and deliver product quality, nutrition and cost improvements, taking account of the needs of all stakeholders.
• Support the improvement of Development processes and procedures.
• Proactively identify and propose new opportunities to improve our Wiltshire Farm Foods range.
• Manage and deliver projects directly assigned by the Head of Product & Process Development.

About you Essential

• Real passion for great food.
• Proven track record in food product development.
• Experience managing the transition of new products to full scale production, including factory trials.
• Ability to inspire and lead team and colleagues to deliver exceptional results.
• Experience collaborating across teams to achieve successful outcomes.
• Strong project management skills.
• Great presentation and communication skills.
• Creativity, persistence and resilience.
• The ability to influence and motivate stakeholders.
• Strong problem solving ability.

Desirable

• Experience in chilled or frozen manufacturing.
• Background in prepared meals categories.
• Strong culinary or sensory evaluation skills.
• Good commercial awareness.

Company Benefits

• Competitive salary - accredited Living Wage employer.
• 25 days holiday per year, plus bank holidays.
• Option to purchase up to 5 additional days holiday per year.
• Discretionary annual bonus scheme.
• Pension scheme - employer matched contributions up to 4%.
• Life assurance scheme worth at least 1x annual salary.
• Subsidised canteen.
• Free parking.
• Free turkey or voucher at Christmas.
• apetito perks scheme including salary sacrifice options and retail discounts.

Our Values

As a family owned business, we take pride in creating outstanding meals that enhance health and well being. We serve the UK's most vulnerable people, use the best ethical and sustainable produce, and are committed to Net Zero by 2040. Our ethical standards are recognised by the ETI, and we are an accredited Living Wage employer.

We embrace inclusion and empower individuals from diverse backgrounds, building an inclusive workplace where everyone reaches their full potential.