Head - NPD & Innovation - Food Retail

Description:

Job Title: Head of NPD & Innovation

Role Summary

The Head of NPD & Innovation will lead the strategic product innovation agenda for a rapidly scaling food retail organization with a national footprint of over 720 stores. The role will oversee the complete innovation and new product development lifecycle - from consumer insight and concept development through pilot trials, validation, and commercial rollout. The position demands a blend of technical expertise, creative problem solving, commercial judgement, and executional rigor to consistently deliver scalable, high-quality, high-impact products aligned with brand vision and growth objectives.

Why This Role Matters

As the organization enters the next phase of expansion and category leadership, innovation will serve as a key lever for differentiation, consumer delight, revenue growth, and operational efficiency. This leadership position will directly influence brand identity, product excellence, and margin structure across an extensive national retail network. The role partners closely with senior leadership and cross-functional teams to drive meaningful commercial and consumer outcomes at scale.

Key Responsibilities

- Build and execute a multi-year product innovation roadmap aligned with business priorities and consumer insights.

- Lead end-to-end NPD - including ideation, R&D, prototyping, sensory evaluations, shelf-life testing, final formulation, and launch readiness.

- Modernize and optimize existing product portfolio for taste, consistency, cost efficiency, operational feasibility, and nationwide scalability.

- Convert emerging food, flavour, and category trends - international and local - into commercially viable and operationally executable concepts.

- Work closely with Marketing, Supply Chain, Operations, and Store Execution teams to ensure product feasibility, adoption, and successful rollout.

- Lead pilot trials, define product specifications, secure vendor alignment, and validate coasting models prior to full-scale launch.

- Ensure all products meet regulatory, food safety, quality, and documentation requirements.

- Drive continuous improvement through data-backed insights, consumer feedback loops, competitive mapping, and structured experiments.

Core Competencies

- Deep applied understanding of food science and formulation.

- Strong commercial and business decision-making capability.

- High ownership mindset with a bias for speed, action, and iteration.

- Data-driven consumer insight orientation with strong trend responsiveness.

- Ability to influence, collaborate, and work cross-functionally within a fast-growing ecosystem.

Ideal Candidate Profile

- 1215 years experience in food R&D, product development, NPD, or innovation leadership within large-scale food manufacturing, FMCG, or QSR environments.

- Degree in Food Science, Food Technology, Food Engineering, or equivalent technical discipline.

- Proven track record in developing indulgence-focused categories such as bakery, confectionery, desserts, beverages, or ready-to-eat formats.

- Entrepreneurial exposure (24 years preferred) with the ability to build, iterate, and scale from ground-zero environments.