Senior Product Development Manager
Job description
Want to help us bring happiness to the world? Want to join an ambitious and fast growing global biscuits and confectionery business investing heavily in iconic global brands, infrastructure and people? Then this is the place for you.
As proud bakers and chocolatiers and custodians of iconic global brands, we don’t compromise on the quality of ingredients in our products or on the people we hire. We are looking for entrepreneurial spirits who share our passion for bringing happiness to our consumers and who embody our Winning Traits.
To succeed at pladis you need to bepurpose-led,resilientandpositiveto succeed here because we expect pace andagility, we insist oncollaborationand demand accountability. If that is your thing, then pladis offers global ambition, a clear Vision and roadmap for success, challenge, and unrivalled opportunities to learn and make an impact
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Contextand role purpose
pladisoperates in highly competitive,fast-movingmarkets where it is essential tomaintainand extend market share through profitable branded growth. Successful innovation through product development, continuous value improvement and consumer perceived quality superiority vs. the competition are critical.
This is acriticalrole responsible forbuilding opportunities toexplore,developand implementprotoceptsto prototypes to fit concepts that will drive brand strategiesacross multiple geographies. They will work closely with marketing teams to activate and bring to reality technical briefs.
They will support the Breakthrough Product Director in thedeliveryagainstan ambitious and transformationalbreakthrough productstrategythat isaligned to the growth ambition and sustainability aspirations of the company.
The role requires an individualwho is competent and skilledatworking acrosscultures and functionsand collaborating to deliver with others. They need to be able to work effectively withboth internal andexternal partners to identifyappropriate opportunitiesand drive development of innovative solutions, best practiceapproachesandsystems.
Key areas of focus forthis secondmentrole will be:
Managing the development andthe Global Savoury Expansion initiative – with an aim ofgrowing thepladisportfolio in new and existing markets: working closely with bothglobal commercial and regional R&D teams while employing strong technical project management
Leading initiatives to unlocking future technologies by applyingbothstrongproduct and process knowledge to build scale platformsfor innovation. This will includeprototyping,planningand executingtrialsin both pilot plants and production facilities,identifyingprocess requirements
Defining and delivering technical concepts into product development
Developing solutions to technical hurdles
Providing a technical responsetocommercial briefs
Owning and delivering bench samples and pilot / factory trials
Managing trial budgets and project plans
The ideal candidate will have excellent core technical skills,string understanding and experience inproduct development and managing such projects/programs,agoodunderstanding of process/chemical engineering principlesand be able to understand the needs of the business, ourconsumersand customers to drive an exciting productagenda. You will be a self-starter,possessa drive for results.
pladisorganization model is based onregions with full accountability of their own P&L
Global
UK & Ireland
Europe & Emerging Markets (EEM)
Turkey, Central Asia (TRCA)
Middle East, North Africa (MENA)
North America (Nam)
Asia pacific (APAC)
Godiva (Global)
GlobalR&D workshand in hand on many initiativeswith partners in the other functions (both globally and within regions)to create strong competitive advantages forpladisincluding:
Product Innovation
Identification andunlocking of future technologies
Portfolio transformation for Health and Happiness
Sustainability ( environment-friendly initiatives)
TransformationalProductivity, through product reformulation
Specifically onBreakthroughproduct, we need to:
Define and deliver a medium to long term roadmap and align an agenda to driveinnovation,sustainabilityand productivity – build the internal cross-functionalexpertiseand relationships to deliver that agenda.
Build strong collaborative relationships with Suppliers to capture the best practices on the market andmonitorproject implementation.
Build strong collaborative relationships withregionalteams to build opportunities which scale across multiple regions.
The position will reportto the Head of Innovation for the Savoury category. It is expected that the incumbent will work very closely with their counterpartsacross the Central Innovation &Technology team, as well as the Global commercial teamto effectively delivery the jointgrowth and transformationagenda and ensure balanced focus on deliverables.
Principle Accountabilities
Manage and be accountable for all technical aspects of product design and deliver developmentsacross all global regions/markets as required by the project, meeting the quality, cost and timings encouraged.
Collaborate with others to build and deliverappropriate solutionsto defined technical hurdles.
Provide a technical response to the commercial brief. Input technical detail into Stage & Gate process then translate this into a Product Development Programme up to Development stage.
Identifytechnical hurdles, compile technical risk assessment and contingenciesandprojectmanageprojects includingissues.
Ensuretimelycompletion of project documentation,monitoring andacting upon it accordingly.
Ensure technical gates are completed at each stage plus ensure the completion of ingredient specs, product specs, HARA, and product quality attributes delegating tasks to project team asappropriate.
Overall responsibility for the development of bench samples, planning and running pilot plant and factory trials (pladisand Suppliers), and presentation of samples to marketing and other stakeholders.
Ensure that all work is carried out in a safe and hygienic manner, following factory or bakery GMPs.
Regular review trial's budget for a project and the associated phased spend ensuring regular update of cost tracking spreadsheet and reviewing with line manager.
Draw up product specs to final status ensuring effective handover of the development to theregionalCategories Product Development Teams.
Contribution to regionalpladisInnovation strategy through support of conceptualisation and proactive NPD.
Manage,empowerand mentor subordinates, so their personal and technical development needs areidentifiedand acted upon. Be a role model for the team promotinghigh standardsof work, and behaviours.
Work with colleagues to ensure that product development facilities aremaintainedto a safe and hygienic standard andoperateusing lean principles. Drive for continuous improvement.
Ensure that personal development plans are built, kept current and actioned asappropriate.
Use breadth of experience to act as a technical mentor across the team to ensure mitigation of risk to execution of projects.
Propose and manage resource requirements
Have technical ownership for several products/brands
pladis is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to hiring a diverse workforce. All openings will be filled based on qualifications without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, marital status, veteran status, disability, age, religion or any other classification protected by law.
We operate a strict Preferred Supplier List. If you are a recruitment agency and wish to submit candidate to be considered for this vacancy, you must have agreed to, and signed, our terms of business.
We will not accept CVs from any other sources other than those currently on our PSL. We will not pay a fee for any candidate that has not been represented by a provider on our PSL.
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