Innovation & Concept Design Lead (NPD Front-End Focus)Are you a visionary thinker with a passion for pets, nutrition, and cutting-edge product design? We're looking for an Innovation & Concept Design Lead (NPD) in pet food and treats - translating insights and trends into the next generation of products for dogs, cats, and small animals.This is a unique opportunity to combine creativity, science, and strategy - shaping a pipeline of concepts that keep us at the forefront of pet health and wellbeing.What You'll DoFront-End Innovation: Spot market gaps, consumer needs, and whitespace opportunities through research, trend analysis, and competitor scanning.Concept Development: Design and present compelling product concepts (briefs, prototypes, samples) that are nutritionally aligned and market-ready.Ingredient & Format Innovation: Explore and validate novel ingredients (functional, sustainable, alternative proteins) and formats (extruded, baked, semi-moist, artisanal).Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with Marketing, NPD, Commercial, and Technical teams to bring ideas to life - from ideation through to scale-up.Supplier Engagement: Build relationships with ingredient suppliers and technology partners to source innovative solutions.Governance & Process: Own the stage-gate process from idea generation to handover, ensuring projects are feasible, compliant, and aligned with strategic goals.Future Technology: Identify and champion emerging technologies that keep us ahead of the curve in pet food innovation.What We're Looking For3+ years' experience in product development or innovation (pet food or FMCG preferred).Strong grasp of regulations (FEDIAF, DEFRA, EU feed regulations).Creative thinker with concept storytelling and visualisation skills.Experience with semi-moist, baked, extruded, or multi-format technologies.Excellent project management and stakeholder engagement skills.Passion for pets and advancing pet health through nutrition.Desirable:Degree in Food Science, Animal Nutrition, NPD< Product Design or related.Supplier or contract manufacturer experience.Knowledge of sustainability certifications (MSC, MarinTrust).Familiarity with premium/prescription or functional pet products.For futher information, please contact Luan at MorePeople on 01780 480530JBRP1_UKTJ
Job Title
Design Lead