Product Development Lead
Shape the Future of Two Iconic Confectionery Brands
Do you love spotting the next big food trend? Are you passionate about turning consumer insight into commercially successful products? Can you inspire others, influence across a business and bring great ideas to life?
We're looking for an experienced Product Development Lead to drive innovation across Montezuma's premium chocolate and Bristows of Devon traditional confectionery.
This is more than a product development role. You'll drive the innovation strategy, lead the NPD pipeline from concept to launch, influence cross-functional teams and play a pivotal role in delivering profitable growth. From identifying emerging trends to launching products that customers love, you'll help shape the future of two much-loved brands.
What You'll Be Doing
Lead Innovation
- Deliver the innovation pipeline across both brands, balancing quick wins with longer-term strategic opportunities.
- Stay ahead of consumer trends, market insights and competitor activity to identify the next growth opportunities.
- Turn consumer insight into commercially compelling products that strengthen our brands and excite our customers.
- Champion a culture of creativity, curiosity and continuous innovation.
Own End-to-End NPD
- Lead the full Stage-Gate NPD process from concept through to successful commercial launch.
- Manage multiple projects simultaneously, ensuring they're delivered on time, within budget and to the highest quality standards.
- Oversee product development, factory trials and manufacturing scale-up, proactively managing risks and keeping stakeholders engaged throughout.
Deliver Commercial Success
- Balance creativity with commercial thinking, ensuring every product delivers value for customers and profitable growth for the business.
- Partner with Finance on product costings, pricing and margin targets.
- Work closely with Procurement and Operations to develop scalable, commercially viable solutions.
Influence Across the Business
- Build strong relationships across Marketing, Operations, Technical, Procurement, Finance and Manufacturing to keep projects moving and teams aligned.
- Act as the driving force behind NPD, bringing people together, influencing decisions and creating momentum from idea to launch.
- Collaborate with Marketing to develop compelling product propositions, packaging direction and launch stories that bring each brand to life.
Provide Technical Leadership
- Lead and develop the Product Development Technologist through coaching, support and mentorship.
- Ensure recipes, specifications and products are technically robust, scalable and fully compliant with food safety and labelling requirements.
- Drive continuous improvement across NPD processes to improve speed, efficiency and delivery.
About You
You'll be an experienced food innovator who combines creativity with commercial acumen and thrives on bringing new ideas to market.
You'll have:
- Proven experience in food product development, innovation or NPD.
- Experience within confectionery, chocolate or FMCG food manufacturing.
- A track record of taking products from concept through to successful commercial launch.
- Strong commercial awareness, with experience of costings, margins and pricing.
- Excellent project management and organisational skills.
- The ability to influence and collaborate across multiple business functions.
- Experience leading, coaching or mentoring others.
Most importantly, you'll be someone who is naturally curious, keeps ahead of emerging trends, loves discovering what's next and has the drive to turn ideas into products consumers can't wait to buy.
Why Join Us?
This is a rare opportunity to shape the future of two distinctive brands with loyal followings.
You'll have the freedom to influence innovation strategy, work with passionate colleagues across the business and see your ideas become products on the shelf.
If you're commercially minded, consumer obsessed and excited by creating the next generation of chocolate and confectionery products, we'd love to hear from you.
Pay: £40,000.00-£45,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Bereavement leave
- Casual dress
- Company pension
- Free parking
- On-site parking
- Sick pay
Ability to commute/relocate:
- Chichester PO20 7BT: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)
Application question(s):
- What are your salary expectations?
Experience:
- Chocolate/Confectionery/FMCG: 2 years (required)
- Innovation/NPD: 5 years (preferred)
Work Location: In person
