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Innovation Manager - Dairy

So, what will I be doing?

At Yeo Valley, we’ve been making delicious, organic dairy products for over 50 years. As a family-run business, we believe in doing things the right way – sustainably, ethically, and with people at the heart of what we do.

As Innovation Manager, you’ll play a key role in shaping the future of our portfolio by managing the entire product development process—from concept to launch for our yogurt, ice cream, and desserts categories. You’ll work cross-functionally with teams across the business to deliver innovative, high-quality products that align with our values, meet customer expectations, and support our commercial goals.

Key responsibilities include:

Lead NPD projects from kitchen concept to delivery, ensuring stakeholder alignment, visibility on project status, and coordination of critical paths and deadlines.
Work closely with Technical, Sourcing, Operations, Supply Chain, and Commercial teams to meet departmental requirements and drive seamless product development.
Support design for manufacture, troubleshoot technical challenges, and oversee development of new products, raw materials, packaging, and factory processes.
Manage and track product costing from concept to post-launch, ensuring commercial targets are met and profitability is maintained.
Present concepts to customers, manage sample requests, and provide food and trend insights through safaris, trawls, and innovation workshops.
Liaise with suppliers to source ingredients, ensure product compliance with internal policies, and monitor success of NPD launches with swift EPD response when needed.

Sounds interesting, what do I need?

Technical Skills:

Expertise in product

Formulation & sensory analysis

Project Management:

Experience in managing multiple product development projects simultaneously, with a focus on meeting deadlines and managing resources effectively.

Knowledge of Ingredients:

Strong understanding of the functional properties of yogurt, desserts & ice cream

Teamwork –

Ability to work well with a collaborative, cross-functional team environment and lead in own area of expertise. Ability to encourage & lead within own team

Innovation Focus –

Passion for staying ahead of trends & a desire to proactively explore innovative ingredients and product concepts

Problem solving –

Excellent troubleshooting skills and ability to analyse complex technical challenges & implement solutions. Support & mentor team members to reach solutions

Communication -

Excellent verbal & written communication skills with the ability to present ideas and data clearly to technical & non-technical stakeholders

Industry Knowledge:

Strong knowledge of Brands, values & processes as adopted by the retailers.

Business Acumen:

Strong commercial awareness with the ability to identify & maximise opportunities while minimising costs.

Qualifications required:

Food qualification or previous food manufacturing or catering experience

Minimum 5 years of post-graduate experience in a food NPD role, preferably within dairy, desserts or ice cream. Ideally have some people management experience

The ability to travel around all of our locations in the south west is essential due to multi-site locations

Why should I join the family?

We’re independent, British and proud to be making the highest quality foods under the Yeo Valley brand and for many of the UK’s major retailers. Operating from four dairies and two logistics centres in Somerset and Devon, we employ over 1700 staff and produce more than 25% of the UK’s packaged yogurt.

We’re sure you don’t need convincing, but there’s a whole host of benefits that we offer including:

25 days’ holiday, plus bank holidays
non-contributory pension scheme
life cover
healthcare cash back plan
cycle to work scheme
subsidised Yeo Valley products and services
preferential rates with our partners
annual bonus (as part of the Employee Benefit Trust, based on company performance for the year)
learning and development opportunities; we’re committed to ensuring all of our employees have the chance to grow

Our closing dates are a guide for when the application window should close, although we may close the advert sooner if we can. So, we recommend you get your application in straight away – and don’t miss the opportunity to join us!

Unfortunately, we’re not able to provide employment sponsorship to candidates at this moment in time.

Please note that Yeo Valley do not accept speculative agency applications; we will only accept applications from preferred suppliers that have been submitted to us via our recruitment portal at the point of instruction.

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Job Description

Innovation Manager - Dairy

So, what will I be doing?

Sounds interesting, what do I need?

Why should I join the family?

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