Company Description
At Valeo Foods UK we bring together a family of much-loved UK food brands supported by the scale and ambition of a global investment partner. From Kettle's bold crunch to Rowse's natural sweetness, through to Matthew Walker and Barratt Sweets, our portfolio blends heritage, craft and category-leading innovation.
Alongside our branded portfolio, we are also one of the UK's largest suppliers of private label products, partnering with major retailers to deliver quality and category expertise that meets the needs of millions of households every week.
As a business, we're on a journey of transformation. We're strengthening our operations, driving quality and investing in our people. It's an exciting, fast-moving environment where heritage meets new thinking, and where every colleague contributes to shaping the future of food across the UK.
Join us and play your part in building the next chapter of some of Britain's most loved brands.
Job Description
This role sits within the Snacks R&D team, reporting to an R&D Manager in the Innovation/Marketing team, and supports the development of new snack products. Based at the Gateshead site, the role requires travel to Norwich and other Valeo Foods sites to develop products across multiple snacking technologies.
The R&D Technologist supports Valeo's ACE Innovation process, fostering a strong innovation-led "foodie" culture, and is primarily responsible for early-stage product development from concept through to process handover for both branded and retailer own-label products. This ensures products meet quality, safety, legal, cost, and timeline requirements.
The role involves close collaboration with Insights, Brands, Procurement, Technical, and Operations teams, as well as engagement with internal brand teams, retail customers, and suppliers through meetings and site visits.
What we are looking for:
* Promote a "foodie" culture within R&D and the wider business.
* Record and manage all R&D sample requests and action them as needed.
* Prepare new product concept samples, including collecting product bases, flavouring in the R&D kitchen, and labelling/packing for delivery to customers or suppliers.
* Collect product bases from production lines and send bulk supplies to Gateshead site and seasoning suppliers.
* Prepare nutritional samples and coordinate testing with the technical team.
* Evaluate new seasonings using cup & flow tests; record and share results with suppliers and the process team.
* Support shelf-life testing of new products.
* Assist with organizing and setting up R&D or customer visits to showcase products.
* Collect raw materials, packaging, and finished products to maintain R&D inventories.
* Support factory trials, pre-production trials, and first production runs, assisting process and operations teams.
* Complete and record R&D documentation in line with development procedures, including process handover documents.
* Conduct store checks, purchase raw materials, and benchmark competitor products.
* Maintain NPD kitchen and storage areas to high hygiene standards and ensure efficiency.
* Perform any other duties to support R&D operations.
Qualifications
Requirements:
•Degree (or equivalent) in food science base qualification desired.
•Experience in food manufacturing, ideally within new product development / R&D environment is desired.
•Experience in food process technologies and their application is desired.
•Brand and retailer own brand experience is desired.
•Experience in interacting successfully across all levels of business.
•Experience of key IT including, Excel, word, Power point.
•Full clean driving license.
Additional Information
Hours: 9am till 5pm
Salary: Up to £28,800 per annum
What we offer you in return
* Excellent Career Opportunities
* Matched pension scheme up to 10%
* Death in service
* Cycle to work scheme
* Retailer discount platform
* Staff discount
* And plenty more