NPD Manager

Tayto Snacks, recently certified a Great Place to Work, is home to Ireland’s most iconic snack brands including Tayto, Hunky Dorys and King crisps. We also distribute other household names including Hula Hoops, KP Nuts, Skips, Rancheros and Meanies. We employ approximately 400 people in Ireland and our head office is in Ashbourne, Co. Meath – 40 minutes from Dublin city centre. Tayto Snacks is proud to be part of the Intersnack Group, Europe’s leading producer of savoury snacks, operating in around 30 European countries.

At Tayto Snacks we are passionate about people and proud of the exciting, rewarding careers we offer. We currently have a vacancy within our Technical Department for the role of NPD Manager.

Title:  NPD Manager

Function: Technical

Reporting line: Head of Technical and NPD 

Location: Ashbourne, Co. Meath

Role type: Full-time permanent

Managing the day-to-day NPD function within the Technical team for the Tayto Snacks business. This role involves managing a team of 5 NPD/Regulatory colleagues and managing the NPD process. Working with the Marketing, Commercial, Quality Assurance, Procurement and Operations teams ensuring the NPD process delivers Tayto Snacks innovation and renovation projects. This role is a member of the site Technical Leadership Team supporting and coaching the NPD team and wider technical team in Innovation and project management.

ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Manage the Tayto Snacks NPD team including recruitment, training and development and colleague contribution process.


• Develop and execute the Tayto Snacks NPD strategy, balancing the local management unit and Category development requirements.


• Manage the day to day NPD process, and packaging development for Tayto Snacks liaising with the site manufacturing, Technical and Commercial/ Marketing and external customer teams to deliver the NPD agenda across all categories.


• Develop and execute the NPD masterplan, coordinating with the local MU team and the Head of Technical on Group and Category Masterplans.


• Manage end-to-end the  EPD and NPD project pipelines, including brand plan development and packaging reformat projects using the MOPD/ MOPAD and Imagine stage-gate processes.


• Work with the Process Development, Quality and Operations team to optimize product development for the Tayto Snacks brands.


• Working with the local and group supply and purchasing teams ensuring raw materials meet the site and product requirements.


• Working on Value Engineering and SBT/ CSR projects to ensure maximum plant flexibility and Intersnack product CSR compliance. Tracking and reporting on progress to Plan, internally, to group and Supply Partners.


• Ensuring the management and maintenance of the specification database of Tayto products through ERP systems, Agile and other Intersnack specific systems (Optiva, future state).


• Provide training as required to operators and QA staff in new line specifications.


• Monitor consumer testing of new concepts and products with the marketing team.


• Monitor on an on-going basis the Competitive and Benchmarking assessment for Tayto snacks key brands and implement corrective actions as required.


• Working with the Intersnack Group Category development teams leveraging group insights and product developments.

KEY SKILLS / ATTRIBUTES / CORE COMPETENCIES

·        Excellent Leadership, Organisation and Project Management

·        Good interpersonal skills with ability to communicate, influence and negotiate effectively across all levels and functions of the organisation.

·        Builds good working relationship with key suppliers and internal Tayto Snacks team. Achieve results through people leadership and coaching and providing technical direction to stakeholders as required.

·        Ability to handle multiple tasks in a fast-paced environment.

·        Confident and effective decision maker.

·        Strong analytical skills - ability to interpret data and distil into useful and actionable information.

·        Strives for high standards, seeks innovative solutions, drives continuous improvement of products, processes or methods and demonstrates a high degree of intellectual curiosity.

·        Self-starter, pro-active with excellent problem-solving skills, comfortable with challenging current practices and introducing change into the business.

·        Good working knowledge of specification process, internal group and retailer systems

·        Understanding of Food product & process development, ideally within FMCG environment preferred.

·        The individual will work to embed the core Tayto Snacks values of Thinking Responsibly, Acting Entrepreneurially, Growing Together.

REQUIREMENTS:

·        Minimum of 5-8 years’ experience in FMCG in an NPD or Technical related discipline, ideally leading NPD Innovation agendas.

·        3rd level degree or diploma in Food Science/Engineering or Technical related qualification.

·        Creative Innovator and Self-Starter.

·        Good technical knowledge of product innovation systems including stage gate, specification and customer systems, project management, consumer testing and experimental design.

·        Experience in frying/ baking/ seasoning technologies is desired but not essential. 

·        Good working knowledge of the pack copy process and packaging materials, machinery and packaging technologies. 

·        Knowledge of legal labelling requirements

·        Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate and negotiate effectively across all levels and all functions of the organisation.

·        Role is primarily based in Ashbourne Co. Meath, but some travel will be required to other intercompany sites and suppliers.

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS:

·        Site Safety culture delivered through the NPD team KPI’s

·        Team development and the NPD operating model implementation

·        NPD Local masterplan adherence

·        Portfolio transformation in line with group and FSAI reformulation targets

·        Innovation pipeline to the agreed plan

·        Value Engineering/Portfolio Simplification workstreams in line with group and local plans

·        Identify new formats & optimisation of range in line with consumer & market trends.

·        NPD Tax Credit/ Grant application and conformance documentation

·        Quality Benchmarking and Consumer acceptance testing  

If you feel you have the skills and experience to apply for this role, please do so by applying online before Friday 30 May 2025.

This job description is intended as a summary of the primary responsibilities and qualifications for this position; it is not intended as inclusive of all duties an individual in this position might be asked to perform or that may be required to do either now or in the future.

Tayto Snacks is an Equal Opportunities Employer