Lead Development Chef

Lead Development Chef / Head Development Chef
Location: Flax Bourton, Bristol
Salary: £52,000–£53,000 + benefits
Monday–Friday | UK travel + occasionally Europe

We are seeking an experienced, creative and commercially minded Lead Development Chef / Head Development Chef to join a highly successful specialist food business based at their beautiful innovations centre near Bristol.
With over 35 years' experience, the business develops innovative food-on-the-move solutions for leading brands across the UK and internationally. It is a B Corp certified, Carbon Neutral organisation with a collaborative, entrepreneurial culture where innovation, sustainability and people are at the heart of the business.

The Role
To lead the development of exciting, commercially viable food-on-the-move ranges across the clients customer base — from first idea through to launch.
The Lead Development Chef owns the creative and technical direction of NPD. They hold the day-to-day development relationship with key customers, turn a brief into a range that hits the target cost and the operational reality of the outlet, and sign it off as ready for manufacture.
They also lead and develop the development chef team, setting the standards the NPD kitchen works to.

You will:
• Lead and mentor two Development Chefs.
• Develop innovative, commercially viable food ranges.
• Manage key customer relationships and present concepts and products.
• Manage multiple NPD projects to brief, cost, margin and deadline.
• Lead trials and support successful manufacturing scale-up.
• Ensure recipes and specifications are accurate and commercially achievable.
• Work closely with Technical, Manufacturing and Commercial teams.
• Maintain high standards of food safety, HACCP, hygiene and kitchen control.
• Identify emerging food, ingredient and consumer trends.
• Travel across the UK, with occasional European travel.

About You
You will be a proactive, blue-sky-thinking chef and excellent team player with outstanding communication skills and commercial awareness.
Ideally you will have:
• 5+ years' experience in NPD, food manufacturing or high-volume commercial kitchens.
• Proven experience taking products from concept to launch.
• Experience leading or mentoring chefs.
• Strong understanding of scale-up, costing and margins.
• Excellent recipe costing and specification skills.
• Customer-facing and presentation experience.
• Food-related qualification, e.g. NVQ Level 2 Professional Cookery.
• Level 3 Food Safety & Hygiene.
• Full, clean UK driving licence.

Retail, food-to-go, foodservice, international, fine-dining or HACCP experience would be advantageous.

The Opportunity
A fantastic opportunity to combine culinary creativity, customer interaction and senior NPD leadership, working with major brands and a wide variety of food products.
If you are passionate about food, a natural leader, creative thinker and commercially focused chef, this could be an excellent next career move.
Alternative job titles may include
Head of Food Development, Head of Culinary Development, Head of NPD Food, Development Chef Lead, Food Innovation & Development Lead, Head of Culinary Innovation, Senior Development Chef, NPD Chef Manager, Head of Product Development Food