Research and Development Manager – Special Projects. at RCL Foods

Minimum Requirements    

• Food Science/Technology/Chemical Engineering or any other Technology qualification related to science of food.
• Minimum of 5-10 years’ experience in a similar role in the food manufacturing industry.

Mindset Requirements

• Demonstrate entrepreneurial, curious and ‘can do’ mindset.
• Ability to challenge assumptions and question the way we do things
• Ability to land high impact projects in the discovery and innovation space

Duties & Responsibilities    

• Drive key innovation and discovery projects from concept to launch using a highly coordinated multidisciplinary and partnership approach.
• Implement smart ways of working with OU site teams and external technology partners to deliver projects on time, on point in terms of quality and consumer expectations and in accelerated time frames.
• Develop a highly competent expert partner base across food categories and technologies that will have the expertise, capacity and proximity to rapidly respond to project requirements and successfully deliver the brief.
• Obtain, communicate and bank cutting edge technical and processing knowledge to step change the business eg: attend Food Tech shows, training at source of technology.
• Set up and drive deep dive pods with experts to tackle key problems and find break through solutions.
• Find the big trends in food that will impact the business and new opportunities that will disrupt the food sector.
• Develop a consumer preference matrix for product development across product categories on texture, taste, colour, aroma etc… to deliver product development accuracy to targeted consumer preferences and speed up NPD response times.
• Utilise in-house consumer groups related to product target market to test product development preferences during NPD.
• Understand and interrogate commercials at start of projects – work RSP’s back to BOM and other targeted costs for product development accuracy. Challenge where needed.
• Test and challenge the feasibility of NPD projects at all Gate stages, based on facts and company strategies.
• Build key relationships with decision makers and influence internally to drive the innovation agenda in the business, for high impact decision making and moving the needle.
• Ensure legal compliance of all new product development in terms of ingredients and labelling requirements.

Closing Date    

• 2025/06/7