Product Development Graduate Programme chilled and grocery Food Market

Turn Your Passion for Food into Products People Love If you're curious about food, excited by new ideas and want to understand how great products make it from an initial concept onto supermarket shelves, our Product Development Graduate Programme is designed for you. This programme is designed to develop the next generation of Product Developers, equipping you with the technical, culinary, consumer and commercial skills needed to succeed in the food industry.

Over three years, you'll build the skills and experience needed for a successful career in Product Development. You'll learn how to take a product through the complete development journey, from food trends, insight and idea generation through recipe development, customer presentation, factory trials and ultimately launch. You'll work as part of customer and product-focused teams alongside experienced Product Developers, Chefs and colleagues from across our wider business.

Most importantly, you'll gain hands‑on experience. You'll be encouraged to bring your own ideas, challenge thinking and develop your creativity as your knowledge and confidence grow.

The programme consists of three 12-month placements across different Greencore locations throughout the UK. This will provide exposure to a variety of customers and product categories, helping you build broad category knowledge, customer understanding and a well‑rounded view of the business.

You'll learn how our development process works, build your knowledge of ingredients and manufacturing, and support products through the development cycle. Working alongside experienced colleagues, you'll start to develop your technical, culinary, sensory and commercial understanding while gaining valuable hands‑on experience.

With the foundations in place, you'll start to take greater ownership. You'll become more involved in developing recipes and concepts, working with customers and suppliers, supporting factory trials and supporting products towards launch. You'll continue to build your understanding of what makes a product not only delicious, but commercially and operationally viable at scale.

Your final year is about preparing you for the next stage of your career. You'll take ownership of development projects, working with increasing autonomy while collaborating with customers and cross‑functional teams. You'll leverage consumer trends, market insight and Greencore's manufacturing capabilities to develop commercially successful products. By the end of the programme, you'll have the experience, confidence and capability to progress into a Product Development role within Greencore.

Alongside your placements, you'll take part in a structured development programme designed to broaden your knowledge of both food and business. This will include specialist development and learning opportunities in areas such as:

• Culinary skills and food inspiration
• Sensory evaluation
• Category management and consumer insight
• Commercial awareness and costing
• Leadership and personal development
• Ingredient and supplier workshops
• Manufacturing processes and capabilities

• Exploring food trends and identifying new product opportunities
• Generating and developing new product concepts
• Creating and refining recipes
• Collaborating with chefs, suppliers and ingredient partners to create and refine products
• Preparing products and supporting documentation for customer presentations
• Supporting customer presentations, innovation sessions and product submissions
• Participating in sensory evaluation and product benchmarking
• Working…