Product Developer II at British American Tobacco

Job description

British American Tobacco currently have an exciting new opportunity for a Product Developer II to be based in our Cape Town office on a permanent basis.

The purpose of this role is to Manage the end to end product development activities for the Southern Africa area. The job holder must drive and monitor the implementation of all aspects of product development at an operational level, as pre-defined by the brand product development cycle plan.

The job holder will also Manage the Product Stewardship and product support services (on an operational basis) relationship for the activities required for the geography through effective use of the agreed regional processes to include all components of Product Best Practice guidelines and Common Platforms.

• Leadership
• Manage the assigned development activities (innovation, continuous improvement, regulatory etc.) based on cycle plan to include consumer preferences, brand strategy portfolio/brand codes, and regulatory compliance requirements.
• Promote and integrate ways of working within the geography.
• Operational
• Manage the development and deployment activities for the assigned responsibilities within the geography.
• Manage the Quality management of blend and cigarette specifications for the assigned responsibilities to meet specification targets (focus here on cigarette design monitoring and optimisation etc).
• Manage the regulatory compliance for the assigned responsibilities of the Products within the portfolio.
• Manage the accurate update of systems (TaO) within the assigned responsibilities.
• Monitor and review progress of the development projects against the agreed targets
• Management
• Responsible for providing effective leadership to the direct reports within the team - to include coaching, performance management and Career Development.
• Track and monitor budget spend for development activities within the assigned responsibilities/projects

Key Success Factors

Delivery of Development priorities against the plan within assigned responsibilities.
Customer requirements are delivered on time in full for those activities within the assigned responsibilities.

• The successful candidate should possess a Degree in Chemical Engineering, Agricultural Engineering, Agronomy or any related discipline;
• Minimum 3 years of experience in the tobacco industry on a similar role;
• Ability to manage development projects;
• Project management (including planning and implementation skills).
• Working knowledge and experience of tobacco styles and markets, blend developments, casings and flavorings, cigarette design, primary and secondary processing and their effects on smoking quality as well as an understanding of sensory data interpretation;
• Working and contemporary knowledge of Global tobaccos, availability, quality vs. standards, crop specifics & variations;
• Excellent interpersonal skills;
• Working knowledge of the SAP system will be an advantage.