Job Specifications
The Ideal Candidate
Proven experience in end-to-end product development, ideally within the food or FMCG industry
Strong project management and stakeholder influencing skills
Commercially astute - you understand margins, costing, and how to build a compelling business case
Experience in leading factory trials and managing supplier relationships is essential
A passion for food, creativity, and the ability to translate ideas into scalable, commercially successful products
About Us
itsu is the healthy eating, Asian inspired quick service retail & grocery brand with over 70 stores in the UK and a leading grocery business across Europe and beyond. Renowned for its best-in-class food made fresh in every shop every day, itsu has huge global ambitions with a commitment to continue to open many more stores and intensify the growth of its already thriving grocery arm. With its best-is-class healthy food, latest technology, innovation, and talented workforce, itsu is the future of fast food.
itsu [grocery], which this role falls under, takes the itsu brand into supermarkets, health food stores, online, wholesale and internationally with products such as crispy seaweed thins, frozen gyoza & bao, brilliant’broth, rice’noodles & miso’easy to name a few…
D&I Statement
itsu [grocery] is committed to building a diverse, equitable and inclusive organisation. We encourage applicants from a wide range of backgrounds to apply for all of our opportunities.
When applying for a role with us, please remove your: full name, name of University/School, address, email address and any photos of you on your CV and covering letter. non-anonymised CVs may not be reviewed.
Scope Of The Role
As a Senior Product Developer, you’ll lead the development and delivery of new and
improved products across multiple categories. Reporting into the NPD Product Controller,
you’ll be responsible for managing projects from concept through to factory launch, ensuring
delivery against quality, timing, and commercial goals. Acting as a key cross-functional
partner across brand, marketing, technical, procurement, and supply chain, you’ll also support.
the wider innovation strategy and help shape the future product pipeline.
Lead NPD and EPD projects from concept to launch, ensuring alignment to timelines, budgets, and briefs
Manage project meetings and ensure all activity follows the internal gate process
Own the QAS process and ensure products are developed to meet agreed quality standards while working closely with technical and kitchen teams to deliver excellence in product execution
Oversee kitchen and factory trials, ensuring consistency, feasibility, and scale-up readiness
Coordinate activities and ensure each function delivers inputs in line with project critical paths
Maintain clear communication and alignment throughout project lifecycles
Manage detailed, individual project budgets and deliver monthly re-forecasts
Contribute to business planning with relevant cost, pricing, and performance insights.
Identify and validate new product concepts that align with brand strategy and
emerging trends, keeping up-to-date with food and lifestyle trends, and
competitor launches
Work with the NPD Product Controller to shape and influence the longer-term innovation pipeline
Champion agile thinking and iterative development to accelerate innovation
Support a collaborative, high-performing culture within the NPD team
Line management opportunities
Ensure effective delegation of sample creation, trials support, and technical preparation to meet project timelines
what we offer
Competitive salary
Competitive bonus scheme
25 days holiday + bank holidays (two bank holidays are interchangeable for other religious holidays)
Health insurance
Company pension scheme
Hybrid working (2 days wfh)
Opportunity to work from abroad
50% employee discount in itsu shops
Free itsu lunch
Discounts at major retailers
A sizeable training budget to support your ongoing development
itsu
About the Company
We are itsu, the leading Asian-inspired quick-service restaurant and grocery brand with over 80 restaurants across the UK, Belgium, and France, and a growing wholesale business across Europe and beyond.
We’ve been serving nutritious, Asian-inspired food with respect, precision & passion since 1997. In addition to our restaurants, our itsu [grocery] team develop unique Asian-inspired dishes and ingredients for all major supermarkets across ambient, chilled & frozen.
Together we are determined to keep innovating, to keep la...
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