Product Development Technologist - Hybrid
ABF GroceryThe position is based in Biggleswade, England, and operates on a hybrid model with three office days arranged around team needs. It’s a hands-on role that suits someone who enjoys practical food development, cross-functional collaboration, and a clear path to learning about both new product development and engineering a in-market product.
If you have at least one year of industry experience in food manufacturing or a related field and you’re excited by turning consumer ideas into tangible, high-quality products, this could be a great fit.
The Work That Drives Jordans and Dorset Cereal Innovation
You’ll help deliver NPD and EPD activity across cereals and snacks, working closely with the broader Product Development team to keep projects moving. You’ll contribute to kitchen recipe development that aligns with consumer needs, brand guidelines and cost targets, while staying in touch with current food trends to inform new ideas and improvements.
You’ll organise and run R&D production trials alongside Process and Operations teams, capturing learnings about how products behave when scaled and helping move ideas through the stage-gate process with clear, well-documented progress. A quality-first mindset underpins everything, with you supporting continuous improvement and ensuring that development work follows best practices. You’ll carry out kitchen development, prepare samples, upgrade recipes and troubleshoot issues, while maintaining an auditable, food-safe R&D Kitchen.
In addition, you’ll support sensory and consumer-focused tasks, help refine flavour, texture, quality and nutrition, and assist with pre-launch preparation to ensure a smooth handover from development to factory. You’ll participate in factory trials to verify that kitchen-developed products can be produced consistently on the line and retain their intended characteristics through shelf life, documenting all findings and ensuring recipes and related documentation meet cost, compliance and system requirements. You’ll follow food safety and quality procedures, including HACCP and external standards such as BRC, IFS and Femas, and contribute to gold-standard product specifications for first production and beyond. The role is flexible within the Product Development team to support workload, trials and day-to-day activities, with ownership taken for agreed tasks or specific focus areas as development continues.
The Right Candidate For This Role
The must-have qualifications include at least one year of industry experience within food manufacturing, FMCG, product development, technical or a related food environment, plus hands-on experience using Hamilton Grant or a similar specification or product data management system. You should be comfortable with Microsoft 365 tools, Outlook, Teams, Excel, Word, PowerPoint and SharePoint, and have a proactive, curious, hands-on approach with the confidence to ask questions, learn quickly and take ownership of tasks. Strong attention to detail and good organisation are essential, particularly when preparing samples, recording trial information and maintaining documentation. You’ll also need strong communication and collaboration skills to work effectively with Product Development, Process, Operations, Technical, Quality and Commercial teams. An interest in food, ingredients and product quality, with a passion for creating great tasting products that can be made safely and consistently, is important. A solid understanding of food safety, quality and good manufacturing practice, or a willingness to build this knowledge quickly, is required. A food science, nutrition, product development or related qualification completes the must-haves.
Desirable, but not essential, is experience supporting factory trials, shelf-life work, sensory panels or sample preparation within a food development environment, and experience working with cereal, snack, bakery or ambient food products.
Pay, Benefits and Practical Details
Salary £25-28k dependant on experience.
Hybrid working is available, with three office days shaped around role, team and business needs, and the role is based in Biggleswade, ENG.
- Employer Funded Health Cash Plan, offering 24/7 GP access, money towards prescriptions and appointments, Mental Health and Menopause Support and more
- Rounded wellbeing support with Grocery Aid, providing 24/7 confidential help with emotional, financial, legal and caring concerns
- Mental Health First Aiders on hand and a dedicated wellbeing room in the office
- Incentive/bonus opportunities for all roles – reward linked to company and personal or team results
- Competitive pension, matching up to 10%
- Salary Finance Support – affordable loans or an advance on earned pay
- Cycle to work scheme
- Octopus Electric Car Scheme
- Everyday discounts – save at 900+ retailers covering groceries, travel, tech and entertainment
- Discounted Product to enjoy at home
- Birthday Day Off and Buy Holiday Scheme to help you balance work and life
- Enhanced Family and Neonatal Leave
If you’re curious about the role, you’ll be supported with benefits designed to help you stay healthy and financially comfortable, while the hybrid setup gives you flexibility to manage work and life outside the office.
Advice For Applicants For The Product Development Technologist Role
Tip: Put your most relevant experience at the top of your resume. Lead with at least one year of hands-on food manufacturing or product development work, and call out any experience with Hamilton Grant or similar data management systems.
Tip: Show concrete examples of the must-have capabilities. Describe cross‑department collaboration across Brand, Operations and Process teams, and how you documented trial data and kept development records accurate and auditable.
Tip: Prepare to talk through stage-gate processes and how you ensure kitchen concepts scale to factory lines. Be ready to share a time you improved a product’s flavour, texture or cost during a trial and how you maintained safety and quality standards throughout.
Tip: Ask a focused question that shows you’ve read this role’s specifics. For example, inquire about the current priority projects within Jordans and Dorset cereals and how success will be measured in your first 90 days working across NPD and Private Label initiatives.