Role Overview:
This role owns the organization's Food & Beverage innovation strategy, building a pipeline of new products that resonate with customers and drive sustainable growth. It combines two things: spotting food and consumer trends and turning them into winning product concepts, and forging partnerships with brands, chefs, suppliers, and other food innovators to create differentiated offerings.
Key Responsibilities:
- Set and drive the F&B innovation strategy and manage the product pipeline.
- Identify consumer and market trends and translate them into new product concepts.
- Own the full development cycle: ideation, recipe formulation, testing, and commercialization, through to post-launch review.
- Build and manage partnerships with external brands, chefs, suppliers, and innovators for exclusive/differentiated products.
- Work cross-functionally to ensure execution, quality, feasibility, and profitability.
- Track new product performance and continuously optimize the portfolio.
- Champion innovation and customer-centric thinking org-wide.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Food Technology, Culinary Arts, Nutrition, or related field.
- 10–15 years hands-on experience in food product development/innovation, within retail, food service, food manufacturing, or consumer goods.
- Track record of launching commercially successful food products.
- Solid grasp of consumer trends, formulation, ingredient functionality, food safety, and commercialization.
- Proven ability to build and manage external brand/supplier partnerships.
- Strong commercial instincts - balancing creativity, customer appeal, feasibility, and profit.
