Process Technologist

Benefits: Competitive basic salary + 20 days holiday + your birthday off + health care scheme + other company benefits

Hours: Full time, Monday to Friday 9 am to 5 pm (some flexibility will be required to attend product trials/launches)

Company background

FSC is a family business with more than 30 years of award-winning experience in creating, rolling out and managing bespoke customer food-on-the-move solutions. Our customers include a selection of blue-chip companies in various industries, such as Shell, Dunelm and National Trust.

We offer a range of consultancy services drawing on our in-depth knowledge of the

food-on-the-move sector and have managed projects in South America, North America, Asia, Scandinavia and several European countries.

Our Head Office is in the world-famous village of Cheddar, and we have an Innovation Centre near Bristol in Flax Bourton where your role would be based. Although many of the team are based throughout the UK and Europe, we regularly get together to review performance, share best practices and socialise! As well as working in a challenging and fast-moving environment, we believe its important to have a big chunk of fun and no day is ever the same at FSC.

At FSC we believe in ethical stewardship of all aspects of our business. This means that we thrive in a diverse, equitable culture where we celebrate inclusion and empowerment within our teams, and seek to always support our global community, minimising our carbon footprint wherever possible. To help grow this awareness we have adopted a companywide ESG focus.

The role will involve

Delivering new products & customer launches to market as part of a team, through:

• Driving the development of quality and safe products from blue sky to launch taking into consideration specific product parameters and customer requirements
• Ensuring that ingredient/product information is accurate, up-to-date and consistent in the NPD system
• Understanding project critical paths and implications of deviations
• Building relationships with the manufacturers, understanding capabilities and spending time on-site with their development teams to create exciting products efficiently, following the products through to the launch and beyond.
• Co-ordinating sample requests, overseeing product processes, and conducting organoleptic and shelf-life evaluations across product ranges and applications including sign off with Food Safety Team.
• Generate product labelling in compliance with relevant legislation to include proofreading from design to printing
• Liaising and communicating with internal and external stakeholders throughout the development launch process
• Support continuous improvement by identifying innovative ideas and ingredient opportunities that maximise cost savings and enhance business efficiency.
• Generate internal project documentation during the development process such as product information sheets, product labelling sheets, trial forms, post launch reviews
• Generate external project documentation with relevant stakeholders throughout the development process, using different media types, to include shelf edge labels, allergen matrixes, manuals and QAS documents
• Attending factory trials and product launches at various locations across the UK and Ireland, minimising food waste from trials and data capturing while in attendance.
• Assist in sending samples for customer request, photography or external events
• Being active in hosting customer visits, setting up product displays and other supporting actions
• Investigating new food trends and competitor activity from local to global levels, and feeding back to the central team to share knowledge.
• Taking positive steps to engage in discussions, opportunities and actions to minimise environmental impacts internally and externally to the benefit of all

Skills & Interests

• Computer literate
• A self-starter who shows initiative and excels in multitasking with attention to detail.
• Excellent organisational skills and natural can-do attitude.
• Relishes working in a fast-paced environment in a hands-on capacity independently and as a part of a team.
• Can quickly grasp and adapt to new software with ease.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal.
• A strong interest in food and awareness of market trends.

Qualifications (academic and work-related)

• BSc Food Science/Technology (or similar)
• Valid driving licence

Experience

• >3 years experience in NPD/process within FMCG and having visited/worked in several food manufacturing sites.
• Experience working in a fast-paced environment with a high volume of SKUs.
• Knowledge of UK labelling legislation.