Product Development Manager, Product Development Manager

Product Development Manager

Location: Bodmin

Department: Product & Innovation

Reporting to: Head of Product & Process Development or Senior/Product & Process Manager

Shape the Future of Food Innovation

Are you passionate about food, consumer trends, and bringing innovative products to market? At Pilgrim’s Europe, we're looking for a talented Product Development Manager to play a pivotal role in delivering exciting new food products from concept through to successful launch.

This is a highly visible role where you will work closely with customer teams, cross-functional stakeholders, and leadership teams to drive innovation, manage end-to-end product development projects, and support business growth through commercially focused product solutions.

About The Role

As Product Development Manager, you will lead and manage New Product Development (NPD) and Existing Product Development (EPD) activities across key customer accounts. Working collaboratively with Product & Innovation, Process, Culinary, Commercial and Site teams, you will ensure products are developed, scaled up, and launched successfully while meeting customer expectations, commercial targets, and regulatory requirements.

You will be a key contributor to innovation pipelines, customer strategies, and continuous improvement initiatives, helping to shape the future food agenda for both Pilgrim’s Europe and our customers.

Key Responsibilities

Product Development & Innovation

• Lead customer-focused NPD and EPD projects from concept through to launch.
• Work with customer and internal teams to identify commercially viable innovation opportunities.
• Support product ideation sessions and long-term innovation projects.
• Drive continuous product improvement initiatives to enhance quality, value, and customer satisfaction.
• Ensure all products meet customer codes of practice, legislative requirements, allergen standards, sustainability commitments, and welfare expectations.
• Identify emerging food, market, and consumer trends to inform future product development.

Project Management

• Manage multiple projects and critical paths concurrently, ensuring successful delivery against agreed timelines.
• Lead products through the Concept-to-Launch gate process, ensuring transparency and accurate documentation.
• Build and maintain product information and recipes within relevant systems.
• Coordinate cross-functional teams to ensure smooth product development and launch execution.
• Provide regular updates to customers, internal stakeholders, and senior leadership teams.

Commercial & Strategic Delivery

• Contribute to customer growth plans and joint business objectives.
• Support product costing activities and ensure commercial viability of development projects.
• Balance innovation, quality, operational feasibility, and customer expectations.
• Deliver against key Product & Innovation functional KPIs, including NPD revenue and project conversion targets.
• Support value chain and business improvement projects.

Leadership & Team Development

• Coach, support, and develop team members to maximise performance and engagement.
• Conduct regular one-to-one meetings and performance discussions.
• Assist with workload planning and resource allocation across projects.
• Promote best-practice ways of working through continuous improvement and benchmarking activities.
• Foster strong cross-functional collaboration and communication.

What We're Looking For

Essential Experience & Skills

• Proven experience in a Product Development role within the food manufacturing industry.
• Demonstrated success in launching food products from concept to market.
• Product costing experience and commercial awareness.
• Understanding of budgeting processes.
• Supply chain knowledge, including ingredient and packaging sourcing.
• Strong project management and organisational skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management capabilities.
• Strong analytical skills with exceptional attention to detail.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.
• Passion for food innovation, consumer trends, and continuous improvement.

Desirable

• Relevant product category experience.
• Experience working with geographically dispersed teams.
• Degree in Food Science, Marketing, Business, or a related discipline.

Qualifications

• Relevant food industry qualification and/or equivalent industry experience.

Why Join Pilgrim's Europe?

This is a fantastic opportunity to influence category-leading product innovation within one of Europe's leading food businesses. You'll work alongside passionate experts, collaborate with major retail and foodservice customers, and help create the next generation of successful products.

Our Values

At Pilgrim’s Europe, Our Values Shape Everything We Do

• Availability - We are open, responsive, and ready to embrace new challenges.
• Humility - We listen, respect others, and value different perspectives.
• Discipline - We deliver on our commitments and maintain high standards.
• Sincerity - We act with honesty, integrity, and respect.
• Ownership - We take responsibility and drive results.
• Determination - We focus on achieving success together.
• Simplicity - We focus on what matters most and create practical solutions.

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