Research & Development Specialist

K.A.G. Recruitment have been exclusively instructed to support our client, one of the largest Private Label Petfood producers in Europe supplying quality pet products to the major supermarket and retail chains to recruit a Research & Development Specialist to join their existing team in the Driffield.
Job Title: Research & Development Specialist
Location: Driffield
Salary: £40000-£45000
Hours: 37.5 Hours per week – Monday to Friday
Purpose Of The Role:
The R&D organisation operates from a Centre of Excellence based in Ireland and are primarily responsible for the development of new products and concepts to meet customer and business needs.
The Research and Development Specialist will need to work closely with the central Research and Development team and all cross functional departments at site and group level to ensure all NPD and internal projects are delivered on time and in full against the project plan. This role reports into the Site General Manager with a dotted line to the Group R&D Manager.
Duties:
* Development of new products from initial concept to plant approval in conjunction with Group R & D teams ensuring it is aligned to the brief and Customer expectations.
* Ensure all NPD products run efficiently in production and there is a formal handover of new products to site operational teams.
* Participate in site and Group NPI
* Attend production trials where required and co-ordinate sample despatch to customers and group for approval
* Trial of new or alternative ingredients
* Develop detailed reports on trials and circulate to site and group teams where relevant.
* Validate recipes developed by group to ensure they are nutritionally complete, of required palatability, legally compliant and efficient on site.
* Develop ambitious value engineering and continuous improvement plans with Group Manager to ensure cost effective options are continuously challenged, tested and implemented.
* Support Group teams with recipe amendments based on raw material availability.
* Participate in site audits to cover clauses specific to R & D function and responsibility
* Co-ordinate raw materials and finished product for analysis against site, customer and group plan.
* Participate in customer visits and presentations where required.
* Management of site product portfolio
* Support customer queries relevant to Recipe Design
* Ensure thorough knowledge of relevant legislation within the R & D remit
* Weekly plans and reports
You will ideally be educated to degree level in a Food Science, Nutrition, Animal Science related discipline with commercial experience from within a Manufacturing environment. A strong communicator with exceptional organisation skills and problem solving ability who has the capability to work to deadlines within a rapidly changing environment.
Experience of working with a Food Manufacturing environment, ideally within pet foods would be ideally advantageous