Quality & Innovation Manager

Why join our team:

At Mash Direct we are on a mission to make vegetables more convenient and bring them from our fields to the consumers table without compromising on flavour or nutrition.

Our vision is to make Mash Direct a national household brand in the vegetable accompaniments and side dishes category and we are looking for talented and innovative peopleto help us in this quest.

What your job is all about:

Your job will be about ensuring that innovative ideas are able to hit the shelves as quickly as possible without compromising on taste or quality. Food safety, integrity, quality and authenticity.

You will:

– Identify big innovation opportunities in products, packaging and customers and develop a pipeline strategy to achieve these.

– Facilitate internal ideas generation to create new concepts.

– Have ownership of NPD projects from concept to launch.

– Lead project meetings from an innovation/brand lens.

– Work to shape commercial strategy to form winning ideas, identify opportunities from category and trade lenses using external resources and feedback from sales and marketing, and apply base understanding to a P&L.

– Work directly with customers to drive sales through innovation.

– Management of corrective action and control of non-conforming ingredients, products, products under hold, reject and returns and speed of action and problem solving.

– Liaise with customers and statutory bodies during factory visits and audits providing information required and implementing corrective action where necessary.

– Pitch to customers and assist the sales team in developing innovative concepts and pitches.

– Conduct internal quality audits alongside the Technical and NPD Team as well as the Production Staff.

– Develop new innovative packaging solutions alongside other teams.

– Present on trends in the market once per month to the NPD Team and Senior Leadership.

In General:

– Developing and improving on the Mash Direct NPD processes to ensure that we can launch products as quickly as possible without compromising on quality or safety.

– Managing the NPD Team to ensure that new ideas are delivered on time and in full. This includes delegating specific projects to the team and ensuring that they meet the agreed timelines.

– Formulating new recipes and improving on existing recipes to ensure that Mash Direct has the best possible range that is designed to meet consumer needs.

– Analysing current market trends and data in line with category insights, identifying gaps in the market and translating findings into business opportunities. Regularly presenting these insights in the weekly NPD Meeting.

– Liaising with Production, Technical, Sales, Marketing and Engineering teams to ensure our products are manufactured successfully without compromising on safety, quality & legal requirements.

– Ensuring that potential new products can be manufactured profitability and meet food safety requirements.

– Ensuring that the department complies with all safe working practices and health & safety legislation.

– Ensuring that the site complies with food hygiene standards.

– Improve on the shelf life of products without compromising food safety or quality.

– Create a culture of continuous improvement in the department where standards are raised over time.

– Keeping management informed of progress and developments.

Specifically:

– Lead benchmarking and product presentations.

– Co-ordinate preparation and dispatch of samples to the sales team and customers.

– Work closely with production to co-ordinate factory trials and implementation of new processes.

– Leading the weekly NPD Meeting.

– Aid in the transition of NPD samples made in the test kitchen to factory trials through to full production, helping with production where required to ensure that the handover is as seamless as possible.

– Facilitating regulatory (BRC, EHO) & customer visits to the factory.

– Ensuring any project is adequately documented to guarantee compliance with the latest BRC Global Standard.

– Ensure that all paperwork is completed on time and in full for cooking validations, QAS and product costings.

– Manage product specifications, ensuring all products meet nutritional targets and legislative guidelinesand that paperwork is easily accessible when required.

– Ensure that NPD documentation is kept up to date by the NPD team including but not limited to factory production trials and the minutes from weekly meetings.

– Lead the NPD team to improve on the shelf life of products e.g. process changes or recipe changes.

– Oversee packaging trials to ensure that all new packaging meets expectations.

– Work with teams across departments to ensure new launches are achieved on time and to the highest standards.

– Liaise with marketing in artwork design and sign-off.

Who you are:

– You must have a passion for food and innovation.

– At least 2 years experience in a similar role.

– Hold/working towards a Food Safety & Hygiene qualification (Level 3) or equivalent.

– Degree or HNC/D in a food related discipline.

– Previous experience working with HACCP/within a BRC accredited environment.

– Training accreditation in Food Safety & Hygiene is advantageous.

– You will also be proficient in MS Office 365 applications, be comfortable working independently or as part of a team and able to manage projects with excellent organisational skills, an eye for detail and a can-do attitude.

Job Types:

Full-time, Permanent

Salary:

£35,000.00-£37,000.00 per year

Benefits:

– Discounted or free food

– On-site parking

Schedule:

– Monday to Friday

Ability to commute/relocate:

NEWTOWNARDS: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)

Experience:

– Quality assurance: 1 year (preferred)

Work Location: One location

Reference ID: QIM04112022

Team: NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

Line Manager: CEO

To Apply:

Send us your details/CV to careers@mashdirect.com or by clicking the ‘Apply Now’

We will then be back in touch to confirm next steps. We look forward to hearing from you!

Mash Direct is an equal opportunities employer.