KTP Associate - Product Development Manager

Employment type:  Fixed-term (33 months)

Employment basis:  Full-time

Closing date:  08 January 2023

Interview date: Week commencing 23 January 2023

The University of Portsmouth is an ambitious institution with a track record of success. One of only four universities in the south east of England to achieve a Gold rating in the Teaching Excellence Framework and ranked in the top 150 in the Times Higher Young University World Rankings.

The Faculty of Business and Law, in collaboration with Fitbakes Ltd, are seeking an innovative and motivated individual to lead the development of a project focused on uncovering new strategies to extend the shelf life of products. This will involve the application of technologies and management approaches to improve the company’s ability to develop novel products.

The Company:

Fitbakes was founded in 2018 with a unique positioning in the cake category. Their product is lower sugar and higher protein compared to normal cakes. Cake remains a category that lacks healthy products, and Fitbakes represents a breakthrough innovation. Fitbakes plans to further exploit this significant market opportunity within the cake category capitalising the shift to healthier lifestyle and has the opportunity to distribute across key UK food retailers. Fitbakes aims at expanding its range of baked style products.

The Project:

This KTP project is based on embedding the required capabilities within Fitbakes to utilise a combination of science, production, packaging, and food NPD, in order to extend the shelf-life of their current and future products. Due to the unique low sugar cake products they produce, this requires an innovative approach that incorporates each of these areas of expertise. The delivery of these aims will also be underpinned by the establishment of an adaptive product development framework to ensure its innovative capability and competitiveness in the healthy baked goods category.

The Role:

The post holder will be required to conduct lab testing and assist contract manufacturers to explore diverse product manufacturing options. The project will also require the Associate to interact with different team members of the project to ensure efficient knowledge exchange on both product recipe and product development approaches. Alongside these tasks, you will need to be motivated to apply your skill-set in a business setting by demonstrating the ability to work independently and communicate effectively with people at all levels of the organisation. Therefore, you will need to be well organised, with the ability to manage and plan the related project workload.

To find out more about this role, click apply and apply on-line. 

It is the policy of the University to only accept applications submitted using the University’s application form, please DO NOT send CVs or cover letters as this will not be considered.

All applications for this position will be processed and conducted in compliance with UK legislation relevant at that time.

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