Innovation Chef

Join Our New Product Development Team at The Compleat Food Group!

We’re excited to offer an incredible opportunity for an Innovation Chef to join our dedicated and professional Brands and Futures team.

This role is centred in our Brands and Futures teams, working with our exciting and innovative brands including Vadasz, Unearthed and more, helping to develop a pipeline of new and diverse products to bring to market.

At The Compleat Food Group, we're on a mission to create delectable food that not only brings joy to your taste buds but also extends love to our planet. We fondly refer to it as 'Food to Feel Good' because we believe in savouring every bite whilst making a positive impact.

Our team of over c6,500 remarkable individuals forms the core of all that we undertake. Their genuine passion drives the creation of delectable products for UK consumers, prominent retailers, and our thrilling market-leading brands such as Wall's Pastry, Squeaky Bean, and Unearthed.

Working Hours:

Monday – Thursday 8:30am – 5pm, Friday 8:30am – 4pm

Type of Role:
Full Time, Permanent

Salary:

Up to £50,000 per annum

Location:

Hybrid, can be based from any of our sites.

• Translate emerging cultural and food trends into tangible, future-focused concepts for our brands.
• Identify “white space” opportunities across products and formats to drive innovation.
• Develop breakthrough food concepts that are distinctive, differentiated, and brand-ownable.
• Support brand-led product development by partnering with the brand and futures team to bring concepts to life.
• Contribute to the innovation agenda by building idea pipelines, scoping new projects, and actively participating in innovation sessions.
• Build and maintain strong, collaborative relationships with Brand NPD, R&D, and marketing teams.
• Lead engaging innovation sessions to inspire teams and bring trends to life in a meaningful way.
• Challenge category norms and push beyond the status quo to unlock new opportunities.
• Continuously explore new techniques, technologies, and ingredients to drive innovation across branded and own-label portfolios.
• Identify and apply ingredients and methods that support the development of healthier, more sustainable products.
• Deliver compelling presentations to both internal and external stakeholders.
• Stay up to date with cultural shifts and emerging food trends to inform innovation strategy.
• Collaborate closely with R&D teams to shape the future food pipeline and long-term innovation roadmap.
• Respond to and develop concepts against briefs from brand and futures development teams.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to develop products through to site feasibility stage.

• Trained chef with experience in food manufacturing, retail, or branded innovation
• Confident knowledge of new techniques and new ingredients and how to apply in new areas.
• Experience in a wide range of product areas - desirable
• Timely and accurate completion of tasks
• Confidence in providing intelligent solutions to problem solving.
• Gaining and developing knowledge to independently propose recipe development solutions.
• Strong creative thinking
• Strong communicator and collaborator across creative and commercial disciplines.
• Ability to adapt to different product and cuisine types
• Ability to self-motivate and lead new innovation areas.
• Excellent PowerPoint and presentation skills.
• Continuously curious to seek out new ideas

AtThe Compleat Food Group, we’re on a mission to create

Food to Feel Good– delicious, high-quality food that people love to eat.

Withover 6,000 colleagues across 17 UK sites and £1.3bn turnover, we’re one of the UK’s most exciting and fast-growing food businesses.

You’ll be joining a business that values entrepreneurial thinking, collaboration and innovation, working with some of the UK’s most loved food brands.

AtThe Compleat Food Group, we believe our people are the heart of our success. That’s why we offer a wide range of benefits designed to support your lifestyle, wellbeing, and career growth:

• Salary Sacrifice Schemes- including Electric Vehicles, Home & Tech, Cycle to Work, and SMART Pension
• 33…