Senior Product Developer / Development Lead

Senior Product Developer

Can you bring exciting food to life and help create market-leading meals and desserts? If you are inspired by all things food, thrive on solving problems, and get excited about turning ideas into reality, our Senior Product Developer role is for you.

Seeking an experienced Product Developer to join our passionate team of chefs, technologists and dietitians who deliver award-winning innovation.

This is a role where creativity meets technical expertise and where your work truly makes a difference to our customers across the UK.

You will play a pivotal part in driving our Wiltshire Farm Foods product pipeline, improving current favourites, and pushing the boundaries of what great food can be.

This is a hands-on leadership role with responsibility for owning and delivering exceptional development projects and programmes- from concept through to launch.

You will confidently navigate the stage-gate process and ensuring every product meets our standards, policies and customer expectations.

You'll identify emerging trends and opportunities, pitch exciting new ideas to the business, work closely with our Category development team and deliver projects that enhance our customers experience and deliver competitive advantage.

This role is based at our UK Headquarters in Trowbridge Wiltshire.

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 care and education settings.

Our meals are expertly crafted by our dieticians and chefs, and then frozen to lock in the goodness.

Wiltshire Farm Foods, our sister company, is the UK's leading ready meal supplier cooking and delivering over 330 different delicious 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 & 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 great pride in being a company that makes a real difference and is dedicated to creating outstanding meals to be proud of.

We develop a range of products designed to enhance health and well-being for all our customers.

We are driven by a passion for service and dedicated to feeding some of the UK's most vulnerable people.

We proudly support British food and farming, focusing on using the best ethical and sustainable produce in alignment with our goal to reach Net Zero by 2040.

Our ethical standards are recognised by the ETI and we are an accredited Living Wage employer. Learn more about apetito's commitment to a more sustainable future.

We embrace inclusion, empowering individuals from diverse backgrounds.

Our commitment to making a real difference extends to customers, communities, and staff and we're on a mission to build an inclusive workplace where everyone reaches their full potential.